When the mayor of Biccari — a picturesque but depopulated town in Italy’s Puglia region — announced a plan to sell homes for under $9,000, he assumed there would be moderate interest.

But after Forbes and CNN Travel reported on Gianfilippo Mignogna’s plan, the local leader was inundated with more than 20,000 emails from interested buyers from around the globe.

“We were flooded with requests,” Mignogna told CNN. “Many people sent us touching letters of why they’d like to buy a house here and become part of our community, alongside their photos to introduce who they were … Some had intriguing, fascinating personal stories, linked to our territory and migration history.”

Writers, cooks, scientists, doctors, movie makers and ordinary families have all reached out, he said.

Biccari is one of several Italian towns and villages to sell off cheap homes in the hopes of reversing depopulation trends.

But Mignogna’s town is different, thanks to his push to sell move-in ready, $9,000 houses, as opposed to the dilapidated dwellings that are going for $1.

Want to learn more? Refer to this article by CNN.