A woman bought a "one euro" house in the Italian village where her grandparents grew up - and turned it into a £250,000 dream home. Meredith Tabbone, 43, heard councils in rural Sicily were auctioning off abandoned houses with a one euro starting bid in a bid to regenerate the village.
The financial advisor from Chicago snapped up a 1600s disused building - just "one big room" over a basement - in Sambuca di Sicilia. The building had no electricity or running water, and the roof was thick with asbestos.
Bids started at just a euro - but she threw in a random offer of £4,400 - and found out she was the successful buyer months later. It cost Meredith 750 euros (£661) to hire a team to remove the roof in an environmentally-safe way.
