Can You Get Paid To Move To Sardinia? Should You Get A 1 Euro House In Sardinia?

You have likely heard about the 1 euro houses in Sardinia, or about getting paid to move to Sardinia. Chances are, you have also read that a village in Sardinia (Ollollai) is offering 1 euro houses to Americans upset by the election results in the United States. You must have seen posts by influencers on Instagram and TikTok that say this is possible.

So you wonder if this is for real or what to expect. Do foreigners – especially Americans – really get paid to move to Sardinia? In theory, yes. But to make a long story short, no – not really.

Let me explain more. If you are not Italian or from one of the countries of the European Union, you can get paid to move to Sardinia. And in fact, you can even get a 1 euro house in Sardinia too – though the two things aren’t necessarily related.

You may find the offer very tempting, but let me tell you there is a catch – and a pretty big one, indeed.

As a local, I receive regular emails from people who want to move to Sardinia and ask for an estate consultancy (which I actually don’t provide). However, there are others who fall for the catchy headlines that suggest you will get paid to move to Sardinia, and that there are €1 houses in Sardinia available to buy.

Since it seems to be a hot topic at the moment, I thought I’d give you the local – and honest – version, the one that foreign media can’t possibly have because they simply don’t live here and don’t know or appreciate the reality of Sardinia outside of tourism.

Continue reading, as I will tell you more about the Sardinia residency grant and the €1 houses in Sardinia.

Good to know: If, after reading this post, you still want to move to Sardinia, you need to get in touch with a lawyer, an estate agency, or the government authorities that run the project. I do not offer estate consultancies, and I can’t guide you through the 1 euro houses in Sardinia program. What I offer are one-on-one consultations for people who want to travel to Sardinia.

Are You Really “Going To Get Paid To Move To Sardinia”?

In short, yes, you can get paid to move to Sardinia. However, let me stress that this is not a cash bonus for showing up. Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know.

• This is a relocation grant tied to buying and renovating a home in a small Sardinian municipality (the aim is repopulation).
• The money is not automatic, and it’s not a visa.
• You generally need to apply while the call is open, meet the conditions, then follow through (there are purchase/renovation + residency requirements).
• Americans can apply, but you still need a legal path to live in Italy (visa/residency route) to actually use the grant in practice.
• If you’re hoping for “free money to move abroad,” this isn’t that.

Who Is The Move To Sardinia Grant For?

Here’s a quick reality check for you.

The move to Sardinia grant is aimed at people who will:

• Buy a home in a qualifying small town.
• Renovate it (within the rules set out in the call).
• Make it their primary residence.
• And prove residency according to the timeline in the call.

It is not aimed at:

• Short-term stays.
• Holiday homes.
• People who aren’t prepared for renovation, local bureaucracy, and a rural lifestyle.

Let me also stress that the move to Sardinia grant isn’t aimed specifically at Americans. It targets anyone who fits the critieria that is, a citizen of a country outside the European Union.

Americans Thinking of Moving To Sardinia? Read This First

Before you get too excited, thinking you can move to Sardinia tomorrow (and get paid for it), read this:

• Yes, Americans can apply for the Sardinia relocation grant as non-EU citizens.
• No, the grant is not a visa — you must qualify separately to live in Italy.
• The money is tied to buying and renovating a home in a small town, not just relocating.
• You’ll need to make the property your primary residence, not a vacation home.
• Expect up-front costs, paperwork, and deadlines before seeing any grant money.
• This is a rural, year-round lifestyle — not coastal resort living.

If you’re prepared for Italian bureaucracy, renovation logistics, and life in a small community (where, unfortunately, not many people speak English), the program can help. If you’re looking for “easy money to move abroad,” it’s not what some clickbait articles make it sound like.

Will You Get Paid To Move To Sardinia?

In 2023, the Government of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia announced that it was setting aside a total of €45 million with a view to subsidizing more than 3,000 grants of €15,000 each to any foreigner (American or from any other country outside the European Union) interested in moving to Sardinia.

This isn’t “free money for foreigners”. It’s a regional incentive tied to buying/renovating a primary home in small municipalities, and eligibility depends on the specific call. You still need a legal basis to live in Italy. In other words, you can get up to €15,000, but this is tied to home purchase/renovation, in towns under 3,000, and it would not exceed half the cost.

