Canberra couple who bought a €1 Italian home reveal the reality of the scheme. A Canberra couple have revealed the truth behind Italy's viral €1 home scheme after they beat 60,000 applicants to secure a crumbling Sicilian property.
How it all began
When American Rae Knopik met Australian backpacker Declan Norrie in a crowded Florence bar, she never imagined she'd move to Australia soon after. Nor, for that matter, did she think she'd be buying a crumbling home for €1 in Sicily with him. However, eight years on, the couple are now preparing to marry in Italy after landing one of the country's most sought-after bargain homes.
The couple, who snapped up a crumbling Italian abode for just €1 (A$1.60), say the reality behind the viral scheme is very different to what most people think. Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Knopik said the story started with a whirlwind romance that saw her uproot her entire life after knowing Mr Norrie, who is from Canberra, for only a matter of weeks.
The pair first met in March 2018 inside what Ms Knopik described as a "crowded, horrific American bar" in Florence, Italy. At the time, they were both 23. Mr Norrie was backpacking through Europe while Ms Knopik was living in Florence. "We were inseparable pretty much immediately," Ms Knopik said. "By three days in, I remember thinking, 'This is my person'."
Ironically, Ms Knopik said she originally agreed to the date because she assumed an Australian romance could never become serious. "I thought Aussies were fun and hot but way too far away to ever fall in love with," she joked.
A leap of faith
After spending two weeks together in Italy, the pair faced an impossible choice when Mr Norrie returned home to Australia. Ms Knopik then boarded a plane to Canberra for what was meant to be a one-month visit but she never left. "Two weeks into the trip, he basically said, 'We can do long distance, but behind every phone call is going to be the question of when one of us moves'," she said. "So he said, 'Why don't we just start our lives now?'"
At 23, Ms Knopik made a decision that stunned even herself. She called her mother in the US to say she was not coming home, quit her job and abandoned plans to move in with a roommate back in America. "It was a really bold decision but I barely even had to think about it," she said. "When you move internationally for love, there's nothing casual about that. You're basically asking one question: 'If I take this leap, are you going to catch me?' And I completely trusted that he would."
Now eight years later, the couple are engaged, living in Canberra and preparing to marry in Sicily in August. Ms Knopik said moving to Australia also pushed her to become more independent and ambitious. With no family or support network in Canberra, she founded the Canberra Gals Network, a non-profit organisation designed to combat social isolation among women. "It gave me this boldness because I had nobody here judging my decisions," she said. "I don't know if I would have started something like that if I'd stayed home."
The €1 home dream
During lockdown in 2021, the couple found themselves daydreaming about travel while stuck inside their one-bedroom Canberra apartment. As they watched YouTube walking tours through Italian villages, one tiny Sicilian town suddenly caught Ms Knopik's attention: Troina. "I Googled it and the first thing that came up was an article about €1 houses," she said. "We were sitting there going, 'Why the hell not?'"
Italy's famous "one Euro house" schemes were designed to revitalise ageing towns suffering population decline, with abandoned homes sold cheaply on the condition buyers renovate them. But Ms Knopik says many people misunderstand how the program actually works. "If I could shout one thing from the rooftops, it's that these houses are not free housing," she said. "There is no world where the Italian government is just handing out free property. It's a partnership with a community."
The couple submitted what they thought was essentially a longshot application during lockdown. Months passed with little contact, leaving them convinced nothing would happen. Then, in 2022, they received a message through LinkedIn informing them they had secured the home. Only later did they learn they had beaten around 60,000 applicants competing for the same property. "We were shocked," Ms Knopik said.
The reality of renovation
The three-storey stone home, believed to date back to the 1400s, sits on a hillside in Troina and was reportedly once part of the town's original watchtower. Neighbours told the couple nobody had properly lived there in around sixty years. Despite the €1 purchase price, the real costs quickly added up with the pair already spending thousands on legal fees, architects, taxes and project management. They are yet to start work but the couple estimate that the entire cost of renovating the home will be around $A97,000. "There were no hidden surprises," Ms Knopik said. "We always understood this was a renovation project, not some magical free house."
The couple say what truly sold them on Troina was not the cheap property itself, but the younger generation fighting to save the historic towns as part of the €1 home program. "It's this heroic group of highly educated young people who left, got degrees and came back to rescue their community," Ms Knopik said. "That's what made us fall in love with the place."
Building a community
Ms Knopik has since built a major online following documenting both the couple's Italian home journey and her experience moving overseas for love. She said many women message her seeking advice about international relationships and relocating abroad. Some stories have happy endings, others do not. "I've had women message me saying they realised their relationship wasn't healthy after watching my content," she said. "There's a lot of pressure in that because I want everyone to have the kind of love story I had. But I also want people to understand the reality."
The couple eventually hope to split their time between Australia, the US and Italy once the renovations are complete. For now, though, Canberra still feels like home. And despite everything that has happened, from moving countries for love to buying a centuries-old Sicilian property, Ms Knopik says she has no regrets. "I trusted myself," she said. "And thankfully, I was right."
