Property Description

Beautiful and Spacious Three-bedroom Family Home in the Nebrodi, with Panoramic Mountain Views, Garden and External Annexe

In the spectacular hills of the Nebrodi Natural Park, just ten kilomtres inland from Sicily’s north coast, but completely surrounded by stunning countryside views, Casetta Basile is a three bedroom family home. Its south-western aspect guarantees bright sunny afternoons and warm evenings enjoying the multicolour sunsets that spread out across the huge Sicilian sky, as the sun drops below the dramatic skyline of the surrounding mountain range.

With local organic agriculture and the island’s legendary culinary tradition guaranteeing a beautiful fresh diet, the possibility to hike, ride and trek in the dazzling landscapes throughout the year, this is a perfect spot in which to discover all the benefits of a simple, healthy lifestyle. The neighbours have been incredibly friendly to us each time we’ve visited the property, and the municipality of San Salvatore di Fitalia is incredibly keen to attract international buyers.

Although a quintessentially Sicilian community, with proud traditions of their own, San Salvatore is blessed with an outward-looking local administration, who are determined to bring their beautiful hilltop town into more contact with the world beyond its leafy green limits. As such, they are pledging the incredible welcome gift of €5,000 to anyone who buys property here and invests the time and money on refreshing its structure, exterior or interior. You can actually be subsidised to renovate a property in Sicily.

Nor is there, in reality, much work that needs to be done on a property which is already perfectly liveable as a family home. In the Nebrodi, the cost of any work that you do need to do is impressively affordable. And last but not least, the vendors have even expressed to us an interest in agreeing a price for some of the fixtures and furnishings, including a spacious fitted kitchen and a beautiful dining room suite with matching dressers.

Casetta Basile, then, is a fabulous proposition for a buyer who wants to immerse themselves, their family and guests in a wonderful Sicilian landscape and a welcoming community.

The Property

Built directly on a quiet country road which cuts through the hills between Tortorici and San Salvatore di Fitalia, just on the outskirts of the latter, Casetta Basile stands 650m above sea level, facing a deep green valley. On the other side, in the direction of Galati Mamertino and Longhi, the tallest peaks stretch up to 1200m.

The cheery pink house has been perfectly oriented and designed to take advantage of this lofty position, with a south-westerly aspect and a balcony running along the front of the property, linking the master bedroom and living room. An external flight of stairs leads directly up to this, but the main entrance is at street level, sandwiched between the single garage and the little patio which faces towards the valley.

Stepping inside, we find ourselves in a broad entrance hallway, with an open staircase on the left and a reception room to the right. There is ample space for a entrance furniture, and the simple ceramic tile underfoot is matched neatly by the smoothly whitewashed walls – a traditional look for a mid-century Sicilian home.

The ground floor reception room is currently furnished with a small dining table and a light wooden dresser. It could easily be converted into a cosier living space, with the addition of a couple of sofas, a television and a rug. Measuring about 12m2, it is a good size for a snug evening in front of a good film or a lazy afternoon with a book.

Beyond this is the first guest bedroom, about 16m2 with ample space for the double bed, wooden double wardrobe and chest of drawers with which it is currently furnished. A neat window faces out to the front, overlooking the patio and the hills in the distance. The room is cooled by an air conditioning unit.

Up the marbled staircase, with its decorative iron handrail, we step directly into a huge open-plan living space. This serves as kitchen, dining room and living room, with a simple dining table and plenty of space to add a sofa or comfy chairs to the rear of the staircase. The room is beautifully bright and airy, thanks to the twin French windows. One opens onto a false balcony, while the other leads you to the top of the external staircase and the fabulous panoramic view of the leafy valley.

Above the guest bedroom is the master, a slightly larger room with the perfect view. Stepping out onto your balcony in the morning with the fresh warm air on your face and the smell of the hazelnut trees and vineyards drifting up to greet you will be a completely serene experience. As they are throughout Casetta Basile, the wooden windows have been fitted with internal blackout shutters to guarantee an undisturbed night’s sleep that lasts exactly as long as you want it to.

