A beautiful Italian village will pay you to live and work there

The unique offer is valid until 15 November for those wishing to take up residence for at least 5 years

The Municipality of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo, Italy has launched an extraordinary initiative to combat the depopulation of inland areas. The city nearest to the village is L'Aquila, some 30 minutes away, while the capital of Rome is about two hours away.

Revitalize Santo Stefano

The residents of Santo Stefano are as of right now only 115, of these 41 are over 65 years and only 13 residents are under the age of 20. Therefore, the Municipality considers it essential to give a new demographic impulse to the area, considering that the current situation does not allow it to have the human capital necessary for sustainable and lasting development of the area.

To this end, Santo Stefano has launched a project that puts in place an action aimed at attracting new residents who can be initiated into activities consistent with the development objectives of the Municipality. The project provides a monthly grant for 3 years up to a maximum of 8000.00 euros per year, the provision of a house at symbolic prices and a non-repayable contribution, up to a maximum of 20,000.00 euros, for the start of a business.

The call is open for candidates of the age between 18 and 40 years until 15 November 2020. Applicants must also be resident in Italy, but not in the surroundings of Santo Stefano, and come from municipalities with more than 2000 inhabitants or EU citizens and non-EU citizens with long-term residence permits for an indefinite period. The condition of coming from a place that has at least two thousand inhabitants is explained by the desire to avoid depopulating other parts of Italy.