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The Municipality of Grotte approved the 1 euro houses project with a municipal resolution in September 2020. The initiative is aimed at combating depopulation, as in other Sicilian villages. Here, the municipality of Grotte expects participation from private individuals who wish to join the project and from owners who want to sell their properties at the symbolic price of 1 euro. The small town with many abandoned houses has today approximately 5000 inhabitants.
Getting to know Grotte
The original name of Grotte was “Erbesso”. That means underground darkness and its origins date back to the 8th century BC.
We find in many accounts of countless underground “cuniculi” that connected various points of the village to facilitate its entry and exit. This favored its colonization and trade.
In the historic centre of the village, you can admire the Mother Church, originating in the 16th century and of great artistic value. Close by is also the Town Hall, located in the former Carmelite convent.
A few kilometers from the village, you can visit the archaeological sitePetra of Calathansuderj. Petra was a prehistoric village where many original tombs have been preserved throught time.
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The site is especially extraordinary because of the complex four-level rooms and galleries, often connected to each other, built during the Byzantine period (6th century B.C.). Rooms, warehouses, silos, cisterns and stables open along the entire perimeter of this singular stone.
A few kilometers from Grotte you will encounter the Firrio forest. The forest is surrounded by cultivated land with rich crops and flourishing pastures. It is also part of the group of seven equipped areas of the province of Agrigento. Its surface is characterized by coniferous forest systems and the area has been equipped with tables, benches, cooking points and services in general for pleasant picnics, walks and excursions.
The village of Grotte can be of considerable tourist interest for its location. It is only a 20-minute drive from the town of Agrigento with its beauties and the wonderful Valley of the Temples and 30 minutes from the sea on the sandy beach of Scala dei Turchi.
Here's how to buy a house for € 1 with our ebook
- Available in English, French and Spanish in PDF and epub format.
- How to buy 1 Euro Houses in Italy?
- How to find available 1 Euro Houses in Italy?
- How to plan for the purchase and renovation?
The municipality of Grotte continues to engage
The urban councillor F.to Arch. Antonio Morreale has issued the following statement on the 1 Euro Houses project in the municipality of Grotte:
Grotte is a small village in the province of Agrigento, Sicily, about 20 km from the sea and the majestic Valley of the temples. A fascinating territory for the natural scenery, colors and silences it offers, unique for the historical testimonies and traditions that characterize it.
A country of slower and simpler times, surrounded by vineyards and flowering mandoles, which looks one way at the Platani valley, with its Sicani hills, on the other the Mediterranean that shines at sunset.
From the central square, the beating heart of the village, winds the network of narrow streets and staircases, a constellation of churches, watchtowers to control the town and observe the stars, fountains and caves, which mark the subsoil of the historic center, which were inhabited and which are still used today, going to mark the texture of a labyrinthine and resilient urban fabric.
The historic center of the town made suggestive by the tangle of houses that overlap with each other and that hide small gardens and bright terraces, despite the fact that it is now almost completely uninhabited, has been hosting for some years a fervent creative and multicultural community, which is divided between the house in the village and the trips to the great Italian and European metropolises.
Thanks also to the presence of an excellent IT infrastructure,the country is able to allow the development of new forms of remote work, guaranteeing a good level of quality of life and offering numerous services to families and moments of sociality and aggregation, typical of small centers.
Grotte also joins the 1 Euro Houses Project in an attempt, already implemented by other Italian municipalities, to encourage people to live in the small villages that are depopulating and to give breath and life to these places.
How to reach GROTTE
By PLANE:
- Palermo Falcone and Borsellino International Airport, 2 hours 20 minutes
By CAR:
- From Palermo via SS121 and SS189, 2 hours and 7 minutes
| Regione | Sicilia | |
| Provincia | Agrigento | |
| Abitanti | 5352 | |
| Altitudine | 516 m |
The 1 Euro Houses project in Grotte
The municipality of Grotte has issued the notice for the acquisition of properties to be sold, to start the recovery and enhancement of the real estate heritage of the town.
All those who intend to join this initiative, can send a special communication to the Protocol Office of the Municipality of Grotte or send to the certified e-mail address comunedigrotte@pec.it the appropriate model “ANNEX A”, declaring their willingness to sell the property.
Link of the Municipality of Grotte here.
Link of the resolution and paperwork here.
Here's how to buy a house for € 1 with our ebook
- Available in English, French and Spanish in PDF and epub format.
- How to buy 1 Euro Houses in Italy?
- How to find available 1 Euro Houses in Italy?
- How to plan for the purchase and renovation?
Contacts of the municipality
Comune di Grotte
Piazza Umberto 1°,
92020 Grotte (AG)
Tel: +39885601577
PEC mail: comune.condela.fg@halleycert.it
