The mayor of an Italian village who proposed paying people €2,000 to move there has begged people to stop ringing him after thousands tried to take him up on his offer. Daniele Galliano floated the idea on Facebook in a bid to encourage more people to live in Bormida, a hamlet of 394 in the mountainous region of Liguria in north-west Italy.

With the nearest major city - Genoa - more than 50 miles away, the village's population has dwindled. Under mayor's scheme, tenants would be paying as little as €12.50 a week in rent as part of a scheme to boost numbers.