The municipality of Sambuca of Sicily received 49 envelopes two years ago for earning one of the 16 houses owned by the municipal administration and auctioned at the symbolic price of 1 euro. “The highest was 25 thousand euro and was presented by an American woman from Virginia” said the mayor Leo Ciaccio, who launched the idea. The buyers came from Singapore, Poland, China, Argentina, Lithuania, USA, Canada and just one from Brescia.

The mayor Ciaccio’s idea was not innovative, as ten years ago Vittorio Sgarbi, mayor of Salemi (Trapani) at that time, was the first to attempt this path to repopulate, save and relaunch the historic centre devastated by the earthquake of 1968. The program failed due to the risk of collapse identified by the Public Prosecutor in many auctioned buildings (for which the art critic was indicted) but, since then, about twenty other small municipalities, from North to South, attempted this expedient to repopulate: from the closer Gangi (Palermo) to Ollolai (Nuoro), passing by Carrega Ligure (Alessandria) and Lecce dei Marsi (L’Aquila). Now about then Sicilian municipalities have followed suit: Cammarata, Bivona and Sambuca in the province of Agrigento, Termini Imerese and Gangi in that of Palermo, Salemi (Trapani), Regalbuto (Enna), Mussomeli (Caltanissetta) and Saponara (Messina). Ruined dwellings to be totally restored, but located in breathtaking places of the peninsula, near the sea or surrounded by greenery and in our food and wine traditions, abandoned for lack of work and resources to maintain them. In some cases, it went wrong, in others, like Maremma in Montieri (Grosseto), the parallel real estate market has served to revive even the traditional one.

“I told myself: what do I have to lose? What are the disadvantages?”

For Sambuca, which in 2016 was awarded the title of best Italian small town, the idea to revitalize the historical centre of the Saracen village proved to be brilliant. “In a short time, we received more than a hundred thousand information requests and hundreds of agencies contacted us”, reminded the mayor. Thus, given the success, this year Sambuca auctioned about fifteen houses owned by the Municipality, this time at 2 euros. The announcement was to be published in September, but then Covid hit and plans were postponed.

Two years ago, among the buyers there was also the American actress Lorraine Bracco, known for her role in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) and for the character Jennifer Melfi, the therapist on The Sopranos. “About two years ago I read online about a small hill town in Sicily, where abandoned and ruined houses were sold for one euro”, said the actress in an interview by the New York Times. “I told myself: what do I have to lose? What are the disadvantages?”. So she jumped on the first plane to fly to Sicily and to buy one of those crumbling houses for one euro, bringing it back to the glory of the past.

What brought her to Sicily was also the call of the roots. “I wanted to pay tribute to the Sicilian origins of my family”.

Lorraine Bracco decided to document her adventure. She contacted the cable channel HGTV, convincing them to send a crew to record her efforts. And that’s how she became the protagonist of My Big Italian Adventure, her series of house restorations that debuted on 30th October.

“The most ambitious result in my life is not to maintain a career as an actress for forty years but raising my two grown-up daughters Margaux and Stella”, told the 66-year-old actress. “I don’t care about skydiving or anything like that, but I have experience in the real estate market, looking for residences and investment opportunities. I have always made money, and that’s good for me, especially now when it’s harder to find a part for an older actress in the movie world”.

The actress contacted the HGTV production and pitched the idea. “It was not entirely in line with our typical way of building a show, but it seemed interesting”, Loren Ruch, senior vice president for HGTV group development and production, explained to the New York Times.

What brought her to Sicily was also the call of the roots. “I wanted to pay tribute to the Sicilian origins of my family”. Bracco traced her paternal lineage to Palermo, even though her father was born in Detroit and his parents raised their family in Westbury, New York.

Fan of home restoration shows and HGTV programming, Bracco was convinced that her project in Sicily could be a good series for the channel. So, she contacted Loren Ruch directly and launched the idea. “It was not entirely in line with our typical way of building a show, but it seemed interesting”, explained Loren Ruch to New York Times. It went well, so that cable has managed to cover its production costs for My Big Italian Adventure, also offering a payment to Bracco to have appeared in the series, “but I covered the costs of renovating the house”, wants to underline the Hollywood star. In addition to restoring a ruined building, it was necessary to bring water and electricity. After months of work, the final cost was about 250,000-300,000 dollars, thus exceeding the initial budget of $150,000.

The house is now ready, and it is the protagonist of My Big Italian Adventure, but Lorraine Bracco will only enjoy it at the end of the pandemic.

Translated by Daniela Marsala