"No Salary, Only Room and Board..." 3,000 People Worldwide Flock to Job Ads on a Small Italian Island

Support Flooding in Various Parts of the World

A job advertisement offering room and board at a farm on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, attracted over 3,000 applicants from around the world. Photo by Luigi Maja, Facebook capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] When a job advertisement was posted on the condition of providing only room and board at a farm on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, more than 3,000 applicants from around the world flocked in.

According to the British daily The Telegraph on the 12th (local time), Luigi Maja (35), who lives on the island of Lipari in the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily, Italy, recently posted an ad on Facebook seeking someone to help with work on his small farm.

Maja, who raises fruits, vegetables, chickens, and donkeys and makes handmade soap from natural ingredients such as olive oil, stated that he cannot pay a salary but will provide food, wine, and a small room equipped with wireless internet to the worker.

It was expected that people would not show much interest due to the remote island location and the unpaid nature of the job, but the reality was the opposite.

Inquiries poured in not only from Italy, France, and the UK but also from the United States and Japan, with the number of applicants exceeding 3,000.

A job advertisement offering room and board only at a farm on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, attracted over 3,000 applicants from around the world. Photo by Luigi Maja, Facebook capture

After carefully selecting from over 3,000 applicants, Maja chose a couple from Marseille, France, and Italy. Regardless of the selection, he introduced some memorable applicants.

One applicant was a young man from Bergamo in northern Italy, where the COVID-19 situation was most severe. He reportedly said, "I lost everything due to COVID-19. I experienced severe anger and claustrophobia. I never want to return to Bergamo."

Another applicant was a Japanese couple who came to Italy but could not return to their home country due to the spread of COVID-19. They reportedly abandoned plans to return home and planned to travel around the European continent while supporting themselves with part-time jobs.

Maja said, "In many cases, the reason for applying was directly related to concerns about the pandemic. People who thought they could not be trapped inside an apartment again seemed to reconsider the vibrant cities, environment, and food."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.