The Year Nothing Happened
by Lovely Ibañez

Looking at my WhatsApp read messages and waiting for answers. Waiting every week for a reply from the mayor, from the geometra (surveyor). I remember the same quietness of the streets during Covid. I am in the same waiting game scenario.

Why do I have to face days without answers, hours without a voice, and minutes without a sign? Am I losing my sanity? Does this one-euro house project really exist? Am I fooling myself?

Months of self-doubt turned into a year.

Me on the 1 Euro house land

A Year Without Milestones

Not a dramatic year. No big moments, no visible progress. Just time passing quietly. A year without photos, without milestones. Italy existed mostly on a screen: emails, documents, and voice notes. More as an idea than a place.

The moment of me paying one euro to the mayor was long over. The cameras had left. What remained was ownership on paper, but no real access. A commitment without permission to begin. I had said yes, but the project was still waiting for someone else to say yes back.

The 1 Euro House I bought

Read, but Unanswered

Every few weeks I repeated the same routine. I rewrote emails to sound patient but not passive. I checked the time in Italy before sending, as if that could change the outcome. I learned how heavy the word ‘seen’ can feel. Read, but unanswered. A confirmation without movement.

In the first year, the project passed through several hands, none of which stayed long enough to hold it.

Three Surveyors, Three False Starts

The village with the 1 Euro House

The first surveyor came through an Italian architect we had met during my three visits to Italy for this project. On paper, he was the right person. In reality, he was already elsewhere, too far away, too busy, his calendar full before ours had even begun. The conversation ended almost as soon as it started. Not a refusal, just an impossibility.

He recommended someone else.

The second surveyor (geometra in Italian) was more present. He researched, asked questions, and made calls. He even managed to identify the original owners of the one-euro house. For a moment, things felt real again.

When the conversation shifted to the report for the gifted land, something changed. His confidence faded. He spoke cautiously, vaguely. He said he was afraid of making a mistake, of damaging his career, of consequences he couldn’t fully name. He contacted the mayor himself, trying to understand the situation from every angle.

When we were finally ready to move forward and pay him for the work to continue with all the paperwork, he stepped back. And then disappeared.

The third surveyor felt like a breakthrough. After checking with the previous mayor’s secretary, everything seemed aligned. He spoke English. He had experience with another one-euro house project, even one followed by the BBC. He understood the process, the risks, and the delays.

He asked us to wait until after the mayoral election, saying it would be better for everyone. We waited patiently for half a year. After the election, he mentioned personal problems. Then messages went unanswered. Calls stopped. Slowly, he vanished from the project, leaving no explanation behind.

The Cost of Restarting

from left - Elena-architect-Svetlana-investor-Julia-municipality-and-me

Each time the pattern repeated itself. A beginning. A small rise in hope. A pause. And then silence.

Each time, I allowed myself to believe we were finally moving forward. And each time, I had to let that belief go…carefully, without breaking.

I learned how quickly momentum can dissolve when too many things depend on people who are not yet ready to commit. How fragile progress is when it lives in other people’s schedules, fears, and uncertainties. The problem was never a single person. It was the accumulation of delays, the constant restarting, and the emotional cost of believing again.

A hell of a roller coaster ride.

The Space No One Talks About

By then, the fatigue was familiar. Not sharp enough to hurt, just heavy enough to carry every day.

This is the part no one talks about: the space between intention and bureaucracy. Between vision and approval. Between dreaming and being allowed to act. It is like being CIO of a hedge fund company that is not allowed to trade.

It is strange to doubt something that has been documented, filmed, and publicly confirmed. And yet there were days when this house felt unreal, like a story I had told too many times.

Building Without Bricks

Over time, I understood that waiting is not empty. It is demanding. It forces you to decide whether you believe only when things move or also when they stop.

So I kept building…just not with bricks.

In the first three years, the project changed shape. I spoke with architects based abroad, impact investors, and sustainable design companies. What started as a personal dream slowly became something bigger: a way to think about small villages, about regeneration, and about long-term commitment.

The house is no longer the only goal. It became the starting point.

Progress became quiet. Hard to explain. Impossible to show online.

Silence, Revisited

I sent an email to the mayor within the first two quarters. We finally did a video call with him in November. He showed appreciation for my patience and said others would have already given up. This felt goooood hearing from him!

Some weeks have passed since then, and silence again.

The same silence I started with, but this time it does not frighten me. I know it now. Silence does not always mean that nothing is happening. Sometimes, it is simply part of the process.

I am still waiting. No longer lost in the waiting, though.

Staying With the Dream

Some years are not meant to produce visible results. They exist to test whether you will stay when the dream stops rewarding you.

I stayed.

The house is still there.

The land still has a beautiful view.

The village is still there.

And so am I…building something that does not yet have repaired walls.

It already has weight.

Related Media and Coverage

🎥 Documentary: Goodbye Deutschland Episode 119

Watch here

📰 Article: A One Euro Dream

Read here

🎙 Interview: Exclusive Interview | “Goodbye Deutschland” - 1€ House, AI & Mission

Listen / Watch here

Follow the Journey

If you’d like to follow the quieter, in-between moments of this project, I share updates and reflections here:

💼 LinkedIn – project thinking, regeneration, and long-term vision
Connect on LinkedIn

📸 Instagram – short moments, places, and process
Follow on Instagram

🎵 TikTok – behind-the-scenes clips and honest updates
Follow on TikTok

🎥 YouTube – longer videos and documentation of the journey
Watch on YouTube