If you’re currently working a job you hate in a place you’d rather not live with dreams of starting your own business and retreating to the rustic life, we’ve got a solution for you that sounds almost too good to be true. CNN reports that the southern Italian region of Calabria is currently looking for an influx of new residents to help increase foot traffic in the region’s sparsely populated villages, and they’re so desperate for new blood that they’re willing to pay you to make the move and help to revitalize the area.
The towns in question are scattered across Calabria (that’s the toe of the boot!) and are willing to offer travelers a yearly income of $33,000 for up to three years. The only catch is that you’re under the age of 40, willing to start a small business in the area, and are capable of moving within 90 days of your application being approved.
The villages in question include Aieta, Albidona, Civita, San Donato di Ninea, Caccuri, Santa Severina, Bova, Samo and Precacore, and Sant’Agata del Bianco, all of which are located oceanside or in the mountains, and boast picturesque views worthy of hanging up on your wall, with a comfortable mediterranean climate that rivals Southern California.
“We want this to be an experiment of social inclusion. Draw people to live in the region, enjoy the settings, spruce up unused town locations such as conference halls and convents with high-speed internet,” Altomonte mayor Gianpietro Coppola told CNN. Coppola was one of the brain’s behind the active resident income project, which regional councilor Gianluca Gallo says will provide a monthly income to residents in the range of $950 to $1,186, with an additional pool of one-off funding to help you start a new commercial business — think: restaurant, bar, B&B, retail space, or rural farm.
The application process is set to launch online in the next few weeks, so while you mull that big life change over, we’re just going to go ahead and drop some photos of each town below to help whet your appetite. Currently, over 75% of Calabrian towns have fewer than 5,000 residents.
Aieta
Albidona
Civita
San Donato di Ninea
Caccuri
Santa Severina
Bova
Samo and Precacore
Sant’Agata del Bianco