How American expat and her Aussie fiancé purchased their ‘dream’ home in Italy for just $1.60 – here’s what nobody tells you

American expat Rae Knopik and her Australian fiancé Declan purchased an abandoned property in Italy for just €1.

Nestled in Troina, a commune in the Italian region of Sicily, the couple plan to turn the rundown centuries-old house into their ‘dream’ home away from home. 

‘Buying a €1 home in Italy has changed our lives for the better,’ Rae told Daily Mail.

‘I wish that, if anything, it had happened sooner. When we’re in Sicily, we feel so at home and so welcomed in our community that I swear to you, I cry every time I leave. It’s become such a big part of our lives.’

But becoming the owners of the $1.60 Italian home isn’t as simple as it seems. As it turns out, the couple were unknowingly among 60,000 applicants vying for the same home when it was listed on the market during the COVID lockdown in 2021.

The pair only discovered the rare sale when Rae started Googling Troina out of curiosity after spotting the Sicilian village in a YouTube video. 

‘The first thing that pops up for Troina is they’re doing a €1 house offering. We were two 26-year-olds living in a one-bedroom apartment in Canberra so we were saying, “Why the hell not?”‘ she explained, laughing. 

It made sense for the couple to pursue the property in Sicily after they met in Florence, Italy in March 2018. Just four weeks later, Rae was on a plane to Australia for the first time – and the rest is history.

Rae, who owns a marketing firm, and her lawyer fiancé Declan spent hours filling out the lengthy application that was part of what’s known as Italy’s One Euro House Program.

Due to an ageing population and younger generations moving to bigger cities, many of Italy’s quaintest towns have seen a rise in empty, abandoned homes. 

The program is an initiative encouraging foreigners to buy dilapidated properties and restore them, helping preserve these historic towns. 

The couple, now both aged 31, were required to answer a series of questions – including their personal lives, relationship, cultural backgrounds, why they wanted to buy property in Troina and how much they were willing to spend on renovations. 

‘I told them the reason why I was in Florence to begin with actually started over 100 years ago with my great-great-grandmother and her husband, who were Sicilian and they later moved to the US,’ Rae explained. 

‘We told them our story about how we met in Italy and fell in love. I told them about my Italian heritage and my life journey of cultural reclamation. I mentioned I speak Italian and I’ve been learning Italian since 2016.

‘We just threw our hat in the ring – we just told them who we were… It wasn’t a super straightforward process. We basically submitted the application then nothing happened for months.’

At the time, the couple had no idea they were one of 60,000 applicants. 

Then, all of a sudden, 12 months went by and they discovered they had won the €1 Italian house in May 2022. 

‘We were pretty shocked,’ Rae said.

‘We immediately booked a flight and we were on a plane in June to check it out. I remember at the time I was being so ridiculously happy, jumping up and down and singing, “We’re going to Italy”.’

Upon arrival, the couple explored the old-style Sicilian property.

‘For the property itself, it’s a three-storey single-home with two entry points… one at the back of the house on the third storey, as it’s built into a cliff face, and one at the bottom level,’ she said. 

‘Entering from the lower level, there’s a kitchen to the left, an open space, and a bathroom at the back. 

‘Up the stairs, there is a single room, and then another single room on the next level. The top floor includes an attic crawl space and the second entry point.

‘There was some basic plumbing and wiring and surprisingly, an air conditioner so that was great.’ 

The first time they walked through the doors, it was clear no one had lived there for years. 

‘Our neighbours tell us they think it’s been about six years since somebody was actually living in it,’ she said. 

‘We’ve been told by local sources and historians that our house was actually part of the original watchtower in Troina, the town famously known as the first capital of Sicily, and that a lot of the architecture reflects this. 

‘It’s very castle-like and apparently our property was part of the original watchtower – because of that, it’s incredibly sturdy, shall we say.’

Over the years, the couple wondered why they had been chosen after 60,000 people applied to buy their home. Eventually, they became friends with the team behind the €1 house program and later learned why they were considered ideal candidates. 

‘It’s a heroic group of 20 to 30-year-olds – college-educated, if not master’s or PhD-educated – who have left Troina and returned to save their town,’ Rae said.

‘You can imagine how ambitious, thoughtful and international this group of people has become through their knowledge. They’ve moved back because they want to rescue their ageing town, which I think is just amazing.

‘They had so many applicants. Remember, 60,000 people wanted our house and they chose us. How could you even begin to manage that?

‘So a mathematician was brought on who created an algorithm that helped weed out the obvious choices who were not going to be good fits.’

The team were searching for a series of criteria that placed the couple into the top 10 – including cultural fit, how often they planned to visit Troina and the amount of money they intended to spend on renovations.

‘At the time, they wanted a group of younger people so we fit the age and for this particular house, they wanted to get the right age demographic,’ Rae said. 

‘It also came down to how much time we wanted to spend in Troina. We told them we imagined spending at least the first part of our summers there and eventually taking a sabbatical there as well. 

‘I also spoke about how I want this to be a base for my family to also visit and reclaim their cultural heritage as part of that journey. We spoke about our dreams for the house, how we hope to integrate into society.’

