L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano A irbnb wants you to move to Sicily for free. No, it's not a joke. The hospi- tality company is actively seeking one person to move to the quaint village of Sam- buca di Sicilia - which you may remember as one of the first places to introduce the popular Case a 1 Euro scheme - to run one of their bed and breakfasts for 12 months. You don't even need to go alone: you can bring your family, your partner or a person of your choice, and it's all for free! The only con- dition is renting one of the rooms in your new home - a fully restored town center house - on the Airbnb plat- form and becoming an active member of the local commu- nity, by contributing to its development. Of course - but for Americans that's defi- nitely not a problem! - you must be fluent in English. As many of our readers k n o w , t h e C a s e a 1 E u r o p r o j e c t , i n a u g u r a t e d b y Ollolai (Sardinia) in 2016, has been created to repopu- late our countryside, espe- c i a l l y t h o s e v i l l a g e s a n d hamlets that, through the decades, not only lost part of their population to emi- gration but also witnessed the decay of their economy. Sambuca was the first village to take up the idea after Ollolai, and it was a r e a l s u c c e s s : s i n c e 2 0 1 9 , when it launched the Case a 1 Euro initiative, 16 one- e u r o h o m e s w e r e g i v e n away and 125 were sold to people who, quite simply, fell in love with the place: over 2 million euro (2.25 m i l l i o n U S D ) h a v e b e e n invested so far. This shows that the ultimate goal of the project is well on the way to being reached. By offering t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o g e t a c h e a p h o m e - a l t h o u g h admittedly in need of a lot of TLC - the town aimed at bringing back people to its s t r e e t s , g i v i n g a m u c h - needed boost to both local economy and morale. This charming rural vil- lage of around 6.000, locat- ed some 50 miles south of Palermo, is Mediterranean at heart and merges both Italian and north-African c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . W i t h i t s olive groves and vineyards, its traditions, and its land- scape, it embodies a typical southern Italian village. In 2016, it was elected Borgo d e i B o r g h i , t h a t i s , t h e most beautiful hamlet in Italy, according to the peo- ple of RAI, Italy's national television. Thanks to the Case a 1 Euro project, people from over 20 countries around t h e w o r l d m o v e d t o Sambuca in the past three y e a r s , c r e a t i n g a l i v e l y international community t h a t f i t s s e a m l e s s l y w i t h l o c a l s , w h o a r e i n t u r n happy to see their streets - a n d t h e i r s h o p s , r e s t a u - r a n t s , a n d h o m e s - f u l l again. Needless to say, Airbnb saw an opportunity in it. The company has been long i n v o l v e d i n s u p p o r t i n g s m a l l r u r a l c o m m u n i t i e s seeking a way to repopulate their villages after decades of emigration. They were involved in the renovation of an artist home in Civita di Bagnoregio, they are the name behind the Italian Sabbatical project created in support of Grottole, and a l s o b e h i n d t h e B o r g h i I t a l i a n i p r o j e c t , w h i c h wants to give visibility to lit- tle known Italian villages, in n a m e o f s u s t a i n a b l e tourism. The company purchased a home in the beautiful city c e n t e r o f S a m b u c a a n d e n t r u s t e d r e n o v a t i o n s t o P a l e r m o ' s S t u d i o D i d e a . Choosing local architects was paramount for Airbnb, w h i c h w a n t e d t o s u p p o r t the community and ensure t h a t l o c a l k n o w - h o w a n d craftsmanship were used for the project. The result is a stylish and modern home, renovated fully with local materials and with an eye to tradition, especially when it c o m e s t o w e l l p r e s e r v e d original features, like floors or fire places. There is more, because the home, which develops on three floors, has been designed to maintain the hosts' living quarters and the area to rent indepen- dent from one another, so that privacy is guaranteed for all. If selected, you 'll be able to move to your new Sicilian home on the 30th of June of this year, and start h o s t i n g t o u r i s t s s t r a i g h t away. Candidates must be 18, speak - as said - English, but they do not need neces- s a r i l y t o k n o w I t a l i a n , which, the project organiz- ers say, can be learned once living in Sambuca. The opportunity should a t t r a c t e s p e c i a l l y p e o p l e w h o a r e n o t b o u n d t o a place for work and can carry on their professional duties from home. And while you probably can't see the point o f h a v i n g a f r e e h o m e i n Sicily for 12 months and not s p e n d i n g t h e m a l l t h e r e , you are also bound to live in S a m b u c a o n l y f o r t h r e e consecutive months your- self, provided you rent one of the rooms in the house on the Airbnb platform for 9 months. B u t p e r h a p s , t h e m o s t important goal of the pro- ject remains that of actively contributing to the renais- sance of this small village, a l i t t l e g e m o f p e a c e a n d beauty, neglected and aban- d o n e d b y v i s i t o r s f o r s o m a n y y e a r s . T h e r e m u s t h a v e b e e n s o m e d a r k moments in the contempo- r a r y h i s t o r y o f S a m b u c a , with all that solitude, but things have changed now. N o w , t h e r e i s a g r o w i n g , multicultural community, a community that wants to make of Sambuca a place to stay for more and more peo- ple and become integrant part of the village's life for many decades to come. GIULIA FRANCESCHINI A beautiful carretto Siciliano, symbol of Sicilian heritage. How would you like to spend a year in Sicily for free? (Photo: Siculodoc/Dreamstime) Airbnb wants you to live a year in Sicily for free! NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

• Cover