An American who bought a house in Italy found big surprises inside

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CNN - Buyers from around the world are snapping up charming old homes in isolated villages in Italy with their own special agendas, and they have one thing in common: seclusion in a country idyll.

New York saxophonist Joshua Shapiro (48) set out to find a "dolce vita" as a first step toward a life change. His long-term goal is to leave the United States, which he believes is undergoing a major political change that worries him. In 2022, he bought a small, abandoned apartment in the village of Latronico in the southern Basilicata region for 22,000 euros (about $23,600) after reading an article about a clever program launched by CNN Travel to attract migrants and stop dehumanization. At the moment, he occasionally drops by his new home to finalize its renovations. In the future, he sees himself permanently relocating.

"I'm ready for the next chapter in my life. Working as a freelance saxophonist, mostly playing jazz and commercial music, is not without its challenges, and as the tastes and demand for what I do is noticeably declining [in the U.S.], it may be in much greater demand in Europe," Shapiro tells CNN Travel.

For him, buying dilapidated property in an unusual Italian location also has political significance. "I don't like the political situation in the U.S. - the shift to the right. A huge portion of voters believes in a different version of democracy, and how all of this can develop is a huge problem," he says.

Shapiro visited Latronico during his trip to Italy after the pandemic; it was his third visit to the country and the first time in 20 years. He brought his saxophone with him, playing from a rented house while his newly acquired home was under renovation. The villagers fondly remember the jazz melodies echoing through the winding alleys at night. He was drawn to Italy by a "subtle connection" he wanted to revive—his grandfather was stationed in Florence during World War II. However, Latronico bears little resemblance to Florence, being a 5-hour drive fromRome and a 3-hour drive from the nearest international airport in Bari.

Shapiro acknowledges that the remote location "weighed heavily" on him when he ventured into this untouched corner of Basilicata. He never expected it to be so far away and without direct rail connections. "My goal was to see what was available in terms of accessibility and property. With the help of Deputy Mayor Vincenzo Castellano, who runs the housing provision program, I chose the simplest option for myself," he says.

The second-floor apartment of Shapiro, which has its own external staircase and a separate entrance, has an area of 800 square feet, with two bedrooms and a panoramic balcony. It required a major renovation, for which Shapiro spent about 10,000 euros (approximately 10,730 dollars). Despite the excitement of buying a cheap house, his adventure turned out to be full of surprises.

He had to install new windows, lay tiles, and fill in the cracks in the walls. He also had to furnish it - Shapiro says it was initially "difficult" to figure out which furniture was included in the sale of the house. Shapiro recalls the initial "cultural clashes over the strange furniture" he found inside. He expected the house to have the furniture that was in the photos in the listing, so he wouldn't have to worry about it right away.

In the United States, he points out, the buyer's contract specifies which furniture is included in the apartments, but in Latronico, everything was unclear. Nevertheless, some furniture was left for him, but it was "worn out or uncomfortable," so Shapiro ultimately got rid of most of it. "I didn't expect the things I found, for example, the bed was very old and in poor condition. It became a problem at the time, but we peacefully resolved the situation, realizing valuable lessons," he says.

Many vacant houses listed on local websites, where owners meet with buyers, are sold or rented out with furniture that is usually agreed upon between the parties. After a brief inspection before the purchase, Shapiro expected the house to be in better condition. "It needed a new roof, which was a big surprise. The kitchen was completely open to the sky, I had to add a drainage system, and there was junk in the house that had to be thrown out."

Shapiro also repainted and repaired the walls, and there is still a lot of work to be done to make his house fully livable. "There were many surprises and things I didn't expect, for example, I had to redo the bathroom, install a new water heater, and fix a humidity issue in one of the bedrooms. I was a bit surprised by the work that needed to be done, mainly because of the assumptions I made about the condition, simply because someone had lived there before I bought it. Later, I learned that the previous tenants had endured quite a few inconveniences in this place."

There was also a strange meeting when he first entered the house he had just bought. Accompanied by the mayor's deputy Castellano, Shapiro says he was surprised to find tenants inside - a group of elderly nuns. "There were three nuns living there for some time; they were tenants of the previous owners. When I arrived, they wouldn't let me in, outraged at the thought that an American could walk through their home."

Fortunately, everything was resolved. The nuns, worried about being left without shelter, eventually left. They were provided with alternative housing by the municipality.

Despite these initial difficulties, Shapiro immediately fell in love with the serene, slow-paced lifestyle in Latronico - the embodiment of the opposite of what he was used to seeing in the United States. "The village is small, located in a remote mountainous area. I live in a large metropolis with millions of people. Latronico is a place where I can imagine myself being very creative, playing and composing music," he says.

He reports that everyone in the village "did their best to be nice" and gave him a warm welcome, except for "a few sideways glances at the stranger in our midst," although he believes this is mainly due to the language barrier. The lack of knowledge of the Italian language was not easy for him, he says.

Shapiro, like all foreign buyers in Latronico, is exempt from property tax and garbage collection fees for five years, a measure recently introduced by the city administration to attract new buyers from abroad. And despite the unexpected construction costs, he is thrilled at the opportunity to buy a house, which he believes is at a bargain price. In Chicago, he says, an apartment costs $200,000, plus property taxes.