L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026 L'Italo-Americano W e a r e a l l f a m i l i a r with it: a small Ita- lian villa- ge, often somewhere a bit out of the way, announces that it is selling houses for o n e e u r o . U s u a l l y , t h e images do the rest, with sun- light on stone walls, cobble- stoned streets, shutters half closed, and a sense of some- thing pleasant from the past g e n t l y n u d g i n g a t o u r dreams. I am sure we all, at some stage, dreamt about how it could be: we imagine arriv- ing, choosing a house, start- ing over with a gelato in one h a n d a n d a s p r i t z i n t h e o t h e r , b u t t h a t ' s e x a c t l y when reality starts knocking at the door. So, in one last attempt to realize our very own Tuscan Dream, we try to imagine how we could make it work for real, day after day: the job, the taxes, the e x p e n s e s … e v e r y t h i n g . Often, that's when we are brought back harshly to our armchair and – alas – the dream ends. Well, you may be intere- sted to know that the one- euro home world finally cau- ght up with our worries, and there is a whole new way to "create" our very own expat dream in the Belpaese. The conversation has begun to m o v e a w a y , j u s t s l i g h t l y , from property and restora- tion and toward something m o r e h a n d s - o n : n o t w h a t you can buy, but what you can do once you are there. Can you work? Can you stay connected? Can your ordi- nary week take shape in a place like this without con- stantly needing to leave it? It is a less immediate kind of appeal, perhaps, but also a m o r e r e a l i s t i c o n e , f r o m where a different idea star- ted to take hold: repopula- ting villages through remote working. Of course, this is not an entirely new concept, and it does not belong to a single initiative, but it has begun to gather a certain consistency; some places are no longer presenting themselves only as destinations or as projects waiting to be completed, but a s e n v i r o n m e n t s t h a t c a n sustain a routine. The differ- ence is small on paper, but in practice, it changes the enti- re perspective: think about it, a place you visit asks very l i t t l e o f y o u , b u t a p l a c e w h e r e y o u r w o r k i n g d a y unfolds, where your connec- tion holds, where you move between your desk and the street without interruption – that asks something else, and offers something else in return. S a n t a F i o r a , o n M o u n t Amiata in Tuscany, is often mentioned as one of the first towns to give this idea a con- crete form. When it intro- d u c e d i t s e l f a s a " r e m o t e working village," the phrase could easily have remained just that, a phrase. Instead, i t c a m e w i t h a s e r i e s o f c h o i c e s b e h i n d i t , a s t h e town invested in broadband, adapted existing spaces into coworking areas, and began to think, quite practically, about how someone working remotely might fit into the rhythm of the place. Nothing about it feels oversized or promotional; if anything, it w o r k s e x a c t l y b e c a u s e o f how low-key and understa- ted it all is. Not transforma- tion, but continuity. Elsewhere, the approach t a k e s s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t shapes , but r emains ver y appealing. Montepulciano, f o r i n s t a n c e , h a s b e e n i n v o l v e d i n p r o j e c t s t h a t organize what is often called "workation," a mix of work and extended stay. Here, the village becomes part of a wider network, one that con- nects remote workers, com- panies, and temporary resi- dencies, with the emphasis b e i n g l e s s o n p e r m a n e n t r e l o c a t i o n a n d m o r e o n making it possible to return, to stay for longer periods, to develop a familiarity that goes beyond a brief visit. It b a s i c a l l y s i t s s o m e w h e r e between tourism and settle- ment, but it moves along the same line, gradually chan- ging the role of the place itself. Then there are cases like Castropignano, in Molise, where the older one-euro house model has not disap- p e a r e d b u t h a s b e g u n t o overlap with these newer ideas. The houses are still there, still offered at symbol- ic prices, but the conversa- t i o n a r o u n d t h e m h a s changed slightly, because now they are no longer pre- sented only as restoration projects, but as potential bases for a different kind of life, one in which work does not have to be left behind. It is a small adjustment, but it suggests that the focus is m o v i n g , s l o w l y , f r o m t h e building to the person who might inhabit it. Behind these local experi- ments, a broader change is also taking shape, that of "South working," that is, of people choosing to live in s o u t h e r n r e g i o n s w h i l e working for employers based e l s e w h e r e . F o r m a n y S o u t h e r n I t a l i a n s w h o worked for large Northern Italy-based multinationals, it was at first a necessity, but today the pattern opened up a different way of thinking about where work belongs, and what happens when it is no longer tied to a specific place. It brings into view a question that has been pre- sent in Italy for a long time, even if in a different form: how to rebalance a country w h e r e o p p o r t u n i t i e s a n d people have tended to con- centrate in a relatively small number of cities. The institutional context has also started to adjust, albeit cautiously. The intro- duction of a visa for remote workers and digital nomads from outside the European U n i o n d o e s n o t c h a n g e everything, but it signals a recognition that this form of mobility is no longer mar- ginal; it also makes it slight- ly easier to imagine that the person working from a small village is not only passing through, not only testing an idea, but perhaps settling into something more stable. None of this, of course, removes the practical limits, which remain present, from the unevenness of reliable infrastructure in some areas to the potential lack of servi- ces, all the way to the very mundane demands of living in a small village, which do not disappear just because work can now travel. If any- thing, the contrast can make those limits more visible. And yet, there is some- thing in the way these initia- tives are taking shape that feels different from earlier attempts. For a long time, the narrative around small I t a l i a n v i l l a g e s w a s b u i l t around what had been lost, and the response was often t o e m p h a s i z e w h a t remained. Beauty, authen- ticity, tradition, these are still part of the picture, of course, but they no longer take up the full stage; today, we begin seeing a shift and a c h a n g e o f p e r s p e c t i v e ; t o d a y , t h e q u e s t i o n i s n o longer only who might be drawn in by the past, but who might be able to remain in the present. CHIARA D'ALESSIO LIFE TRENDS PLACES REVIVAL B e y o n d t h e o n e - e u r o h o u s e : I t a l y ' s villages rethink what they offer Santa Fiora, in Tuscany, has been among the first to embrace the new trend of making Italian villages "digital worker" ready (Photo: Dragoncello/Dreamstime)

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