The town of Siculiana's latest tourism initiative takes a cue from the €1 home promotions in Sicily
Siculiana, a picturesque village in south Sicily, is offering a three-day holiday at the symbolic cost of €1 in an attempt to boost tourism and put the town on the map.
The “Holidays in Sicily for €1” initiative is aimed at both Italians and foreigners, including Brits and other non-EU travellers.
Applicants must be over 18 and are required to pay a symbolic €1, similar to the popular housing schemes in Sicily in which buyers buy old homes to restyle for €1.
To win the €1 weekend getaway, people are required to take part in a contest based on creating and sending a video explaining why they want to visit Siculiana and what they hope to learn about the local culture and town.
The town of Siculiana hopes to boost tourism in the offseaso
The town of Siculiana hopes to boost tourism in the off-season (Photo: Siculiana Turistica)
The application deadline is March 15 and a total of 10 couples or families will be selected. The first weekend will run from 4-6 April.
The winners get a three-day holiday with accommodation, meals and guided tours included.
Siculiana mayor Giuseppe Zambito told The i Paper the goal is to boost tourism to a part of Sicily that’s off the beaten track.
“We want to make people discover the beauties of our unique town, which has many gems worth seeing alongside its architecture and cuisine. It’s outside of the usual popular tourism routes, and we hope that the proximity of Siculiana to the archaeological site of Agrigento with its Valley of Temples, nominated as Italy’s Culture Capital this year, will lure more tourists over here as well”, said Zambito.
Siculiana, Sicily (Photo: Siculiana Turistica)
Siculiana, Sicily (Photo: Siculiana Turistica)
The mayor added: “With this free weekend programme we want to test our tourism infrastructure and handling of extra tourists so to become one of Sicily’s key destinations, and not just in summer”.
The town hall plans to replicate the €1 stays competition in October and next spring, during the low seasons.
As with many other towns in Sicily, in winter and autumn it tends to get quiet, so the goal is also to have newcomers bring in a fresh vibe in the slower months.
Zambito suggested examples of reasons people could cite for wanting the free holiday, such as seeing an unknown area of Sicily, discovering the town, celebrating a marriage anniversary or other special event, or just the simple need to detox and unplug from the rat race.
Couples may be lovers, married people, friends or family members.
At the end of the weekend, participants are required to create another video in which they share their experience in Siculiana, to donate to the local town hall.
In the past few decades, particularly after the Second World War, Siculiana has suffered from depopulation as locals, mainly young people, left in search of a brighter future abroad and in larger Italian cities.
In the past 20 years, the local population has dropped from 5,000 to 4,000.