Italy Is Paying Potential Expats To Move to Tuscany and People Are Here for It

For a million and one reasons, a lot of Americans are just about fed up with life in the US and considering making the big leap into living abroad as expats. This is especially relevant now as we careen towards yet another nightmarish election season. The future is chaotic and uncertain, and a lot of people are more than ready to just get the heck out of dodge!

Of course, anybody who's ever looked at the logistics of starting a new life abroad knows that it's easier said than done. However, if you've ever dreamed of living in the Italian countryside (and you match a certain set of qualifications), you're in luck. A brand-new initiative in Italy is actually paying people to move to small towns in Tuscany- under a few conditions, of course.

According to @cbsmornings , the regional government of Tuscany is looking for people who are willing to buy homes in one of 76 small Tuscan towns to help them recover from population loss over the last few decades. Applicants will have to buy some serious fixer-uppers as part of the deal, but the government will help buyers offset those costs by offering up to $32,000 USD for renovations!

Related: Young Family's Move to Remote Island in Maine Has People Inspired

Life in a charming, historic small town in Tuscany sounds idyllic and dreamy. This is a very real, very serious commitment, though. You have to commit to a ten-year residency, and your Tuscan home has to be your permanent residency. They obviously don't want people flipping these homes into short-term vacation rentals .

The Irish goverment did something similar last year through the " Our Living Islands " initiative, which offered applicants upwards of $90,000 USD to move to remote Irish island communities and renovate old homes there. These kinds of government initiatives are enacted with the express purpose of breathing new life into sparsely populated communities and keeping them from dying out. Of course, their applicants have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of convenience and big-city amenities for remote country living , to say nothing of all the work they'll have to put in toward home renovations .

It's not an easy lifestyle, but for the right person, it might just be a perfect fit. If the comments under this video were any indication, a surprising number of people were up for the challenge, at least in theory!

"After last night's debate, sign me up," said @approachgingerly.

"I'll volunteer as tribute in a heartbeat," another user jumped in.

"Is this my Under the Tuscan Sun moment?" asked @d_laurel. I bet a lot of people are asking themselves that right now...

Making Your Tuscan Dreams a Reality

Think you might be the perfect fit for this initiative? If so, you'll want to make your move fast. According to Fortune , the Tuscany initiative stops accepting applications on July 27 at 1 pm Tuscany time.

Italians and other EU citizens will have the easiest time applying for this program, but non-EU residents with a long-term residency permit (good for at least 10 years) are eligible as well. If you don't already have a long-term residency permit, you'll need to obtain one before you can apply to this program, adding a difficult hurdle to this process (especially with the tight time limit). If you want to read over the eligibility requirements, dig into the initiative's details, or submit your own application, you can do so on the Tuscan government's " Residenzialità in Montagna 2024 " page.

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