Luring tourists from Russia is a lucrative pursuit in Italy. Many of the most breathtaking and expensive locations have been virtually colonized by them. The numbers of Russians vacationing in the region has eclipsed that of Americans, who flooded the area after World War II.
The Italian embassy in Moscow issued about 52,000 visas to Russians bound for Italy (for holiday and business) in the first three months of this year. Meanwhile, Italy's central bank said that roughly 23,000 Americans arrived in Italy during the same period, along with about 23,500 French and about 9,000 Spaniards. Russian oligarchs are lured by The Adriatic Riviera in the north, the elite Emerald Coast in Sardinia and the Amalfitan villages of Positano and Sorrento where they spend months in fashionable hotels, rent summer villas for 100,000 euros per month and are willing to disburse some 20 million euros to buy beach apartments.
According to leading daily Corriere della Sera, The city of Forte dei Marmi has two-thirds of the buildings are second houses of rich managers based in Moscow, resulting in soaring real estate prices. The Italian tourist office has recorded a 30 percent rise in the number of Russians visiting the towns of Rimini and Riccione and charter flights from Moscow have increased five-fold in the last five years.
In related news, Italian real estate agent Piero D'Amico stated about another upcoming Russian destination in Italy is Alberobello, in the Apulia region. Here, real estate investors from Moscow and St. Petersburg are spending millions of euros to buy old farms and prehistoric white, cone-shaped stone village houses called "Trulli”.
0 comments:
Post a Comment