A millennial couple bought an old, abandoned farmhouse and moved to Italy. They said renovating it is a full-time job.

When they learned the house they were renting was going to be destroyed because of structural issues in 2020, they decided to start looking for a property to buy.

They began looking for properties in 2021, and Italy was top of their list. They looked for properties with three to four hectares of land in the north, where it’s cooler in the summer.

But when their real-estate agent persuaded them to take a look at a 16-hectare abandoned farmhouse with 27 rooms in Piedmont, northwest Italy near the Alps, they knew they’d found the right property. The couple told BI the farmhouse property, parts of which date back to the late 19th century, had what they were looking for: scenic views, enough land, and being located near a town.

They made the offer in October 2022, and bought the property outright for 185,000 euros, which is about $205,000, in January 2023.

Sturtewagen told BI part of the house was habitable, though decorated in an “old-fashioned” 1960s style. This section of the farmhouse had been lived in until around 15 years ago.

“We wanted to buy something that was immediately habitable in part and then doable to renovate in the next 10 to 20 years,” she said. They started renovating it in March, while living in the Netherlands. They spent seven weeks in Italy in the first half of 2023, and moved into the farmhouse in August 2023.

The rest of the property is structurally sound, Sturtewagen said, but needed renovating to make it habitable.

Brokamp quit his job

When they moved to Italy, Brokamp quit his job as a professional jouster. “It was physically exhausting and dangerous,” he said. “It was time to go and live somewhere nice.”

Sturtewagen has kept coaching clients remotely, which she does alongside the renovation. “We definitely don’t feel retired. We’re not rich enough to be retired,” she said.

They plan to rent out the rooms and host workshops and retreats, in 15 or 20 years. “We will have to work our way up there because we don’t have the budget to renovate 10 bedrooms in one go before we rent out anything,” Sturtewagen said.

“We don’t have 150K ready to redo the old farmhouse,” she said.

For now, they’re focusing on saving to replace the roof, and renovating a section of the house into a self-catered apartment to rent out. With the income from the apartment, they plan to renovate three or four bedrooms and bathrooms, and run a small bed and breakfast.

Renovating is a full-time job

“Living somewhere where you are constantly or where you can be constantly in awe of the things you see around you is really nourishing,” Sturtewagen said.

She told BI that they sometimes question whether they should have bought a smaller house, with less financial risk, but as a freelancer, she has had periods of greater financial instability in the past.

“We haven’t really regretted for one second buying this house. Life is good here,” she said.