# Sicilian town is giving away free houses

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2015-07-12

architect-this-city, atc, athiscity, cities, comune-di-gangi, eu, european-union, free, free-as-business-model, free-houses, gangi, italy, revitalization, sicily, uncategorized, urban-renewal

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[Gangi, Palermo - Sicily by Claudio Siragusa on 500px](https://500px.com/photo/84855343/gangi-palermo-sicily-by-claudio-siragusa)

[https://500px.com/embed.js](https://500px.com/embed.js)

Buy real estate. It _always_ goes up. That’s the mantra, right?

Few things in life are that black and white.

A small town in Sicily called Gangi is in the midst of a novel urban renewal experiment. They are giving away houses for free to people who will agree to renovate them within a 4 year time period.

[Here’s the “free houses” notice from the Comune Di Gangi](http://www.comune.gangi.pa.it/sportellodoc/free_houses.pdf) explaining how it works and who to contact. You have to be an Italian or EU citizen to participate.

Free can be a powerful business model, as we see all the time with tech companies. And sometimes cities and towns aren’t all that different.

So if you’re looking for a vacation home or want to move to Sicily, now might be a great time.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/sicilian-town-is-giving-away-free-houses)*