Skip to main content

This picturesque Sicilian town is giving away houses for free

Image credits: Giuseppe Finocchiaro via Flickr

Despite being the home of Antonello da Messina, Sicily is synonymous with the The Godfather, and I have a theory that about 60% of people visit the island because of the movie.

   Now, if you're on the lookout for a new home and you're a fan of the Oscar-winning film and the Sicilian landscape, you should check out the picturesque mountain village of Gangi. Why? Because the quaint small town is giving away for free many of the houses that line its ancient stone streets. They are mostly three-story farmhouses, and many of them have panoramic views of Mount Etna. There is, however, a small catch.

Image credits: patrick_22_b via Flickr

Image credits: bruno.s via Flickr
 
   The residences are generally in pretty rough shape, some abandoned years ago. And, "those who will be assigned the free houses have to bear the expenses for the transfer of ownership and must undertake to present the project of renovation of the property within one year of purchase and complete renovations within three years."

   The offer is the last ditch attempt of local government officials to save Gangi from falling into rack and ruin. Starting in the 1890s, the town experienced mass exodus, with much of its population leaving for the United States or South America. It's population has sunk from 16,000 in the 1950s to around 7,000 today.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.
Post a Comment
Read more

Eric van Straaten's 3D-Printed Statuettes

I can't remember when I first became entranced with Eric van Straaten 's 3D-printed sculptures. I think I stumbled onto his work through tumblr when I was searching for new artists to follow. Eric's attention to detail is pretty amazing, and the image of the eroticized child-woman is familiar throughout his work. Most of his hyper surreal pieces are 3D-printed in sandstone material, which are created by laying down a thin layer of gypsum powder and using a binding agent and color inks to print a pattern onto it. Once the entire model is printed, it is withdrawn from the print bed and the excess powder is removed. The model is then sealed and ready for display. "I think that the girls I create in my work are visualizations of my own feelings, fantasies and thoughts," the Dutch artist explains. "The girls actually look like someone I (used to) know and the different ‘portraits’ tell something about what I think of myself in regards to her or women ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Print out and fold your own paper cameras

Totally want to make some of these Olympus mirrorless cameras with my daughter this weekend. They don't take pictures, but they sure would make my little girl very happy. The Japanese company has a webpage for kids , and you can easily create three-dimensional paper models of the OM-D or the PEN Lite by printing and folding those PDF templates in the papercraft section . Enjoy! [h/t: Pop Photo ]
Post a Comment
Read more