When signing over the property, Rae said the process was smooth and there were no hidden costs or surprises that caught them off guard. 

‘There are always going to be legal costs involved with taking over a property, and those are no different from the costs associated with buying a cheap house,’ she said.

‘When you buy a cheap house, you’re going to need to do legal and notary work. If you’re a foreigner who can’t speak the language, you’re absolutely going to need legally certified translations of all the documents. 

‘You’re going to need to pay taxes on it, and some communities require renovation commitments. From memory, we did put a small deposit down that we’re going to get back at the end of this renovation journey, and it’s basically just to say that we’re going to do what we said we’re going to do.’

With renovations, Rae said it’s ‘impossible’ to know how much they would need without seeing the property – but after doing some research, they estimated they would spend around €60,000 (AU$97,700). 

‘We’re still pre-renovations, but that number has already changed because of the amount of time we’ve invested in the community. We have more appetite to spend and invest to really make this place our home,’ she said. 

‘At the beginning we were like, “We’ll just make this place liveable” but now we’re like, “Let’s make it amazing”. 

‘There’s a lot of work to make it liveable. Our budget keeps changing because we love the property and we love the town. We want to make it perfect so we’re currently undergoing the process of getting the costing.

‘We’re joyfully going all in on this because we love Troina so much.’

Rae said the renovations will take some time to complete as she’s managing the project from Canberra with a team of Italian tradespeople. 

‘Property moves slower in Sicily than it does in Australia and the US. I wouldn’t say it’s a major challenge – it’s just slower than you’re used to,’ she said. 

‘We’re renovating this property from afar. There’s going to be some things lost in translation, sometimes it’s going to be done slower than normal and you really have to trust your tradespeople, especially if you’re not there.  

‘So I guess there is some patience. I would also say this is not for everyone. If you don’t speak the language, it’s just going to be a little more challenging to find tradespeople to converse with them. 

‘For instance, our architect, who’s our project manager, we only speak to him in Italian. When I started this journey at 26, I wasn’t from a construction background, I didn’t even know what a load-bearing wall was in English, let alone Italian.’

One of the best things about buying a €1 home is that they can rely on trusted tradespeople to renovate the property. 

‘There’s very little chance we’re going to get ripped off or that someone will carry out work that isn’t up to standards – everything has to be done by the books because the government is watching closely. 

‘So for us, that does give us some peace of mind because it has to go right. These tradespeople will want to be involved in future €1 house builds and to do that they have to be successful.’

Rae said there are a lot of misconceptions around €1 homes, with many assuming the Italian government is giving away properties for free – but that’s far from true. 

‘The €1 house sounds too good to be true. If I could shout one thing from the rooftops, it would be exactly this,’ she explained. 

‘Yes, it’s a €1 house but it’s not free, they never intended it to be free housing. It was always intended to be about regeneration, investment and renovations.

‘This is an initiative created by governments across Italy to do three main things – the first is repopulation, as there has been a major brain drain due to a lack of jobs in these small regional areas.

‘These buildings are basically getting emptied out and over the years, they become public safety risks because they’re just falling apart into ruins and so the Sicilian government wants people to come in and restore them.

‘So those are the things I wish I could tell people – this isn’t free or subsidised housing, this is a partnership, truly with a commune who wants you to come in and invest in their town and ideally become a part of the community.’

Once they complete renovations, the couple plan to split their time between Italy, Australia and the US. 

‘We’re an international family so that’s just who we are. I see us perhaps spending more time in Italy and the US – but for the moment, Canberra is home,’ she said. 

‘We would like to live there full-time but unfortunately, the €1 house program is not a path to residency at all. 

‘So the same rules apply: if you buy a property in Italy, it doesn’t mean you can live there. You have to apply for a different visa, so we would have to investigate different visa options in order to pull that off. 

‘But for the time being, the plan is to continue our summers in Sicily, do a sabbatical there at one stage, and when we’re not at the property, I really want my family, who has my Sicilian heritage, to visit the property and connect with their roots as well.’

The couple – who are getting married in Italy in August – are looking forward to spending more time in the place where their love story began. 

They’re particularly excited to be part of a ‘culturally colourful’ community in Sicily.

‘I think this is what Italy was like before tourism became what it is in areas like Rome and Florence. It’s still incredibly colourful, dialect still reaches every area of the town, locals are deeply connected to their cultural histories and traditions and it’s just so beautiful to be a part of,’ Rae said.

‘Every time we’re there, we realise how much kids can be kids. During summer, it’s not unusual to see kids wandering the streets at midnight because everyone knows where they are, they’re safe. Kids are very much part of the community and it’s just beautiful to see how safe it is in a culture like that.’

For anyone dreaming about buying a €1 house in Sicily, Rae said her biggest piece of advice is you need to recognise what you’re getting yourself into. 

‘This is a partnership with the community for life, and they are taking the first step by giving you the opportunity to buy a property for next to nothing,’ she said.

‘You’re bringing to the table your promise in regeneration and helping the community regrow and reshape its town. That’s the promise you’re making by buying a €1 house.

‘I want people to know that you’re joining a community for life and investing in them because they invested in you by giving you a €1 house.’