Locana, Italy Is Paying Families $10,000 to Move There

Not long after Sambuca, Italy enticed people to move there with $1 houses, a different quaint Italian village is offering an even better deal. People reports that Locana, a town located in the Italian Alps, will pay you $10,300 over three years to move there—but the catch is that you have to have at least one child.

Locana is one of many towns in rural Italy that has seen its population age and decline in recent decades. There are roughly 1500 residents in Locana today compared to the 7000 that lived there a century ago, and with 40 deaths and only 10 births per year, the downward trend isn't stopping.

By paying people, specifically families, to move to town, Locana mayor Giovanni Bruno Mattiet hopes to rebuild the community and renew hope for its future. A new population of young people would help keep Locana's school open (the institution comes close to shutting down each year). New residents can work remotely, but Mattiet also welcomes them to take over one of the dozens of defunct shops, bars, and restaurants in town.

Candidates can be foreigners or Italian residents, and they should make a salary of at least $8000 a year. When they're not working, they can partake in the many activities the Gran Paradiso mountain reserve has to offer, such as rock climbing, ice skating, and fishing.

If for some reason getting paid to move to a picturesque town in the Italian Alps isn't your thing, similar offers are sometimes made in the U.S. Last year, both Tulsa, Oklahoma and Vermont lured remote workers with $10,000 checks.