Just over 1000 inhabitants, 920 meters above sea level and a historic stone center which for decades, at a constant rate, has lost more and more residents. The protagonist of this story is the small Nuoro municipality of Ollolai, in the heart of Barbagia, which responded to depopulation with a three-phase program that today attracts requests from every continent.
Houses for one euro: the prerequisite
The starting point is the One Euro Houses project, launched by the municipal administration in 2015: abandoned properties in the historic center are sold at the symbolic price of one euro to anyone who undertakes to renovate them within three years and move their residence there. The objective is twofold, to redevelop the degraded building stock and reverse the demographic decline, and the mechanism has found buyers especially from Europe and the United States (complete with an invitation addressed to US citizens unhappy with President Trump’s victory).
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Work from Ollolai: digital nomads in Barbagia
The real estate program includes Work from Ollolai, managed by the Municipality in collaboration with the Sa Mata cultural association, which provides rent at one euro per month for professionals who work remotely, in exchange for a contribution to the local community in the form of lessons, presentations and workshops open to the inhabitants. The program is aimed at technologists, architects, artists, academics and in general anyone who can transmit digital skills in a rural context. Applications are collected through the official portal workfromollolai.com.
Live in Ollolai: stable residence and demographic incentives
The second program is Live in Ollolai, designed for those looking for a permanent residence: in addition to one-euro houses to renovate, it provides symbolic rents for the first five years, three-year demographic bonuses, free school books and contributions to school transport. The liveinollolai.com portal manages applications and accompanies new residents in the bureaucratic procedures, from searching for the property to contacting local renovation companies.
Two programs, one goal
Work from Ollolai and Live in Ollolai are two distinct and complementary operations at the same time, given that the first tests coexistence with qualified temporary residents, the second aims at definitive rooting. Both are based on the same premise (one-euro houses as an access lever) and together they make up a model that other Italian municipalities observe carefully, in a country where villages under five thousand inhabitants represent over half of the municipalities and continue to empty.