Let me explain more.

The reason for the grant is to help re-populate the interior areas of Sardinia; the smaller towns and villages from where the younger generations keep on leaving.

Interestingly, the press release is no longer available to read on the official website of the Sardinian government. However, if you read Italian, you can find the text to the regional decree that establishes the grant here.

It seems pretty straightforward, except there are some specific requirements, which would seem fairly reasonable in most places in the world. However, as a Sardinian, allow me to suggest you to lower your expectations, and lower them again.

Eligibility Checklist (Non-EU + Americans)

Use this as a quick filter before you get excited:

• You are non-EU (Americans, Canadians, Australians, UK citizens post-Brexit, etc.).
• You can realistically obtain the right to live in Italy (visa/residence permit route).
• You’re willing to live in a small town or village with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants year-round, not just in summer.
• You’re ready to purchase and then renovate (and pay costs up front) – the money from the grant must be used to buy or renovate a house in a small village.
• You can meet the call’s primary residence + timeline rules. In other words, you must live full-time in Sardinia (which means you can’t go about as you please: you really need to stay here, including in the fall and winter months).
• You must become a permanent resident of Sardinia within18 months.
• You are able to gather paperwork and manage a process that is often in Italian-language only and admin-heavy.

A key point for Americans: you can’t “grant your way” into residency. The grant may help with costs, but it doesn’t replace immigration requirements.

How The Application Works (The Useful Version)

This is the part that most articles in big media gloss over and simply omit. Here’s how you can apply for the move to Sardinia grant.

• Wait for an open call (called bando in Italian) – You usually can’t apply “any time.” There are periods when the call opens, then closes.
• Confirm the town where you want to move qualifies – The program is focused on small municipalities (often those under a specific population threshold). The call spells out eligibility.
• Check what spending is eligible – The grant is typically tied to purchase + renovation, with strict rules about what counts and how reimbursement/verification works.
• Prepare documentation before you apply – Expect to provide documents relating to:
  • identity/residency status
  • property purchase intention or purchase details
  • renovation plans/costs (depending on the call)
  • proof you’ll establish primary residence
• Submit the application through the official channel – The “how” varies by call (it could be the portal/forms/registered mail, etc). Treat unofficial sites and social posts as secondary.
• If approved: follow the timeline exactly – This is where most people stumble. You’ll need to:
  • complete the purchase/renovation steps
  • meet deadlines
  • prove residency when required
  • provide receipts and compliance documentation

Let me comment on these requirements a bit more in-depth now, and explain why the dream to get paid to move to Sardinia may, in fact, turn into a nightmare.

Where To Get A 1 Euro House In Sardinia

Now that you know how to get paid to move to Sardinia, I should also stress that the move to Sardinia grant is not necessarily connected to the €1 houses market, which are on sale regardless of the grant.

Anyhow, the best place to find a 1 euro house in Sardinia is a small village with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants – as suggested by the “get paid to move to Sardinia” grant program.

Some of them are close to larger towns and allow easier access to the services you may desire – for example, that’s the case of Serdiana, the village my mom is from and that’s a quick drive from Cagliari, the capital.

Good to know: By quicker access, I mean that these villages are relatively close to a larger town where you will find a bank, a post office, grocery stores, shops, cafés, a doctor or a clinic, and a school, and at times even some entertainment opportunities. For example, Serdiana has barely any of these services, but Dolianova, the larger town next door, has all of that.

However, most towns with less than 3,000 inhabitants where the €1 houses in Sardinia are on sale are quite far from the coast, often in isolated areas, or in harder to reach mountainous areas (think winding roads galore).

Forget about getting a villa with sea views. On the other hand, if you like hiking and the countryside, you will be rewarded with plenty of choices.

Don’t get me wrong: those villages and their settings are gorgeous. But life there isn’t easy, especially if you are not accustomed to that.

My post The Nicest Small Towns And Villages In Sardinia shares insights into the prettiest towns on the island (though most aren’t under the 3,000 inhabitants threshold).

Sardinia’s Villages Under 3,000 Inhabitants

There are plenty of lovely villages with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants in Sardinia. This is an official list of some of them.

I have written about some of the villages that are under 3,000 inhabitants and that participate in the program, in case you are curious:

• Aggius (in the region of Gallura)
• Aritzo
• Barumini (home of Su Nuraxi, Sardinia’s most famous nuraghe)
• Berchidda (home of the famous Time in Jazz festival)
• Bolotana
• Burgos (where you’ll find one of the prettiest castles in Sardinia)
• Calasetta (a white town in the Sant’Antioco Island)
• Cuglieri
• Fordongianus (where you’ll find the gorgeous Fordongianus Roman Baths)
• Gairo
• Galtellì
• Gavoi
• Gesturi (one of the towns of the stunning Giara Plateau)
• Laconi
• Mamoiada (one of the towns of Sardinia’s famous Carnival)
• Sadali
• Santu Lussurgiu
• Seui (where one of the best festivals in Sardinia takes place)
• Seulo (one of the towns of the Sardinia Blue Zone)
• Serdiana (home to some excellent Sardinian wineries)
• Stintino (home to the gorgeous La Pelosa Beach)

How Are The €1 Houses?

Here’s more bad news: a mere €15,000 euro will get you (close to) nowhere in terms of the much-needed renovation works any €1 house will need.

Here’s why:

• Any 1 euro house in Sardinia (and anywhere in the world) needs lots of renovation work. Instead of an actual house, you will actually get the ruins of a house. Renovating such a place comes at a very high price.
• Most of the time, the €1 houses in Sardinia are historic properties, or they are located in areas that are subjected to landscape restrictions. This means that there are some very strict rules in terms of what you can and cannot do when renovating. Chances are you will have to keep the outer bits in their original state and the structure as it is.
• The bureaucracy of getting the necessary permits for the renovation works of such properties will give you a headache or two.
• You will need to hire a local engineer or architect (not to mention a lawyer) to follow all the paperwork – and that obviously comes at a cost.
• The lowest price you pay in Italy to renovate a house is currently €700 per square meter (and that is considered a real bargain).

The renovation of even the smallest of places (provided it is in good conditions and you don’t have to completely redo the ceiling – which is the case for most €1 houses in Sardinia) will cost you as a minimum twice the amount you will be receiving as a grant to move to Sardinia, and that’s if you do the very bare necessary. This is an optimistic prediction.

In other words: €30,000 aren’t enough to renovate a house in ruins.

Common Misunderstandings (Worth Stating Plainly)

Whenever a newspaper or magazine writes about the move to Sardinia grant, I get a wave of excited emails from people who think this is a shortcut to their dream life. Nothing is further from the truth.

Indeed, the grant:

• Is not “€15k for moving.” It’s linked to property + renovation and conditions.
• Is not a shortcut to living in Italy. Non-EU citizens still need a visa/residency route.
• You’re not moving to “Sardinia” in general. You’re usually moving to a small inland town, with real trade-offs.
• Renovation costs and admin are the real commitment, not the application form.

Life In A Remote Village In Sardinia

Once your 1 euro house in Sardinia is nice and ready, according to the €15,000 grant you may have received, you will need to live there full-time. Now, allow me to give you a realistic picture of what it will likely look like.

Language barrier

The first thing you need to consider when you are looking to move to Sardinia is the language barrier. Most people in larger cities and towns and on the coastal areas speak at least some English, but the same can’t be said in the villages.

The more remote the village in the interior of Sardinia, the lower the chances that people there speak English (especially older people). Not to mention, in many of the smaller villages people speak the Sardinian language for daily communication.

Do you speak Italian fluently or at least enough to communicate on a daily basis? That will be necessary for your regular needs, to access public administration, for bank purposes, and to see the doctor. It will be even more important if you want to have some sort of social life that doesn’t just consist of meeting other immigrants like yourself.

Let me also point out that the English-speaking immigrants in Sardinia are very few, and most of them don’t live in the small towns that are part of the €1 houses program.

Social life

While in cities like Cagliari there is a very active social and cultural life, with museums, exhibits, art galleries, theaters, cinemas, lots of restaurants and bars, events, and more, that’s definitely not the case in the smaller villages in Sardinia.

