18 April,2011 09:04 AM IST | | Agencies
It sounds almost too good to be true: an entire medieval village in Italy for sale for the price of a modest flat in London. But for anyone ufffd485,000u00a0 (Rs 3.50 crore) will buy the historic village of Valle Piola, which is surrounded by wild and mountainous terrain in the heart of one of the country's biggest national parks. Italy is littered with abandoned hill villages but Valle Piola is a particular gem, consisting of 11 crumbling stone buildings, including a half-ruined 13th century church and two shepherds' houses.
Cut off from the real world: The only link the village has to the outside
world is one dusty road.u00a0
It lies in the middle of the Gran Sasso national park in the central Abruzzo region, an area that has been severely depopulated by a decline in sheep farming. The settlement was first mentioned in records in 1059 and some of the houses have distinctively-shaped wooden balconies believed to have been influenced by Lombard invaders from Italy's north.
It lies at an altitude of more than 3,000ft, in a natural amphitheatre of mountains in the Apennines, buffeted by snow during the winter and baked by the sun during long, hot summers. Its only link with the outside world is a dusty dirt road that, once it runs through the village, peters out into a mule track. The local council, along with an elderly man who owns some of the buildings, has put Valle Piola on the market for ufffd485,000u00a0 (Rs 3.5crore) because there are no public funds to protect the place from vandals, let alone restore it.
The council hopes that a buyer will come forward and breathe new life into the hamlet. "It's been deserted for about 30 years," said Daniele Palumbi, the mayor of the nearby town of Torricella Sicura. "It's a beautiful spot, a real jewel, and the buildings are all made of local stone.
