According to Postal news, 31-year-old influencer João Amorim, who is a native of São João da Madeira and has the Instagram page "followthesuntravel" bought half of the village of Varziela, which is located in the middle of the Peneda-Gerês Natural Park.

The news outlet reports that he came across the abandoned village whilst doing the famous Camino de Santiago de Compostela, where he decided to invest about 100,000 euros and bought half of the village.

The influencer took to YouTube to explain his new project and shared that he made "six scriptures, but in the end, there are many more houses". The plan is to build a hostel and houses to receive a total of 80 guests. For now, the influencer has the 3D project of the village of Varziela but is looking for construction companies.


In an interview with Público, João Amorim says he bought, in addition to the houses, this is a project of passion for the place and the people there. For the works, he is planning to spend about 1.5 million euros. At this moment "the architects are finishing the projects and we will be able to have detailed budgets", so the next step is to move forward with a financing application from Turismo de Portugal.