Did you know that homes in some of Italy's most beautiful regions are being sold off for a little over $1? That it's all part of a project to attract new life into some of the country’s oldest towns and villages? Do you know someone who actually bought and renovated one? Well, now you do.
Click or scroll on as we introduce you to Meredith Tabbone, a Chicago financial advisor, who impressively transformed a long-abandoned $1 house in Sambuca di Sicilia, Sicily, into an idyllic European getaway...
Before we meet Meredith, let's break down what the scheme involves. Throughout Italy, there are plenty of gorgeous towns and villages where job opportunities are scarce. Because of this, many have seen a sharp decline in populations, as young residents move away in search of better prospects. This has left places like Sambuca di Sicilia, as well as the Calabria region, with dwindling populations and endless vacant homes.
In a bid to change this and bring new life to these places, authorities across Italy have created enticing schemes to encourage people to move there. Sambuca di Sicilia started selling properties from $1 back in 2019. According to CNN, the only stipulation was that buyers had to put down a $5.4k deposit and, if successful, renovate their new home within three years. So, how did Meredith come to buy a $1 home?
Well, in 2019 she discovered that Sambuca di Sicilia was selling off abandoned buildings for less than the price of a Starbucks coffee. “CNN published an article about the program and my friend forwarded it to me,” Meredith explains. “I realized when reading the piece that the town holding the auction was the same one my great-grandfather was from.”
Meredith's great-grandfather relocated to the U.S. in 1902 – a fact that Meredith had recently discovered. To her, the auction seemed like fate and she immediately began looking into buying an Italian property of her own.
Meredith soon found out about a silent auction that officials in Sambuca di Sicilia were holding and this is how she placed her bid. “It was a very straightforward process,” she says.
“I submitted a $5.4k deposit to the bank that was listed on the auction site and sent in a one-page form via UPS, which had my name, bid amount, and the property address.” Meredith spent $6k on the property, shown here during one of her first trips to Sambuca di Sicilia.
The original $1 house was enclosed by various other rundown buildings and Meredith saw great potential in them. She enquired about buying these too and managed to snap up four surrounding homes, via private sale, with a view of merging them together to create one large home. Two spaces would be turned into guest houses for visiting friends and family.
“I purchased five properties in total but there are seven homes within those buildings,” Meredith explains. “The most I spent on any of them was $38k." In total, the primary residence measures roughly 2,700 square feet, excluding the garages. This image shows the collection of homes that Meredith purchased, in an idyllic cul-de-sac.
Amazingly, the oldest part of Meredith’s $1 home was built in the 1600s. The rest of the properties were constructed in the 1800s and 1900s, so are all extremely historic and bursting with character. This image shows the condition of the main house when Meredith bought it.
Though clearly in need of a great deal of work, its impressive groin vaulted ceilings and rustic stonework highlight how stunning it once was – and could be once again. So, how did Meredith approach renovating such important historic buildings?
Meredith's father was an architect and over the years he taught her a lot about design. Taking this knowledge, she created the blueprints and designs for her new home and then delegated tasks to local professionals. “I had a primary team of four; a quantity surveyor, an architect, a stone mason and an electrician," Meredith says. "But in total I worked with about 20 different professionals throughout the five years of the project."
Meredith found her architect on Instagram when she started following some hashtags for the village. From there, he helped Meredith find a quantity survey and contractor.
Before the renovation, Meredith and her team did a walk-through of the entire property and established a general plan. Her quantity surveyor also took care of all necessary approvals, since all plans had to be signed off by the municipality of Sambuca prior to the work starting.
When Meredith wasn't in Italy, the team communicated via WhatsApp, which proved a little challenging since some of her team didn't speak much English. They got by using Google Translate and pictures of the property that they drew over to illustrate changes. Talking of changes, this image shows the exterior of the buildings, now beautifully incorporated and sympathetically restored.
This image highlights just how much work was done on the original $1 home. Scaffolding was placed outside so that Meredith's contractor could remove the old, crumbling plasterwork, fix any issues with the stone beneath and then reseal the exterior with fresh white render, to ensure it remains watertight.
