Buy your own 800-year-old Tuscan hilltop village on Ebay for a …

Posted on by Listify Me

By
Nick Pisa


PUBLISHED:

18:18 GMT, 27 June 2012

|

UPDATED:

01:09 GMT, 28 June 2012

Ever dreamed of owning an entire medieval hilltop hamlet set on the edge of a national park in Tuscany?

Well, if you have £2million to spare then you might just find what you are looking for on eBay.

Listed for sale among the everyday electrical gadgets, household essentials and clothes is the 800-year-old village of Pratariccia – complete with 25 properties and adjoining farmland.

Stunning: The entire 800 year old medieval hamlet of Pratariccia, which totals 25 run down and abandoned houses, plus adjoining agricultural land, is for sale on Ebay for £2 million. The view from the hamlet is pictured

Lovely: Pratariccia has been uninhabited since the early 1960’s. It is deep in the Tuscan countryside, just 25 miles east of Florence

The catch? It has been uninhabited for 50 years and its traditional Tuscan stone homes are ramshackle at best and collapsed at worst.

Currently owned by an undisclosed monastic order, it was placed on the auction website earlier this month by an estate agent who describes it as ‘in need of restoration’.

Pratariccia has been uninhabited since the early 1960s. As time took its toll on the elderly in the village, youngsters moved out in search of work and it now resembles a ghost town. Set in beautiful rolling hills 2,400ft above sea level, Pratariccia is only 25 miles east of Florence and close to the region of Italy dubbed ‘Chiantishire’ for its abundance of British residents and holidaymakers.

Idyllic: Despite it being completely run-down, the potential for development of the site as a lucrative luxury holiday development is obvious

Estate agent LPQ Immobiliare said that so far it had received ‘a number of interesting bids’.

Carlo Magni, who is handling the sale, said: ‘It’s a unique opportunity to own your very own Tuscan hamlet – and the price is a complete bargain. Where else would you get all those buildings, land, panoramic view, plus all the history for the price.’

He said the hamlet was once home to about 120 residents, but as the older generation died out and the economic boom gripped Italy, the younger inhabitants moved on and never returned.

Popular: Luca Santini, mayor of Stia, the nearest inhabited town, said: ‘It’s a wonderful hamlet with beautiful views across the Tuscan countryside’

Luca Santini, mayor of Stia, the nearest inhabited town, said: ‘It’s a  wonderful hamlet with beautiful views across the Tuscan countryside but it could do with some work.

‘If someone with the money to spare invested in the village and rebuilt it they would have a fantastic development and it would generate work for the local economy. Putting the hamlet on the internet is the best way to get publicity, so hopefully it will sell quickly.’

Two years ago the cash-strapped Italian government put up for sale 9,000 properties, worth £3billion, via its land registry website, with palaces, castles, islands and palazzos being offered for sale in an effort to cut the country’s £1trillion public debt.

Gorgeous: The sale has been described as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to own your own Tuscan hamlet

Work to be done: The hamlet is clearly in need of some love and attention

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.



  • Newest


  • Oldest


  • Best rated


  • Worst rated

Knock – Knock!
Who’s there?
Mafia.
Oh S#it!

Report abuse

A squirt of Mister Sheen and a rub of a J-cloth and the place would look lovely ….

Report abuse

Reminds me of the book, I think it was “Bella Tuscany”, which I loved. It’s such a romantic idea, but the reality is a lot of money and work. Still, for the right buyer it could be made into a fabulous resort property.

Report abuse

In post WW2 era late 1940’s I recall hearing a rather cynical joke, that goes like this. did ya hear about a nuke that fell on Italy and it caused 50 bux worth of damage?
The rub of course is that since Italians don’t do a very good job at keeping their own buildings in top shape like Germans do, nothing for sale in Italy is worth more than 50 bux. These photo’s are proof of that.
If it was such a good bargain, there are 1,000’s of Italians with that kind of money to invest in that place…but they don’t….how come? Same applies to Spain + Portugal where they have 1,000’s of brand new properties that can’t be unloaded,
I recently saw a dilapidated French village up for sale, also abandoned 50 years ago. So far no takers, how come? I suspect local authorities have so many ..oh BTW clauses, built into these contracts you inherit all the escapee families of the village to support as well.
Otherwise it wouldn’t be Italy or France, yes? I’d bid 50 bux for it.

Report abuse

Lets have a whip round, that’s only eighty odd grand a plot!

Report abuse

don’t I wish…….

Report abuse

Wow. Love it.

Report abuse

Must currently be owned by someone at the DM as this is the second (or is it 3rd) time this article has been on the site…

Report abuse

Wonderful – wouldn’t that make a great end of the world retreat? Let the apocalpyse come, your community can be happily living off its own food, pumping its own water from the river, olive oil for the lamps. And of course since this is Italy there must be a vineyard or two included as well. No wonder these old monasteries were able to survive for hundreds of years.

Report abuse

One downside – there will be plenty of work to do.
Bigger downside – it will be near Polly Toynbee’s Tuscany pad.

Report abuse

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Open bundled references in tabs: