When George Laing followed his dreams of buying a one-euro home in Sicily, he was prepared for the hard graft that would follow. Instead, he found he had also purchased a small treasure of old jewels and artefacts – some of which he has now sold for €2,500 (£2,100), which will cover a significant chunk of his renovation costs.

Laing, 32, an antiques and jewellery dealer from Eastbourne, bought the abandoned house in 2022 in the Sicilian town of Mussomeli. The local authorities had launched their branch of Italy’s popular €1 homes scheme, where buyers pay a symbolic sum to purchase a dilapidated home to renovate – and Laing’s was certainly that.