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Cinquefrondi, a community in the southern region of Calabria in Italy, is still selling homes for a little more than $1 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Why? Apparently, the village is COVID-19-free.

What’s going on:

  • Cinquefrondi has seen a reverse in population because the town’s younger population ventures out to work in bigger cities, according to CNN. The village hopes to convince people to move there by purchasing cheap homes that need a little fixing.
  • The city has zero coronavirus cases so far, according to CNN. Italy has begun to reopen its borders to visitors.

How it works:

  • Interested parties will need to pay a €250 ($284) insurance policy in case restoration isn’t done. People will be charged €20,000 ($22,721) if the restyling isn’t finished in three years, according to CNN.

Reaction:

  •  Cinquefrondi Mayor Michele Conia told CNN: “Finding new owners for the many abandoned houses we have is a key part of the Operation Beauty (mission) that I have launched to recover degraded, lost parts of town.”
  • Conia said: “I grew up in Germany where my parents had migrated, then I came back to save my land. Too many people have fled from here over the decades, leaving behind empty houses. We can’t succumb to resignation.”
  • Conia said: “We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car. But a whole district of my town lies abandoned, with empty houses that are also unstable and risky.”

The other side of things:

  • As I reported for the Deseret News, a number of people bought these cheap homes in other Italian villages before the coronavirus pandemic began. The buyers decided to stay in the homes just as the pandemic began to swell through the country, locking them there.
  • The reaction has been split. Some have enjoyed the isolation in a small Italian town. Others said they can’t wait to see their families again back in their home countries, like the United States.
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