Clotilde Narzisi and Luca Soliman have run the Caffe Orefici, 200 meters from Milan's iconic Duomo Cathedral, for 10 years. Forced to sell their business because of high taxes, they say their only hope now is to leave it in Chinese hands.

"They are the only ones who are buying," said Narzisi, 43, during a break after the lunch rush of businessmen and shoppers in the heart of Italy's financial capital. "We want to sell, taxes are too high. We work eight hours a day for the state and one hour for us."

Caffe Orefici is among the 18,000 advertisements from businesses and individuals that have been published since February of last year on vendereaicinesi.it - literally, sell to the Chinese - a website that helps Italians attract bids for properties, products and services from Chinese suitors.