If you’ve always dreamt of upping sticks and moving to Italy (who hasn’t?), there’s never been a better time to do so. Not only can you pay just €1 a month to rent a home in a Sardinian village or buy an entire house for €1 in Molise – now one northern Italian city will pay you a massive €150 per month to live there.
The place in question is Mantua, a city in eastern Lombardy in northern Italy, which is offering to pay €150 (£130, $165) per month towards the rents of new residents. As Mantua has an increasingly aging population, the hope is that the offer will bring young people and families to the city.
And before you get any ideas about Mantua being run-down or dull – it most certainly isn’t. A historic city surrounded by lakes and filled with Renaissance palaces, Mantua is as renowned for its art and architecture as it is for its cuisine, which is diverse and award-winning (the city was crowned European Region of Gastronomy in 2017). In short, it’s a very desirable place to live.
So how do you get your hands on Mantua’s €150 handouts? Well, first up you’ll need to sign on to rent a property in the city for at least a year. No official income threshold has been announced, though the scheme is reportedly aiming for those earning around €1,200-€1,500 (£1,000-£1,300, $1,315-$1,640) per month.
Mantua is apparently looking to accept around 100 applications per year for the scheme, which will last two years. In total, €400,000 (£340,000, $440,000) has been set aside to fund it all.
Applications for Mantua’s €150-per-month scheme will open in September, so watch this space for updates!
Did you see that you could get paid over €80,000 to move to an Irish island?