Rubia Daniels a solar consultant and business owner, flew to Mussomeli, Sicily, within days of hearing about the ‘one euro house’ scheme, launched to help fill in derelict properties, in 2019, making her one of the first to buy a house outside the scheme. A woman who bought three houses in Italy for just one euro each four years ago has finally finished working on one of her projects.
She bought three dilapidated historic redevelopment houses, paying only three euros in total for them. They are a 10-minute drive from each other and required 20,000 euros ($22,000) of work each to restore them to their former glory. She plans to turn the largest property into a wellness center, and one into an art gallery, and live in her smallest with her partner, Kenneth Pitts, 65, during her retirement.
Daniels expects each house to be worth 30,000 euros ($33,000) when renovated, but she has no plans to sell what she considers a “very small investment” in her future. Daniels, a project manager from San Fransisco, California, US, but originally from Brazil, said: “You basically get the property for free and then you’re expected to spend 20,000 euros ($22,000) to remodel the exterior.”
Rubia Daniels Age
Rubia Daniels is 49 years old.
Rubia Daniels Buys three houses in Italy for just €3
‘You can’t even get a car for $20,000 in California, it’s a very small investment. ‘We already have one almost finished when we leave, and we expect the second to be ready by October. ‘The third house, I haven’t started yet, but that will be my biggest project. The roof is completely collapsed, but it will be so beautiful.
“I have never felt overwhelmed or fearful about this project, it is a big task but a great opportunity.” Italy’s one-euro housing scheme was launched in Sicily in 2019 as a way to help repopulate quiet areas where buildings have fallen into disuse and dilapidation. All buildings are to be repaired and require investment and hard work to bring them up to scratch.
When Daniels first learned of the scheme the year it was launched, she was fascinated and flew to Sicily to view the properties just three days later. By June 2019, she owned three abandoned houses in Mussomeli, Sicily, a small town that reminded her of her own childhood in Brazil.
She said: “I packed up all my tools, bought a ready-made generator and pressure washer, by then my partner was thinking ‘this woman is crazy’. “We went, and I brought my brother-in-law from Brazil to help us with the renovation.” They started with the smallest house first, which was in the best condition of the three and was in a livable condition in no time.
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For all properties, they plan to keep as many original features as possible, inside and out. The pandemic brought things to a halt for two years, until Daniels finally managed to return to Sicily again in June 2022. Since then, Daniels and her husband have visited every few months to continue renovations on the second property, which she hopes to turn into an art gallery.
Once this is done, she will move into the third property, which she said will be her biggest project of hers. Daniels, a mother of four, said: ‘It’s a four-story corner building, it’s so beautiful. Everything is beautiful. When you enter the houses you feel the history, it’s incredible, like going back in time”.
Daniels said partner Kenneth is “very supportive” of the ambitious project. She is able to fly to Sicily so often because her work is completely remote. Once she’s fully furnished, Daniels plans to list the property on Airbnb during the months she’s in the US, for additional income.
She said: ‘It was a fantastic new concept for me. ‘I work in the environmental industry and using what we already have where properties have been abandoned is a great opportunity. ‘In Sicily the air is clean, the food is excellent, and the place is just great.
‘Mussomeli is a small town, but we still have hospitals, banks, pharmacies, supermarkets, bars, restaurants, and a small area with boutiques. ‘It’s a small city but everything is in place, you don’t have to leave the city at all.
‘It is only 40 minutes from the coast and there are also many archeological sites to see. ‘And in the next few years, I can pass the houses on to my children. “All of this is possible thanks to the one-euro program.”
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