You’ve no doubt heard that homes throughout Italy are being sold off from €1 (85p/$1.07), in a bid to breathe new life into some of the country’s oldest towns and villages, but have you ever heard of anyone who actually bought and renovated one?

Well, now you have. Read on to meet Meredith Tabbone, a financial advisor from Chicago, USA, who undertook the project of a lifetime to transform a long-abandoned €1 house in Sambuca di Sicilia, a comune on the island of Sicily, into a dreamy European escape…