Medieval Italian village goes up for sale on eBay for Euro 2,5 million

PanARMENIAN.Net - Proving that property deals in Tuscany are not just the preserve of rock stars and aristocrats, an entire Tuscan village has gone up for sale on eBay, The Guardian said.

Nestled among oaks at 850 metres altitude and blessed with stunning views over the Casentino valley, the medieval village of Pratariccia has stood empty for 50 years, ever since its population of farmers and shepherds abandoned their stone cottages for factory jobs during Italy's economic boom.

Now the owners of the remote village – reportedly a religious order – are seeking to cash in with an online sale.

The price tag of €2.5m may put off most holiday home buyers, but the deal does include 25 cottages and eight hectares of land where deer, wild boar and even wolves roam.

Local estate agent Carlo Magni, who is handling the sale through eBay's classified section, admitted another €1m would be needed to do up the crumbling cottages, provide electricity and add a road. "Right now you can get to within 800 metres in a jeep, then you're walking," he said.

Talks with a group of artists, who were hoping to turn the village into a retreat, had come to nothing, he said, adding: "They were put off by the costs."

But, he added: "It's a stupendous location, 40km from Florence, with hermits still living in the nearby hermitage of Camaldoli and all the castles you'll ever need, dating from when Siena and Arezzo fought over the area."

Pratariccia is one of hundreds of abandoned or semi-abandoned hilltop villages in stunning locations in Italy that are now being eyed by developers as potential hotels – where guests get their own cottage – or health spas, or boltholes for Italian émigrés to return to for retirement, like San Basile in Calabria, which has been selling empty cottages cheaply.

"Italy is deep in an economic crisis and needs to sell," said Magni. "Finding buyers through the trade press costs, whereas eBay is free and reaches a huge public. It's good for selling small things, but I think we will see a lot more Italian villages and even castles coming up for sale."