Property Description

Twin Semi-detached Homes in the Nebrodi Park; One Renovated and one Project House, Both with Beautiful Mountain Views

Ten kilometres from the north coast of Sicily, and 550m above sea level in the foothills of Sicily’s largest nature reserve, the Nebrodi Natural Park, these twin semi-detached properties are two halves of a single building.

With a superb natural vantage point that can’t be blocked by any other construction, and balconies looking all the way down the valley to the sea in the distance, the homes really do make the best of their beautiful, undisturbed location.

One half of the villa, Casa Vasi, is fully renovated and ready to use, while the other half Casa Calderaro is a renovation project. It has better views but will require far more investment.

The characterful homes in the Nebrodi Park can be bought separately or together, perhaps by two halves of a family or a pair of couples who want to share the experience of moving to Sicily or buying a holiday home here.

We’ll show you each of them in turn…

The Property

1- Casa Vasi

The first of the two homes in the Nebrodi Park is Casa Vasi, a renovated house which can be lived in immediately. Even more conveniently it is even sold with all furniture. It would of course make the ideal base to live in while you restore the second property.

The upper floor makes up the living area of the property and measures approximately 70m2. Underneath this is a basement of approximately 25m2, which is certainly big enough to store maintenance equipment for the plot of land and outdoor furniture for the summer months.

The land covers approximately 2.2 hectares of north-west facing hillside. As well as patches of open ground you will find some woodland, with trees including chestnuts and hazels. A spring feeds fresh drinking water into s storage tank, and an access road (which also serves Casa Calderaro) curls up from the road below. Lastly, there is a small ruined cottage measuring approximately 35m2, which is not fit for any kind of use at present but could be rebuilt to make a small annexe, pool house or other kind of outbuilding.

The layout of the apartment is simple, with an entrance directly into a spacious living room, with a fireplace in one corner. To one side is a bedroom with a balcony, and to the other a bathroom finished in plain white tile with a shower, and a kitchen with a walk-in larder. The fridge-freezer, free-standing cooker and cupboards are all included in the sale. So too are the deep, comfortable sofas and dining suite in the living room.

The bedroom is especially bright and airy, with dual exposition to the north- and south-east. A window overlooks the garden and a French window opens onto the balcony, where the view seems to go on forever.

The ceilings are high, following the line of the roof in smooth plaster. Above this, the distinctive curved Sicilian coppo tiles are in great condition. The windows are in aluminium and are basic but effective, with external shutters made of wood. The fixtures are in a good state of repair, and as well as the private water supply Casa Vasi is also connected to the municipal main.

The vendor is asking €110,000 for Casa Vasi, if it is bought without Casa Calderaro.

2- Casa Calderaro

The second of the houses is on the northern side of the building, with two windows on the long side facing north-west, and a balcony, like that of Casa Vasi, looking out along the valley on the north-eastern side. It is a similar size and shape, long and thin, but no partitioning has been created, it is currently a single 70m2 space. The ceiling is flat and lower than the sister house.

Casa Calderaro needs a complete restoration. It has exposed walls (made of a mix of blocks and bricks), no plumbing or electricity. You will obviously need to create rooms, although the lack of internal walls does at least give you a great blank canvas to start from. There are some old floor tiles which could perhaps be integrated into the new design, and while the roof will need to be tidied up, there is no evidence of any leakage. But everything else must be approached from scratch.

Like Casa Vasi, there is a large storeroom underneath the main apartment, measuring about 30m2.

The plot of Casa Calderaro is about 1.2 hectares in size, with olive trees, citrus and some other fruits, a few grape vines and other greenery. It is served by an open cistern which collects water from the nearby spring.

The initial asking price for this property is €60,000.

Surroundings

The Nebrodi Park is Sicily’s biggest open space, and home to a huge variety of flora and fauna. You could hike, bike or ride a different path or trail every day for a year and still have more to discover. Don’t miss our deep dive into homes in the Nebrodi Park and its towns.

San Salvatore di Fitalia is the nearest town, a five minute drive or a pleasant half hour walk away. You’ll find shops, bars and restaurants for daily life here, as well as a health centre and some fabulous views.

The nearest larger town is Capo D’Orlando, half an hour downhill by car.

Potential

Casa Vasi is immediately inhabitable, and there is no pressing need to invest on anything here. You might want to freshen up the facade and maybe invest in that patio space, which would be greatly improved by the addition of an outdoor kitchen. On that subject, the indoor kitchen is fairly rudimentary and for a couple of thousand Euro you could have it up-to-date with new appliances and a makeover of the cupboards and worktops.

Casa Calderaro will need a full renovation, though the big advantage is that, being in such a completely raw state, there will be no need to clear anything out before you start building back. We recommend that you take a look at our guide to renovating a house in Sicily, and perhaps, given the scale of the work needed, also our look at building your own home here.

Calculating costs is never an exact science without knowing the tastes of the buyer, but with the amount of work that needs to be done we would estimate a budget of around €1,500/m2, or €100,000 in total, to fully maximise the potential of Casa Calderaro.

It is not currently connected to the municipal water supply, but as Casa Vasi does have a connection, it would not be complicated to address this. The same is true for electricity, although as there is so much space here and Sicily enjoys over 300 sunny days a year, it would be profitable as well as environmentally friendly to install some solar panels on the land and benefit from their renewable energy too.

Of course, the ultimate way to make the most of these two properties would be to buy both and combine them into a single luxury property. You would benefit from 140m2 of indoor space, a huge basement or garage, and a 3.5 hectare estate.

It would be lovely to add a swimming pool with the fabulous view down the valley. That would set you back about €30,000, but the increase in value from a beautiful facility like that would be far beyond your outlay.

If you like the sound of renovating a home here, but are worried about managing the logistics yourself, you might want to consider enlisting the help of our project management team. We have always considered it our mission to help buyers not just to the moment of sale but right up until their house feels like a home, and over the decades we have amassed some great word of mouth for this service.

Whether you are interested in Casa Vasi, Casa Calderaro or both, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly multilingual staff with any questions you have.