L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 3 my through both national and foreign investments. In this context, one of the lat- est regulations enforced by the I t a l i a n g o v e r n m e n t p r o v i d e s i n c e n t i v e s f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l investors in the fields of art, culture, and tourism, aimed at promoting new collaborations and re-launching Italy's image. This includes supporting the so- called Great Pompeii Project to preserve and restore the archae- ological site, upgrading tourist accommodation facilities with special focus on information technologies, encouraging arts p a t r o n a g e , a n d f a c i l i t a t i n g access to foreign capital by the Italian film industry. T h e c o n t r o v e r s i a l " A r t Bonus" was approved 6 months ago and it is now starting to bear fruit, in particular regard- ing cinema. In fact, after a long period of distress, the Italian e q u i v a l e n t t o H o l l y w o o d i s finally returning to operation 'Tis the season for dreams to come true, and if your specific dream is to own an affordable home in Italy, happy holidays to you. In the small hillside hamlet of Gangi, Sicily, village officials faced with a quickly depleting population are offer- ing 20 empty properties for the a t t r a c t i v e p r i c e t a g o f € 1 ( $ 1 . 2 5 ) e a c h . L i k e m u c h o f Italy, Gangi finds itself deep in the throws of an economic cri- sis and is using the initiative to create opportunity where it no l o n g e r e x i s t s . P o t e n t i a l i n v e s t o r s f r o m a l l o v e r t h e w o r l d i n c l u d i n g t h e U . S . , Australia, France and Brazil have descended on the village of 7,000 residents to pitch their development ideas for diversi- fying the properties. Gangi fell on hard times in the early 20th century when Sicilians emigrat- ed en masse to other parts of the w o r l d i n s e a r c h o f w o r k . S h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r , i n t h e 1 9 2 0 ' s , G a n g i w a s o n t h e receiving end of a major mafia crackdown led by Cesare Mori, which also added to the towns c o n t i n u i n g e c o n o m i c w o e s . Now, a century later, Gangi is looking for investors willing to open B&Bs, a cooking school or even a film set to expand and enliven the struggling 12th cen- tury village. Gangi is located about an h o u r s d r i v e i n l a n d f r o m Palermo and enjoys year-round fresh mountain air, views of mount Etna, as well as popular traditional dishes such as pep- pered goat cheese and of course fresh pastas. There is no lack of beauty as Gangi was the recipi- ent of first prize in a nationwide completion for most beautiful historic hamlet. Of course, with any too good to be true offer, there is some fine print. Any investor will be faced with a €6000 ($7,500) buyers fee and around €30.000 ($37,500) in renovation costs, still a con- siderable bargain. If successful, t h e e x p e r i m e n t w i t h G a n g i could lead other impoverished, historic areas to embark upon a similar adventure. Tourism is one of Italy's strongest com- modities and there are literally thousands of richly historical hamlets like Gangi that could benefit from such incentives. Sounds like an offer you can't refuse, no? I'll take a coffee and a hillside home in Sicily, thank you thanks to a ministerial decree granting increased tax credits and benefits to foreign compa- nies willing to film in Italy. T h e s e h a v e a l r e a d y e a r n e d Cinecittà approximately 150 million euros in international investment, intended to fund the production of big-screen movies scheduled for release over the next few years. Among them are the remake of the 11 Academy Award-win- ning Ben Hur (1959), produced b y t h e A m e r i c a n M e t r o Goldwyn Mayer and coming out in 2016; the latest episode of the 007 saga, to be filmed in Rome in 2015 by director Sam Mendes and starring Hollywood actor Daniel Craig; the long- awaited sequel of Zoolander by and with Ben Stiller, produced b y P a r a m o u n t P i c t u r e s ; a n d Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt, based on Anne Rice's novel a n d s h o o t i n g i n t h e c i t y o f Matera, in Basilicata region, which has recently been award- ed the title of 2019 European C a p i t a l o f C u l t u r e . Furthermore, for an entire year Cinecittà studios will be host- ing the international co-produc- t i o n ( S k y I t a l i a , B S K Y B , SkyDE) inspired by the famous comic book series Diabolik, with the collaboration of multi- ple award winning set designer Dante Ferretti. I n a n i n t e r v i e w , I t a l i a n Minister of Cultural Heritage a n d A c t i v i t i e s D a r i o Franceschini, a strong advocate of the Art Bonus, commented: "This is a remarkable achieve- ment for our country, which is s t i l l c a p a b l e o f d r a w i n g t h e attention of the world movie i n d u s t r y b y o f f e r i n g u n i q u e locations and facilities, not only i n C i n e c i t t à b u t t h r o u g h o u t Italy. Hosting high-level pro- d u c t i o n s r e p r e s e n t s t h e b e s t way to promote the Bel paese as an appealing tourist destina- tion: a movie that showcases Italian beauty is worth hun- dreds of thousands of commer- cial advertisements on interna- tional television." Among the movies scheduled for release over the next few years is the remake of 11 Academy Award-winning "Ben Hur" Gangi, a 12th-century hilltop village about an hour south of the coastal resort of Cefalu, has been suffering from a dwindling population in recent years PAIGE HOFFMAN Continued from page 1

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