The final large space in the main building is currently being used as a dining room, and it is certainly a worthy example of the genre. The hardwood table is topped with a fabulous marble slab, and the twin dressers with mirrors are a classy compliment to the room. With windows on two sides, the room is wonderfully lit, and the views are green and expansive. The narrow bathroom with shower is directly off this room, and this all invites the tempting possibility of turning it into a third bedroom with its own en-suite bathroom. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of this when we discuss Casetta Basile’s potential later on.

The property’s garden is a lovely space measuring about 300m2. This has been cultivated with a few vines, which bear grapes, and a persimmon tree.

The final feature of interest is an unusual little annexe situated directly over the road from the front of the house. This comprises a pair of storerooms, out of sight from the street but facing onto the paddock to the rear. At street level, above these, is a bathroom with a tub, finished in a warm pink tile, and a kind of kitchen with a traditional wood-burning oven, of the kind you can use to fire your own pizzas or prepare the perfect grill. Both of these upper rooms have lovely countryside views through small windows facing onto the valley.

Surroundings

As we have been reiterating, although the centre of the village is just five minutes away, the feeling of this family home in the Nebrodi is completely rural, with the hills rolling away beneath and in front of you. The hazelnut plantations are home to all manner of birds and other small animals, and the street is not nearly busy enough to disrupt the sense of countryside calm.

Those friendly neighbours we mentioned before have a kumquat tree in their garden (the locals know the small orange-like fruit as the ‘Chinese Mandarin’) and could not be more generous with their bumper crop of the sweet treats. This is completely typical of the attitude of most of the people we have met and spoken to in the village, who are only too pleased to welcome newcomers to an area of which they are very proud, but which has never attracted large-scale tourism.

The coastal towns of Capo d’Orlando and Sant’Agata Militello are each within a half hour drive, and Milazzo, the gateway to the beautiful Aeolian Islands, is just an hour’s drive. A little further is Messina, the nearest true city, and then within a couple of hours you can be in either the Sicilian capital, Palermo or Catania, each of which is home to an international airport.

The real beauty of the region is in the great natural expanse to the south, however, the splendid Nebrodi mountains and the dramatic spectre of Mount Etna, towering over the east of the island. If you are lovers of the great untouched outdoors, this is as good a spot as you’ll find anywhere in the Mediterranean.

Potential

This family home in the Nebrodi is in impressive condition overall, especially at this asking price. Only very minor changes would be needed urgently.

The wooden window frames need some work to be done on them. While you would of course be free to find anyone in the area to do this, it’s worth nothing that the vendor is actually a carpenter by trade, and would certainly be motivated to do a beautiful job on them pre-sale, if you wanted to make an offer for his time.

The electrical system is in safe working order but has not been replaced for several decades. Sooner or later it will need to be replaced.

There is currently no heating in the property, but by upgrading the air conditioning units in place to some more modern two-way heat pump systems you could quickly and efficiently guarantee yourself comfortable temperatures throughout the home all year round.

One big decision is how you’re going to use the dining room upstairs. Ultimately, your decision will come down to how you plan to use Casa Basile – if you are imagining a full-time relocation to San Salvatore, really getting to know the locals and hosting dinners in the true Sicilian style, then a feature dining room like this could be a perfect location for it. If, however, you are looking for a holiday home, somewhere you can bring the grandchildren or a few other couples for a long lazy summer break, then the extra sleeping capacity of a third double room would be perfect. The only issue would be that you would need to create an extra bathroom somewhere. But there are various corners of the home that could be repurposed in this way.

You could make the downstairs living room a playroom directly adjacent to a kids’ bedroom and enjoy having those long lie-ins while the little ones keep themselves occupied on the ground floor. A potential buyer with one eye on the island’s lucrative vacation rentals market might well see this a smart route to being able to regularly let the home out when you’re not able to use it yourself. Remember that if you are considering making your investment work for you in this way you can call on the services of our sister company, holiday home management specialists Solemar Sicilia, to help you find the very best clients and support staff. They can take all the stress out of managing a guest house in Sicily.