The local authority was called in to bury the new electrical cabling below the ground and Meredith's contractor also restored the home's guttering pipes. Of course, the garage doors, exterior doors, windows and Juliet balconies were all replaced, too. Let's take a look at some more before and after shots that Meredith shared with her Instagram followers during the work.
Internally, the contractors started by removing the plaster to check the condition of the stone behind the walls. Some of the walls were so delicate that steel beams had to be inserted to support them. An extensive project, everything from new plasterwork to subfloors, ceiling beams, electrics and plumbing was needed. Some of the floors also had to be leveled.
On the ground floor, you'll find a spacious foyer, a kitchen, dining room, living room, a bathroom and two bedrooms – one with an ensuite. This before image shows a ground-floor entrance leading into a rather dilapidated room. A staircase to the right of the entranceway leads to the first floor.
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Following five years of work, this once rundown room is now a stunning kitchen. The original doorway has been replaced with an arched window, while new glass French doors allow plenty of natural light to flood into the room. The old stone staircase has also been completely recreated by Meredith's carpenter. More on this later!
The groin vaulted ceiling and exposed stone walls certainly take center stage and in this image (on the right-hand side) you can also see the steel support beams, needed to prop up the delicate stone walls. On the left, you can see the new front door.
The room used to be much smaller, but thanks to Meredith buying additional homes, she was able to knock through and create a large and inviting space. The old, small kitchen shown on the left was once part of the adjoining building.
For Meredith, the kitchen proved to be one of the hardest spaces to renovate and she admits she learned a lot from the process. She opted for a gorgeous marble island, open shelving and light wood cabinets that subtly complement the yellow shade of the original, restored stone walls.
Through the arched doorway, there's a second kitchen-pantry area and on the right side of the photo, you can see what remains of an old horse trough, since this part of the building was once a stable.
Clever touches can be found throughout the room, including a concealed extractor fan, which was placed in the countertop itself, to avoid the need for a wall- or ceiling-mounted model.
"I felt like the combination of a groin vault ceiling with the more typical overhead fan was going to look like a square peg in a round hole," Meredith shared with her Instagram followers. Ironically, despite all the work she put into the kitchen, Meredith admits she doesn't really cook.
Bringing together the various buildings also meant Meredith could create a spacious dining room, for hosting friends and family. Semi-open-plan, the rooms softly flow into one another.
This image shows the dining room after a fair amount of work had already been carried out. The walls and ceiling have been replastered and the doorways finished. The subfloors have also been laid in this photo, ready for new flooring tiles.
Almost unrecognizable, the dining room is now chic and inviting, with a spacious table that can seat eight people. Slate-style flooring ties the kitchen and dining room together.
A statement fireplace sits on one wall and even though her contractors were shocked she wanted one, Meredith was convinced that, come winter, she'd love to turn on a crackling fire while enjoying some homemade pizza and a glass of Sicily's finest red!
The ground floor is also home to two bedrooms and this is the smaller of them. In July 2020, while Meredith was stuck in Chicago due to the Coronavirus pandemic, her team raised the floor of this room about three feet to bring it level with the rest of the floors. The small window was also widened to draw additional light inside.
The space was turned into a guest bedroom. It once had a concrete ceiling but Meredith decided to rip this out and replace it with a natural wood ceiling, with white-washed beams. A lovely herringbone parquet floor finishes the room perfectly. However, the most impressive bedroom in the house can be found on the opposite side of the ground floor...
During the renovation, Meredith’s contractor discovered something incredible. The ground floor (AKA the Piano Terra) was originally a stone quarry and the house was built over it. “There were two windows in the room that were at some point bricked over,” Meredith told her Instagram followers.
“It was built as one large room that eventually had two walls added and became three rooms. Two were used as horse stables and one as a storage room.”
Meredith’s contractor came up with the brilliant idea to create a floating floor above the quarry, where a bedroom could be placed. A plexiglass panel in the floor allows Meredith to see down into the space below, which has now been transformed into a hidden spa room, complete with an infrared sauna and steam room.
