A couple who bought two derelict homes after being inspired by Italy's famous ‘one euro' scheme have spent €250k transforming it into their dream home.

Tamara and Gary Holm, 41 and 47, bought their Sicilian home in a private listing for just €19,000 in June 2019, after unsuccessful bids in ‘one euro' auctions.

Their home, located in Sambuca di Sicilia, an hour's drive from Palermo, Sicily, was completely derelict when they received the deeds, with infrastructural issues, birds living in the property and algae on the walls.

But the couple – who live in Los Angeles, California – decided to buy the neighbouring property, which resembled a ‘hoarder's den', for a further €8,000 and combine the two to create a dream Italian pad.

Now, Tamara and Gary's property has been fully renovated into a stunning Sicilian home which they stay in frequently with their son Mickey, four.

Tamara – an actress and interior designer – says it all started after she read an article about the project in Sicily.

She said: "Gary had been getting ready to go on a trip to London and I ended up tagging along because he had a nice hotel room booked. "

"Just before the trip, I had read an article about one euro homes and I enquired with an email about the project, and the agency got back to me asking me to come and visit."

"So I booked cheap RyanAir flights from London, because neither of us had been to Sicily before."

"And I just fell in love with the place – I went to the theatre, ate pizza, got shown around the prettiest town by a man called Giuseppe, and the whole community was so welcoming."

Tamara toured 14 one euro homes the next day and decided to bid €5,000 at an auction for one of them.

However, the house was eventually sold for over double their bid.

The couple could not resist the temptation to buy a property there, and they offered a family €19,000 for a derelict home which was on a private listing in April 2019.

Gary – who owns an audiovisual technology company – said: "Then we saw the one next door was for sale in October 2019 and we enquired about it. "

"It was about half the size of the one we bought, but we signed the paperwork in February 2020 – right before the pandemic – and that cost us around €8,000."

"When Covid restrictions came in, that really put a damper on our construction project for a little while, but eventually we were able to start renovating."

"The main house had pretty bad roof problems, and there were birds inside and algae on the walls."

"The second home looked like a hoarder's den, but there were some really interesting antiques and we got some of the art framed – one is a picture of two Victorian ladies."

"In the end the pandemic gave us time to plan properly and we thought about a full remodel to combine the two homes."

Covid meant that the Holms could only start work in January 2022, and they finished the renovations in May 2024 – costing a total of €250,000.

The couple were able to do some of the work themselves, but they also paid local contractors to carry out the infrastructural changes.

Tamara said: "The two places look like one home now. There's four bedrooms, two of which are ensuites, and there's a TV room upstairs that could also be a fifth bedroom."

"It's up at the top of a hill, but it's beautiful. The rooftop had a view of the lake and a view of the mountains and the town of about 6,000 people has five museums because it's next to an archaeological site – it's incredible."

Gary said: "It's amazing, we've got a massive terrace with a pizza oven, a grill and a bathroom so that you can just enjoy the view and not have to go downstairs."

"We've made so many friends, and there's such a big community feel which is very different to LA, it's a fantastic style of life and we've fallen in love with this little enclave of people."

"It's a typical Italian town, with a siesta for two or three hours in the middle of the day – our Italian's been improving a lot."

Tamara added: "We absolutely love it – we have no intention of ever selling it. In fact, we're headed there on the 11th May as a furnishing trip, just to finish off the job and make it the dream interior."