Sardinia village fights depopulation with digital nomad plan

A tiny village in the heart of deepest Sardinia is fighting chronic depopulation with a new scheme to lure 'digital nomads' from all over the world, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

Ollolai, a village of about 1,200 souls in the heart of the once-impenetrable but beautiful outlaw land Barbagia, has dreamed up the project "Work from Ollolai/Traballa dae Ollolai", together with a local cultural group.

The first nomad to take the bait is Clarese Partis, 39, a designer with the agency User Experience, who has already arrived from California and is settling in and starting her work from home (WFH) experience.

But some 1,112 would-be Sardinian guests have replied to the call on Ollolai's web portal, and Partis is not expected to be alone for long.

The scheme follows a highly popular one-euro-a-home scheme that has revived dying communities across southern Italy.

Ollolai joined that project and charged incomers one euro to buy and do up abandoned homes in the village.