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Americans in Italy For Members

Americans in Italy: Thanksgiving tips and one-euro homes

Elaine Allaby
Elaine Allaby - [email protected]
Americans in Italy: Thanksgiving tips and one-euro homes
With a little effort, you can make an authentic Thanksgiving meal in Italy. Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

How can you create an authentic Thanksgiving dinner in Italy, plus where in the country are one-euro homes still being sold? Find out in our latest Americans in Italy newsletter.

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With Thanksgiving right around the corner, families across the US are gearing up for their annual turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie feast.

But for Americans in Italy, the holiday can be an extra challenge, as certain key items can be hard to source.

That doesn't mean it's not possible, though: you might have to do some digging, but Italy's major cities tend to have at least one emporium stocking imported ingredients like stuffing mix, pecans, and pumpkin puree.

And while you may struggle to track down jars of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, making your own from scratch with Italian redcurrant ribes or rehydrated dried cranberries probably isn't as hard as you think.

For readers wondering how to create an authentic Thanksgiving meal in Italy, we've put together a guide full of tips and tricks.

How to create an authentic Thanksgiving in Italy

If hosting your own Italian Thanksgiving sounds like too much work, you can always opt to eat out, as increasing numbers of restaurants are putting out Thanksgiving menus.

Don't expect these meals to necessarily resemble the turkey dinners you're used to back home, though; they're often targeted less at Americans than they are at Italians interested in US culture.

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As one Milanese restaurant proposing a 'Thanks Dinner Menu' featuring meatloaf and Brussels sprouts somewhat defensively insists, the occasion isn't "yet another pagan celebration imported by Americans" but is an opportunity for Italians to "dedicate a day to gratitude".

Find our list of restaurants hosting Thanksgiving dinners across Italy this year below.

Where can you celebrate Thanksgiving in Italy this year?

Photo by Matthew Bornhorst on Unsplash

And you might have thought Italy's one-euro homes initiative was a thing of the past - but in fact the number of Italian homes sold for one euro grew in 2023.

Whilst the actual purchase price usually amounts to a lot more than one euro, many buyers say the properties are still a bargain.

Regions selling off cheap homes this year include Basilicata, Lazio, Campania, Liguria, Sicily, Abruzzo.

Whether you're actively looking to buy an Italian property or just want to dream, you can browse our interactive map of Italian towns selling off homes at bargain-basement prices below.

MAP: Where in Italy can you buy homes for one euro?

Photo by TIZIANA FABI / AFP.

Thanks for reading and please get in touch with us by email if you have any feedback on this newsletter.

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