Patrica, an ancient isolated settlement positioned to the South of Rome experience difficulties in vending its dilapidated houses using the famous one-euro plan. Although there have been buyers for the empty properties of other Italian municipalities, Patrica’s attempts were unsuccessful.

The village has a population of about three thousand people who live on a high point of rocks with a beautiful view over the Sacco Valley. Many residents moved out of the busy village to seek better employment opportunities, leaving behind more than forty houses built at the beginning of the last century and now lying empty.

In his bid to breathe life into the dying village, Mayor Lucio Fiordaliso took cue from his counterparts in Italy and put up these abandoned properties in the market for only one euro each. But he was faced with many problems which prevented him from doing this.

Other towns can sell abandoned homes even without the owner’s permission, but this is not possible for Patrica and other such municipalities; it needs to be available and given by them or their successors rightly. This creates a problem because there is almost no way that can be taken as far as selling is concerned since it cannot overcome such obstacles.

Initially, Mayor Fiordaliso sent a formal invitation to involve ten owners in the project of one-euro-homes. They all initially said yes but later changed their minds, whereas most did not write back at all; this made him suspect some intra-family disputes.

In Italy, abandoned buildings are usually shared among many heirs who have their parts. Italian law states that a sale needs to be approved in writing by all the inheriting parties. However, these procedures are often blocked by disputes, lost connections, family enmity, and other problems.

The effort to identify the descendants of emigrant property owners in the three principal destinations of migration, namely USA, Canada, Argentina, etc., has been very difficult. This includes changing names and passing on property without leaving any record all of which makes it almost impossible even for the town hall officials who are left with a very big task to find out anything from nothing.

Despite these difficulties, Patrica sold only two abandoned homes through the one-euro scheme. The residents possessed these houses entirely, thereby removing the necessity of dealing with unrelated people who lived at a distance.

Not only that, but some houses have also made it difficult for the plan to succeed in Patrica since they are in very bad condition. There are properties that, no matter how willing an owner is to sell, would require some assistance for finding buyers.

Gianni Valleco is a local resident who tried with his brothers to dispose of his late parents’ house through this program. Nonetheless, they quickly noticed that someone would have to prefer the property before selling it if they wanted any chance of success with their plans.

Moreover, it may take long before such original owners who have resided away for years comfortably can admit that they belong somewhere due to fear of arising tax as well as electricity accounts which might not have been serviced for long.

In spite of these obstacles, Mayor Fiordaliso is still committed to rejuvenating Patrica. He is trying out other ways apart from the usual ones in order to deal with these problems and make people buy the houses left at one time or other restored ones.

Patrica is not alone in facing difficulties; many towns are selling houses successfully at one euro because they show how property can be improved and why everyone wants to have an Italian house.