A motorized glass door can be lifted to provide access to a concealed staircase. The door cost more than expected, at €6,550 ($7k), but we're sure it was worth every penny. Aside from this ultra-cool secret feature, the bedroom stuns with its arching ceiling, quirky alcoves and exposed stonework.
This winding staircase leads from the ground to the first floor of the building. The image on the left shows just how dilapidated the steps were when Meredith purchased the abandoned homes.
Today, thanks to a lot of work by her carpenter, the staircase is now modern, chic and, perhaps more importantly, safe to use. It was finished with natural oak treads and recessed LED lighting.
On the first floor of the home, you'll find a bright hallway, seen here totally transformed with new timber flooring, doors and furnishings. A spacious closet was added to the space to make way for a plant room. The cupboard hides a water heater (which also fuels the home's underfloor heating system), as well as the storage battery for the solar panels that sit on the roof. These were lifted into place by crane.
Surprisingly, the closet ended up being one of the most difficult tasks of the project. "It took months to figure out how to install it," Meredith shared with her Instagram followers. Why? Because the walls were not attached to the floor below, so the contractors had to work out how to anchor these elements together.
The hallway flows into a spacious living room, shown here mid-way through the renovation. New plaster has been applied to the walls and a hidden window was also discovered and restored, to allow additional light to filter into the space from the rooftop terrace above.
It's hard to believe this is the same room. Light, modern and cozy, the living room is now incredibly inviting. "Using glass doors in between the living room and library, so the light can come in from the balconies, was definitely a game changer for the living room," Meredith shared.
The living room had an asbestos ceiling and roof, but luckily it wasn't too difficult to fix. Meredith's contractor arranged for a company that specializes in asbestos removal to visit the building site and safely remove it.
They also disposed of it in an environmentally conscientious way. This part of the project was essential and cost Meredith €600 ($643.) They replaced the asbestos with a wooden ceiling that was stained in a soft white shade.
During the renovation, all the old internal plaster was removed, since much of it was crumbling and damaged. Beneath the plaster, the contractor found these stunning, yellow stone bricks and it was decided that they would be left exposed in the living room to showcase the history of the building.
Meredith was heavily influenced by the architectural elements of the home when designing the property. She also took inspiration from Sicily in general as well as the nearby coastline.
Two more bedrooms lie upstairs, both with Juliet balconies. This guest bedroom comes with an ensuite bathroom and a chic, monochrome color palette.
When it came to materials, Meredith tried to source as much as she could locally, including floor tiles from Ferrante in Cannino and Sambuca stone.
Thanks to her fantastic team, Meredith didn’t really face any unforeseen costs. “We spent significantly more than we originally estimated, but that was because the project kept growing, not because something happened that was out of my control,” she says.
“I decided to make every single element of the home custom and that was a substantial investment, but well worth it in the end. I ended up spending around €475,000 ($510k) on the renovation. It was an extremely collaborative process and my team flawlessly executed my plan,” she told us.
The property also boasts two outdoor terraces, with the highest one perfect for hosting dinner parties with sunset views. It features a dining table and a pizza oven. In the courtyard outside, Meredith also removed an old chicken coop and in its place, created a stunning fountain. It was custom-made by hand, using local stone and leftover ceramic, hand-painted tiles, which are over 100 years old.
The renovation took five years – due partly to the sheer scale of the task and partly to Covid delays. Meredith now splits her time between Chicago and Italy, spending about four months a year in Sicily. As for regrets, she has just one: wishing she'd embraced a slower pace of life sooner. The main thing she learned during the project is that when it comes to renovating, patience is key.
Of course, we couldn't let Meredith go without sharing her top tips for taking on a project like this and she had some excellent words of wisdom to share: "Jump in and don’t wait for everything to be perfect or well defined, or you will never get started," she said. "This is how we approached the renovation. Room by room, wall by wall, floor by floor, very carefully figuring out the pieces of the puzzle to make my home beautiful, comfortable and functional."
If you're feeling inspired by Meredith's amazing story, then head to the official website of Sambuca di Sicilia and check out all their homes currently for sale. The price has gone up though, to €3 ($3.20.)
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