Woman buys home in Italy for £100,000 to dodge cost of living crisis

After a series of hardships and the cost of living crisis looming, a woman decided to pack up her things and move to Italy.

Barbara Barto, 62, from Fort Worth, Texas, had been working as an office manager but sadly lost her job after 10 years.

Following the death of her mother and after finalising her divorce, Barbara felt she was at a crossroads and like she had passed her ‘expiration date’.

Barbara Barto/CNN

She was concerned about whether she’d be able to live comfortably after retiring due to the rising cost of living crisis in the US.

She had always dreamed of relocating to another country, but never had the courage. But that all changed when she sat down and crunched the numbers.

Barbara visited Italy briefly in the 1980s and said it was high on the list of countries she wanted to move to. In 2020, she began attending webinars hosted by A Home in Italy, a company that helps foreigners buy property in the country.

“I put pencil to paper and saw that I could afford it, and it was going to be more affordable than living in the United States,” she told CNN.

She Italy once again in April 2021 and viewed around six houses before settling on one in the village of Palombaro in the Abruzzo region in southern Italy.

“I found the house immediately,” she said. “So I was only out here one time. I got lucky.”

Barbara Barto/CNN

She bought the three-bedroom home, which came with around two-and-a-half acres of land filled with around 200 olive trees. It cost €123,000 (£106,000).

“You couldn’t buy something (like that) in the United States for what I paid (for it),” she said.

Moving to Italy felt ‘kind of surreal’, Barbara said. “It’s a strange feeling, packing up your life and moving over somewhere different. So I felt kind of sad but excited at the same time.”

She officially moved to the homeland of pizza and Gucci in October, and the locals made her feel very welcome.

“They came over and greeted me with coffee and cake,” she recalled.

Overall, Barbara’s new life in Italy is a lot more affordable than it would be in the US, with her adding: “My money goes a lot further here. Groceries are a lot cheaper here. You save a lot more money here, which I like.”