If you move to a village near a larger town or city, you may still be able to enjoy an active social life, provided you are willing to drive a bit. But hardly any of those villages have €1 houses for sale.

If you are the kind of person who enjoys a more active cultural and social life, you may find living in a remote village in Sardinia a bit more difficult, and you will have to look for other forms of entertainment – for example, walks in nature or taking care of a vegetable garden.

Or else, you will have to drive to the nearest larger town for a nicer restaurant, for example.

If you are hoping to make local friends, it won’t be that easy either. Provided you can break the language barrier, people in Sardinian villages are actually extremely reserved.

They will be kind and helpful, beyond welcoming too whenever necessary, but reserved nonetheless, and it may take you a long time to establish a closer relationship with them. And you won’t find English-speaking immigrants (or expats, as you may call them) in those smaller towns.

Health care

Health care is generally quite good in Italy, and access to it is free for all. The same can be said for the larger cities in Sardinia, where you will find good hospitals and excellent doctors, but it is not quite the same in smaller places.

Smaller villages won’t have a hospital, a clinic, or an Emergency Room. They would normally have a general practitioner (GP) or an emergency doctor (called “Guardia Medica” in Italian), but there are a few registered cases of small villages in Sardinia that have no doctor on site at all, and not even a pharmacy.

This means that any time you need to see a doctor or have a specific consultation, you will have to drive to the nearest proper town. Depending on the village you pick to move to, it will be a quick 20-minute car ride. In other cases, it may be a matter of more than one hour.

It’s all fine until you don’t need a doctor, not so fine when you do; and something you really want to consider if you are not so young anymore or have a chronic medical condition.

Schools and education in a remote village in Sardinia

If you are thinking of moving to Sardinia with your family and have children, chances are your kids will need to enroll in a local school. Education in Italy is compulsory until the age of 16.

All villages should have a public primary school. However, some of the smaller ones do not. This means your children would have to travel every day to attend school (and you’d likely have to drive them there).

Likewise, smaller villages don’t have a high school, which again means your kids would have to travel to school every day.

When lucky, there will be a larger nearby town where they can attend school. Other times, they will have to travel further, which means a long bus ride (when available) or you having to drive them to school every day.

Public transport and other services

Public transport and trains in Sardinia work year-round, and not just during the peak tourist season. City buses work really well in larger cities like Cagliari and Sassari, and even in Olbia and Alghero, and there are regional buses (and trains) that connect larger cities and towns to the smaller villages.

However, that doesn’t mean that regional public transport is efficient – some villages only get a daily bus – and that you can get by without a car, especially if you move to one of the most remote villages.

Make sure to also read my post How To Travel By Public Transport In Sardinia and What It’s Like To Travel By Train In Sardinia to get a better idea of how public transportation functions in Sardinia.

Smaller villages also have minimal services. In some cases, a bank or a post office serves a number of villages in an area: not all villages have a bank, post office, pharmacy, and other basic shops, which means having to drive whenever you need an errand, in case the village you move to doesn’t offer what you need.

Working In Sardinia As An Immigrant

In order to get paid to move to Sardinia, you will need to establish your residency on the island, full-time – meaning you need to live here for at least 183 days in a solar year.

Getting a residency permit typically implies getting a job (though there are exceptions, in case you are retired – but that’s tied to taxes); but most of the time getting a job implies being a resident. I know, it sounds like a catch-22.

The whole point is that you will need resources to live in Sardinia. Unless you are planning to retire here and you have a nice stash of cash set aside to keep you going, or unless you can work remotely, you will need to make a living. And you will have to pay taxes here (and taxation for anyone working in Italy is unforgiving and extremely high).

Now let me break the (sad) news.

Getting a job in Sardinia is extremely difficult. Sardinia is the fifth Italian region by unemployment rate.

Getting some sort of stable job with decent pay here is difficult for locals who know how things work, and who speak the language. It’s so difficult that many younger generations leave the island altogether and go work elsewhere in Italy or in Europe (which is why smaller villages are now participating in repopulation programs such as the move to Sardinia grant).

Getting a decent job is even harder – if not impossible altogether – for those who do not speak the language. You’d really have to think outside the box to make a living.

