This 'COVID-free' Italian Town Wants You to Buy a $1 House (Video)

Italy's famed $1 homes are back on the market.

In 2019, several small Italian towns put up their abandoned homes for just $1 in an effort to lure more residents in and to rebuild the communities. In places like Ollolai and Binovia, would-be Italians could scoop up homes for $1, and the town of Bivona in Sicily offered its homes for $1 down and a $2,750 bond.

"Despite so many empty buildings, Bivona's old center is still vibrant, packed with history and very welcoming," Angela Cannizzaro, Bivona's culture councilor, told CNN at the time. "We need to breathe new life into it."

Now, the community of Cinquefrondi, located in the southern region of Calabria, is doing the same. But, it's got one more selling point for you: It's also COVID-free.

"Finding new owners for the many abandoned houses we have is a key part of the Operation Beauty [mission] that I have launched to recover degraded, lost parts of town," Mayor Michele Conia shared with CNN.

According to Conia, the aim of the project is to grow the population with younger people and families to help bolster the town's finances and way of life.

"I grew up in Germany where my parents had migrated, then I came back to save my land," Conia explained. "Too many people have fled from here over the decades, leaving behind empty houses. We can't succumb to resignation."

So, what can a new resident expect while living in their $1 home? According to Conia, live is pretty sweet in Cinquefrondi.

"We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby, and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car," Conia said. "But a whole district of my town lies abandoned, with empty houses that are also unstable and risky."

And, of course, Conia explained the best part of buying in Cinquefrondi is the fact that the community is free of coronavirus. To date, the community has had no reported cases, making it even more of a paradise.

For those interested in buying a home in the community, all it takes is $1 down and paying an annual €250 policy insurance fee until the renovation work is completed on the home. If buyers, for some reason, do not renovate or restyle the home in three years they can face a €20,000 fine.

"We're just asking for some kind of certainty once a new buyer commits to the project," Conia said. And for a slice of Italian life that small promise certainly seems like a bargain.