For most people, apartment-hunting in Rome is time consuming, stressful – and expensive.
According to Numbeo, a database comparing living costs across the world, a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre will set you back an average of €1,040 a month, rising to €1,994 for three bedrooms.
But it seems that a lucky few have been able to snare apartments in the centre of the capital, a stone’s throw away from tourist hotspots like Piazza Navona and the Colosseum, for just a few euros each month.
The homes include an apartment in Borgo Pio, close to St Peter’s Basilica, for €10.29 per month; one in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, one of Rome’s main streets and close to Piazza Navona, for €24.41 per month; one with a view of the Imperial Forum at €23.36 per month and one on Via del Colosseo at a bargain €25.64 per month.
By contrast, in the same building another resident who is not renting from city authorities said he pays €750 a month for his home.
Meanwhile, reports in the Italian media say the tenants in homes in some of Rome’s swankier areas are mostly middle class and not eligible for social housing, and pay the meager sums because simply no one has ever bothered to raise them.
The city has announced that from now on it would make sure that rents are in line with market rates and cancel the lease in cases where the legal renter has covertly sublet the apartment.
Agencies
