Second, these towns are dying. That's why they're doing this, and they don't have a lot of options. From the stories I've heard, the locals aren't surly, but extremely welcoming. Sure, you're in a village in the middle of nowhere, but if you're even considering such a move, that's part of the point.
The accounts that I’ve seen from people who tried this do not describe the locals as being welcoming. It’s not like these are tourist areas where the villagers rely on foreigners for their income. These are agricultural communities and the foreigners are explicitly there as carpetbaggers. These programs designed to change the historic character of the place. The minute you show up in town, you are the face of that change.
It’s
possible to overcome that, at least to some extent, sure. But let’s be realistic here, you’re not going to move there and start an olive farm and be the deacon of the local parish. It’s going to look a lot more like being the explicit outsider in every social interaction, and having a dangerously strong incentive to make your social connections with other ex-pats.
Honestly the best candidate for the experience is someone who wants to cut ties with their old life and be left the **** alone in their new life.
Third, for the money it would take to buy a property in Raleigh right now, you could do some pretty incredible renovations on an old Italian house, so long as you accept the fundamental limitations of the structure.
If you have the skills to do the work yourself, yes. Otherwise you’re at the mercy of the local market for labor. And much like sourcing specialized labor in any tiny town in the middle of nowhere, that’s going to mean handing the job to an unqualified yokel who likely views you as a mark. There are a lot of ways for it to go badly. Not to mention the distinct Mediterranean culture when it comes to services for hire (e.g. I’ll try and get to it next week, I need to drive my brother to Valerno about his teeth).
If it goes well, you have sunk the money into a nice house in a dead location. That’s not necessarily a problem (perhaps you plan to retire there and never leave) but it is a real financial consideration that there’s no real investment value, hence the property being given away in the first place.
I mean, it's a nice fantasy, right? But there are people who are up to this kind of challenge.
Absolutely. I intend to retire abroad and gave this a serious look as a way to get started early. When I got to the point of hunting down personal accounts, and especially after looking at the actual properties on Streetview, I was like
helllll no. The fantasy scenario doesn’t match the reality of what’s being offered.
