Molise is one of the smallest regions of Italy, the mountainous area suffers heavily from rural exodus. With generous financial incentives she has recruited in the past two and a half months for new residents - and thus apparently found great popularity.
More than 600 projects of people who wanted to settle in Molise had been submitted by the deadline of 30 November, the regional government in Campobasso confirmed on request. The applicants came from five continents. In addition, 5062 e-mails and 18,427 telephone calls were received with the request for information.
The region, located about 200 kilometers southeast of Rome, offers immigrants a subsidy of 700 euros per month for a period of three years. The condition is that they move to a village with less than 2000 inhabitants and stay there for at least five years. You have to start a business there or renovate a building as a residential building. (Read more here: In Molise there is money for free - every month.)
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Molise recruits immigrants: 700 euros per month - for livingThe program is initially limited to 40 participants. A commission must now decide which of the submitted projects are the most promising.
Molise belongs to the Mezzogiorno, the underdeveloped south of Italy, which has been losing inhabitants for decades. Especially young people are looking for work in the distance. Currently, it has just over 300,000 inhabitants, in the 1950s it was once more than 400,000.
There are more than 100 villages in Molise with less than 2000 inhabitants. The region between the Adriatic and the Apennines advertised among other things with clean air, beautiful landscapes and low crime.
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The event recalled an offer from Sicily that received worldwide attention last year: the municipality of Sambuca di Sicilia had offered houses for the price of one euro for sale in order to attract new citizens (read more here).
