The woman who bought one of Italy’s ‘one euro houses’ reveals the truth behind the scheme

A woman has turned an abandoned ‘one euro’ Italian house into a £384,000 dream home – with a bathroom, outdoor kitchen and wine cellar.

Meredith Tabbone, 45, decided to bid on a €1 house for a “poop” after her friend sent her an article about the scheme.

Several small Italian towns have made headlines for selling cheap houses for €1 a pop in the past couple of years.

Municipalities offer houses for the symbolic price of €1. They say improving and housing these homes for years to come is worth more to cities than selling them at full price.

Meredith threw in a casual bid of £4,400 – for a disused 1600s building in Sambuca di Sicilia in Sicily, Italy.

The building had no electricity or running water and the roof was thick with asbestos.

Meredith bought the house next door for £27,000 and knocked up to create a four-bedroom, five-bathroom property.

She spent £384,000 and five years creating her dream holiday home with an outdoor kitchen, spa and outdoor party room.

Meredith, a financial adviser, from Chicago, Illinois, USA, said: “The house was in very bad shape – but in many ways, it was everything I expected it to be and more.

“There was a lot of charm.

“It had such interesting architectural detail – you could really see the history coming through the walls. But this was a fixer-upper, to say the least.

“It was worth it, it turned out well.

“It’s modern, but OK. It’s a vacation home.”

Meredith began researching how to obtain Italian citizenship in 2016 and discovered that her father Michael’s great-grandfather, Fillippo Tabbone, came from Sambuca di Sicilia – a small village in Sicily.

After reading an article about people bidding on one-euro houses in Italy, Meredith placed a bid in January 2019 and found out it was successful in May of that year.

She started work on it a month later – spending £661 to remove the roof in an environmentally safe way.

In August 2020, she bought the house next door at a private sale to knock up and create a 3,000 square meter property.

Meredith said: “When we first saw the house – it was 750 square meters, there was no electricity, running water or windows – and it was thick with asbestos.

“Originally, the plan was just to turn it into a little escape house.

“While we originally wanted it as a little getaway – we’ve turned it into a dream home.”

Meredith has bought two guest houses in the same village for £28,000 in total, which will need minor repairs.

She also bought a disused building for £58,000, which she is converting into an art gallery and apartment for artists to stay in.

Meredith is currently gathering plans and manpower to begin renovating the gallery later this year.

Areas in Italy with house plans €1

Where you can shop

After five years of hard work, Meredith’s holiday home was finally completed in April 2024 – and she now spends four months a year abroad in Italy.

She said: “It was very slow and tiring.

“The sunsets are spectacular.”

Meredith recommends that people consider buying a house with a euro, but said it’s not for the faint of heart.

She said: “I went inside.

“If you can muster the strength it’s worth it.”