Property Description

Immersed in Green Hillsides, Beautiful Seven-apartment Agriturismo for Sale in North Sicily, only Ten Minutes from Cefalù

Agriturismo Cuore della Valle is a triple opportunity in one package. First of all you will be buying a beautiful, recently renovated four bedroom house in the north Sicilian countryside, only ten minutes from its most famous beach.

Secondly, this is a small agricultural business – an 8,500m plot with fruit and olive trees, and a huge greenhouse to help you grow at scale. Thirdly, and most significantly, it’s a perfect little holiday village with six apartments that can host over a dozen guests at once in comfort and a welcoming rustic style.

An agriturismo, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a kind of tourist accommodation in which visitors stay on a working farm or smallholding. It’s a win-win: the holidaymakers get a chance to connect with the most traditional side of Sicily and the landowners can diversify their business to bring in more income. To incentivise investment in this kind of small business, the Government offers a favourable tax climate, and allows buildings which would normally only be for agricultural use (the cadastral classification is ‘D10’) to be modified to host guests and even accommodate the owners.

Cuore della Valle is a great example of how this can work to benefit everybody. As recently as 2013, its buildings were in ruins, unused and helping nobody. An EU grant supported the comprehensive restoration work (completed in 2016) and you now have a thriving business which turns over a five-figure sum annually, bringing tourist income from all over the world and keeping the green hillside land productive and well-maintained.So you now have a wonderful chance to buy your very own agriturismo. For sale, in Sicily’s super-touristic Cefalù municipality, is the two acre plot, a main residence for you and your family, three outbuildings housing a total of six guest apartments, three little warehouses for the agricultural equipment, a huge 150m2 greenhouse and everything you need to keep the business running.

The Property

The estate is a semicircular plot, following the SP126 road along the flat upper edge and sloping down to the south on the rounded side, with the olive grove and orchards. The top of the property has all the buildings and the greenhouses, just underneath the provincial road. As well as being a little below street level, it’s fully screened by a fence and some medium sized fir trees around the apartments, keeping noise to an absolute minimum. The provincial road connects Cefalù to the villages of the Madonie Park.

The accommodation complex is composed of chalet buildings in a Mediterranean peach colour, with shallow roofs and shady verandas made from exposed oak timbers. Gravel paths and drystone walls lead you around the communal areas, which are all well lit.

Inside, the traditional-looking chalets reveal themselves to be surprisingly modern. There are lovely bathroom fittings, large wardrobes and beautiful flooring. The decorative touches are simple but nicely done. Everything is mostly a clean white, but some colourful accent walls really pop out. The guest apartments have wall-mounted televisions, and fully equipped kitchens with gas hobs, fridges and sinks. They’re all air-conditioned, and both Satellite TV and WiFi are installed throughout, with routers in each block.

One building holds the apartments named Ulivo 1, Ulivo 2 and Limone, while the second is comprised of Ulivo 3 and Mandarino. These are all one-bedroom flats. The third is a detached studio apartment, Palma, which is fully suitable for guests with disabilities or mobility issues.

The holiday apartments have lovely shady patios with outdoor furniture, both for relaxing and eating outdoors, and small portable barbecues. These spaces are defined by trellises that offer privacy between units, as well as winding pathways, the natural contours of the hillside and the overhanging olive trees. It’s a superb relaxing spot for a holiday in nature.

The owner’s house consists of a living room, kitchen, four bedrooms, three bathroom and a beautiful covered terrace of 60m2. The kitchen-diner is a standout, with a decorative majolica pattern behind the ample worktop which is echoed in the pristine new bathrooms. It comes with air conditioning, the connections to install radiators if you would like, and a wood-burning stove. It’s fully insulated on all sides, and underneath the new, well-maintained roof. The windows are in PVC, and in good condition.

The huge main greenhouse is found in the northeastern corner of the estate, and there are a smaller pair which have been planted with a vegetable garden for domestic use. The 80 olive trees produce about 150 litres of oil per year, and you’ll also find plenty of the ubiquitous Sicilian citrus fruits – oranges, tangerines and of course lemons

The water supply is from the municipal main, with a 50k litre cistern in reinforced concrete to insure you against periods of shorter supply. There are also two wells which are used for irrigation.

Hot water is supplied by a solar powered boiler. There are parking spaces on site for all guests.

Surroundings

The greatest asset of this beautiful agriturismo for sale in Sicily is its rural location and superb views of green hillsides and olive groves. South-facing, it is a sun-trap all day long.

In just ten minutes you can be in the wonderful little fishing town of Cefalù, now a major tourist landmark that will certainly help you attract guests even in low-season. The golden sandy beach is the perfect spot from which to admire the unique skyline of the historic Norman old town, with the twin towers of the UNESCO-protected cathedral jutting out above the rooftops.

Those who prefer to avoid the crowds in the busier months will love the quieter beach at Settefratti, also a ten minute drive downhill. The motorway that connects Sicily’s capital city, Palermo, to Messina at the toe of the Italian peninsula allows you to arrive from the airport in only just over an hour.

The hills of the Madonie Natural Park are a paradise for hikers, cyclists and foodies, with the fertile hills providing the perfect natural ingredients for a world-renowned food culture. In the summer you can view the park from a unique angle by taking a paragliding trip that passes almost directly over Cuore della Valle, and in winter you can even ski on the highest peaks.

Potential

In 2024 the agriturismo generated about €100,000 of revenue. An extremely high 9.3 rating on Booking.com would be yours to inherit, giving you many return visitors and a perfect platform from which to build on this success.

One of the significant expenses is electricity, which costs about €4,000 a year. While solar power provides the complex’s hot water, there are no electricity-generating panels on the estate yet,and it might be a shrewd investment as well as an ethical step to give yourself a renewable energy source.

The farming licence for the agricultural side of the business is valid until 2028, when it should be absolutely no problem to renew.

If you wanted to add a little extra capacity one could potentially carve out another small guest apartment from the main residence.

The apartment called ‘Limone’ apartment has a loft which does not appear in the land registry. If you would like to update this for complete accuracy we would be happy to put you in touch with a trusted local professional specialising in such matters.

Property in Sicily actually acts as estate managers for a very similar local business. If you like the sound of investing in a thriving tourist sector but aren’t able to relocate full time to Sicily to run it yourselves we would be delighted to discuss ways in which we could help you in your absence.