The Mad Dash for Calabria

How it all started

Who still thinks of deep-pan premium pepperoni pizzas, honking expressos and just one last cornetto everytime someone mentions Italy? If you do, you’re as out-of-date as Renee and Renato! For a European country that has never had a property boom, just look at it now! Forget about Tuscany. Who wants to fight your way through armies of camera-yielding tourists shuffling off coaches; looking round souvenir shops? We're talking the sort of raw beauty that'll send you scurrying off to Winsor & Newton for a box of artists' watercolours and a sable brush. We're talking Calabria!

The town of Gioiosa in Calabria

Calabria is Italy's best kept secret. During the summer months, Italians head south from the cities of Rome, Milan and Naples to bathe on the white sandy beaches and breathe the cool mountain air.

Clearing a space for your new home

Think paradise; then elaborate on it. Fill your nose with the scent of Bergamot as you suck white Aloe Vera sorbet through a straw in a trattoria in the mountains; smell the Jasmine as you walk along country roads in spring or take a quick ferry ride to Sicily to visit ancient Greek, Roman or Byzantine ruins round Mount Etna.

The beach at Caulonia; part of 500 miles of coastline

Imagine yourself, a designer bag thrown over your shoulder while you wander through glamorous boutiques in Catania or dip into the clearest aquamarine waters of the Ionian Sea as it washes up along sun-bleached beaches. Now, when I snap my fingers, wake up and put a towel round you because you’re approaching Shields Road in the tube and everyone’s looking!

Shopping Italian-style

Early last year, word got round that the Italian government were planning to spend around £800million on the region. Ryanair were already offering cheap flights to Lamezia. The first big company to enter Calabria was Medsea plc, the only financially- regulated agency, who released apartments along the coast at £30,000! (£15,000 down and opportunities to pay the rest off at £15 a week before the property was completed!) The switchboard at Let’s Live Abroad! – Medsea’s award-winning agency – went into meltdown as clients handed money in over the phone before even seeing the site of their property!

Work progressing on the Bergamotto development

A company with Medsea's expertise can deal effectively with the administrative quagmire generated by local, regional and national government when you purchase a new home from their local office. Very handy when your Italian doesn't stretch beyond a polite 'Buongiorno'.

The new seafront at Caulonia

Probably because you were busy doing something else; didn’t spot Let’s Live Abroad’s ads or just hadn’t got round to picking up the phone to call us, you missed the £30k ones. (Not too late to put yourself on our list for the next release, though)! Don’t forget, as the Italians head south for their summer holidays, £700 rental income on a small apartment is not unusual. Prices on apartments are currently starting at around £50,000 so call LLA! now or wait until another airline takes off for Calabria and the prices move on up again. We can fly you over to have a look at properties for sale in the region. Just call us on 0845 22 55 777.

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The Mad Dash for Calabria