Recently eBay listed the Tuscan village of Pratariccia for sale. At 850m altitude the medieval village looks over the beautiful Casentino valley, and has been abandoned since the early 1960's when villagers traded their farming and shepherding lifestyles for jobs in Italian factories during the economic boom. It is believed the owners of the village are a monastic order, and are looking to sell the village, which includes 25 cottages and eight hectares of land, for only €2.5m. At the moment, deer, wild boar, and wolves roam the land, and without proper road leading to the site, after driving within 800m, Pratariccia must be reached on foot. It is approximated that a further €1m would be needed to do renovate the cottages, add the road, and connect to electricity. However, only 40km east from Florence, €3.5m or so seems like a steal for an entire village. Neighbouring Pratariccia are the hilltop villages of Bibbiena and Poppi, and a national park from where the river Arno is sourced.
Pratariccia is in obvious need of a lot of restoration work, but I think that if it falls into the hands of the right developers it could become a great investment and would make a beautiful holiday retreat for private or tourist use. What fun it would be to be a property developer and work with such richly historical sites.