Or come with the plan (and finances) to open your own business, train and employ locals to work for your newly established company (which would be a welcome idea, actually), and with the mindset of dealing with local laws and bureaucracy, knowing you’d likely not make much of a living for the first few years.

If you don’t intend to work here in Sardinia, please avoid offering your work skills for free – for example, don’t offer English classes for free, don’t offer math classes for free, and don’t volunteer for jobs for which the locals would be paid. This is an extremely bad practice that may ruin the already weak job market of Sardinia.

Paying Taxes In Sardinia

I know you thought you would get paid to move to Sardinia, and I think by now you have gathered that’s not quite the case – in fact, it’s likely the opposite. You’ll have to pay taxes once you move here – even as part of the repopulation program run by the Region of Sardinia.

When it comes to taxes, Sardinia is under the same fiscal system as Italy, so Italian law applies.

There are some tax facilitations for foreigners who want to become residents of Italy. The main ones that would likely to apply to you in case you are not looking to work in Sardinia are the following:

• Flat tax system – according to this system, you will have to pay €200,000 in taxes for up to 15 years, but your foreign income (ie dividends) and your assets won’t be taxed;
• Foreign retired persons – foreign retired persons moving in one of the regions of southern Italy (including Sardinia), in a town with less than 20,000 inhabitants, are only taxed up to 7% of their foreign pensions, for a maximum of 10 years.

On the odd chance that you are actually employed in Sardinia or Italy, and earn an income here, you will be granted a 50% tax reduction (which goes up to 60% if you have children living with you) for an income of up to €600,000, and for no longer than 5 years, provided that you establish your fiscal residency in Italy for a minimum of 4 years.

Traveling To And From Sardinia

There are 3 airports in Sardinia – one in Cagliari, one in Alghero, and one in Olbia. Each airport has connections to various cities in mainland Italy and to other places in Europe via a number of regular and budget flights. Olbia Airport now has a seasonal connection with New York JFK, too.

My post How To Get To Sardinia details the best routes to get to the island.

Residents of Sardinia (which you’d be if you do decide to move to Sardinia) enjoy the benefits of the “continuità territoriale” – territorial continuity, in English.

In other words, we can get regular airline (not budget) flights to some cities in mainland Italy (usually Rome and Milan) for a flat rate that doesn’t change throughout the course of the year. It’s typically around €160 for a round-trip ticket.

But the program doesn’t come without issues.

In fact, the Sardinian government has to regularly put out a call for tenders for airlines to offer flights and give benefits to those that do. There is a whole procedure to apply and to get approved to run the service.

Normally, the airline that gets approved for the program agrees to offer the service for a period of 18 months or 2 years, but at times they only agree to do so for 6 months. The government of Sardinia has then to start a new call for tenders, with all the uncertainties that this implies.

There are times during which we literally don’t know if we will be able to fly out of Sardinia the following week, until an airline that has applied to the call for tenders gets approved. Everything gets solved, eventually, but it can be stressful if you are planning a trip for whatever reason.

FAQs on Moving To Sardinia

So, Will You Get Paid To Move To Sardinia?

Hopefully this post has given you a more realistic picture of what it would be like to move to Sardinia. While it may seem so, you won’t exactly get paid to move to Sardinia.

You will at most get a very small incentive, in exchange for your large investment, and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia won’t be of any assistance with the paperwork to become a resident.

Let me also add that life in Sardinia – much like in the rest of Italy – isn’t a fairytale, and it’s not like in movies.

Yes, we have it better than in most places. We enjoy the sun, we have great food and wine, our cities are gorgeous and we have incredible natural and archaeological sites. Yes, we are happier than most countries. Yes, Sardinia is home to one of the very few blue zones in the world and on average we live longer than the rest of the world.

My post Sardinia Blue Zone: What Makes The Island So Longevous? explains more about the blue zone.

But living here doesn’t come without headaches. Contrary to what many movies suggest, we don’t spend our lives sitting at a café sipping espresso and reading the newspaper, and we don’t enjoy endless meals on a daily basis.

Unless you come here with big load of cash and have a solid business plan, the reality of getting a 1 euro house in Sardinia and living in a remote village on the island is far from the “Dolce Vita” dream.

You can still do it – and you are welcome to – but please come knowing what to expect!