And finally…ghost town fears see Italian village offer €2000 gift and €50 p/m rent to stop exodus

Last year a report produced by Legambiente, an Italian environmental association, found that 2,500 villages across the country risked being abandoned owing to depopulation.

But Mayor Daniele Galliano has made it clear that he isn’t going to just sit back and let that happen to his home of Bormida in the Liguria region located just south of Turin and west of Genoa.

A new plan will see those who take up residence in Bormida, which sits 420 metres above sea level and currently has a population of just 394 people, offered the one-off payment and as little to pay as €50 a month in rent.

Mayor Galliano’s initiative is aiming to tackle the exodus of young people who leave to find work in big cities over recent decades.

The local civic leader’s facebook page revealed the plan but noted that the finer details were yet to be established and approved by the local council.

But, The Guardian reports, once enacted, from next year anyone who transfers their residence to Bormida and either rents or buys a property will be gifted €2,000.

And under the low rent scheme, which should be in place within the next two months, a small property will cost just €50 a month while a more spacious one will be no more than €120.

“We’re still working out the plan, but anyone is welcome to come and live here,” said a local councillor, who asked not to be named.

“We’re a small community but very welcoming. We’re high up in a mountain area but also not far from the sea – it’s a healthy lifestyle, the air is very clean.”

If you are tempted, and wonder what life in Bormida would be like, the manager of Oddone Giuseppe, one of the town’s four restaurants, said: “There is nothing much to do here. But life is so simple and natural, we have forests, goats, the church, and plenty of good food. Life would definitely be free of stress.”