Retiring to an island or a slower-pace European town is not an uncommon pipe dream. However, one Italian village is trying to make it easier for Americans to turn that dream into a reality.
Ollolai, a tiny rural village in the Sardinian countryside, is looking to lure Americans who are disappointed with the turbulent political landscape. The village recently launched a campaign, called Live in Ollolai, that proposes a pretty sweet deal: 1 euro houses (or, $1.05, to be exact).
The offer isn’t completely altruistic, however. Ollolai, with a population of about 1,300, has been trying for years to attract foreigners in hopes of reviving its long-dwindling population and nearly depleted coffers.
Still, its timing couldn’t be better. In a recent interview with CNN, Mayor Francesco Columbu said the initiative was explicitly created for Americans who were at their wit’s end with their country’s elected officials. “Of course, we can’t specifically mention the name of one U.S. president who just got elected, but we all know that he’s the one from whom many Americans want to get away now and leave the country,” Mayor Columbu said. “We have specifically created this website now to meet U.S. postelection relocation needs.”
And while the intent is sincere—the mayor said he loves the United States—It’s also something of a poetic ploy. You may get to pay 1 euro for ownership, but the property is going to require considerable renovations . . . at the expense of the new owner. In fact, Ollolai is essentially offering would-be expats three types of accommodation: free temporary homes to “certain digital nomads,” dilapidated properties in need of renovation for 1 euro, and move-in-ready homes for prices up to 100,000 euros ($105,000).
The marketing scheme is on par with what many Americans may be wanting, postelection. MoveBuddha, an online resource that helps people plan moves, analyzed Google Trends in the wake of Trump’s election. According to the site, from November 5 to November 6, searches for “how to move out of the country” spiked by a staggering 800%. Searches for “Can I move to another country?” were most pronounced in two swing states, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which ultimately went to Trump.
The top countries Americans seem most interested in moving to differ from state to state, but popular searches were Italy, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. MoveBuddha also saw an 845% increase in visits to an article on the site, which lists 10 different countries that will actually pay for new residents just to move there.
While emotions were undoubtedly high for many the day after the election, recent data backs the fact that, even before Trump’s win, more Americans were considering moving out of the country. A 2024 Monmouth University poll found that one-third (34%) of Americans would like to live in another country if they were able, while in 1995, only 10% felt similarly.
Jen Barti, cofounder of Expatsi, a site that helps Americans who want to move abroad make plans, tells Fast Company, “The preelection numbers are similar to what we saw in 2022 and 2023, but postelection has changed completely.”
Barti shared data from the site’s test results from before the election, which showed that 65.2% of Americans wanted to leave the U.S. for adventure, 47.7% because the U.S. is too divided, and 43.5% wanted to avoid the constant threat of gun violence. Other top reasons were to save money (42.7%), that the U.S. is too conservative (42.3%), and for more freedoms (38.4%). Postelection, the results shifted considerably, with “too conservative” taking the top spot at 72.6% and “too divided” at 58.7%. And 56.5% said they were worried about their freedoms in the U.S. after Trump’s win.
Barti adds, “Right now, Americans are talking to me about ‘Plan B.’ They’re not people who were planning to leave, but they want a plan in case the U.S. leaves NATO, the Department of Education is eradicated, their child can’t get gender-affirming care, or a nationwide abortion ban is enacted.”
It’s hard to know if Americans will actually start leaving in droves or stay and fight for the issues they firmly believe in; but clearly, getting out of Dodge is on many people’s minds. And chances are, it will be for a while—at least for the next two to four years.