Appartamento Melina – Palermo

• 7 Rooms

• 2 Bathroom

• 165 m²

• 11th

Appartamento Melina – A Spacious, Light-filled Sea-view Penthouse in Palermo: Three Bedrooms, 165m² and First-class City Connections

On the eleventh floor of a desirable, well-managed residential complex in south Palermo, Appartamento Melina is a bright and generously proportioned 165m² three-bedroom penthouse with unobstructed views over the Tyrrhenian Sea. Most buildings in the city don’t reach this height, so finding a penthouse at this level on the market is a real opportunity.

The property is one of four residential blocks set around a private communal garden – a welcome green space that's a rare bonus in Sicilian city apartments. The building itself has been consistently well maintained and recent investment is visible throughout. The elevator was replaced entirely a few months ago, the roof was fully waterproofed in recent years, and the marble lobby with wood panelling sets the tone well. An automatic gate brings extra security, and the property benefits from two private, off-street parking spaces.

Sicily's great capital city, Palermo is one of the Mediterranean’s most compelling cities – Arab-Norman monuments, legendary street food, a waterfront in the midst of genuine renewal. It's a forward-thinking metropolis leaving a complicated twentieth century history in the rear view mirror, and for anyone ready to buy a base in Sicily, a wonderfully rich backdrop. A sea-view penthouse in Palermo, of this size and in a building this well managed, is superb value at this asking price.

Appartamento Melina is in excellent condition and can be lived in as soon as it has been furnished.

The Property

The communal lobby leads to the new lift, and this in turn brings you smoothly and efficiently to the eleventh floor. You arrive at a wide, welcoming entrance hallway that gives Appartamento Melina an immediately generous feel. Some of the internal doors are glazed, which keeps natural light moving through the space, and combined with windows on both east and west elevations, the effect is an apartment that is bright from the first hour of the day to the last.

To the right of the hallway is the living room, which has two separate entrances and opens onto a long balcony. The outlook takes in rooftops, treetops and open sky; east- and west-facing windows mean the living areas catch the sunrise on one side and the kind of colourful Sicilian sunsets that are considerably harder to describe than they are to enjoy.

Continuing down the hallway, the sleeping accommodation lines the left side. The first bedroom is a medium-sized double with its own sea-view balcony; a practical laundry area has been fitted onto the balcony, with a sink, plumbing for a washing machine, and a water heater. The second bedroom follows, also with a dedicated balcony. The master bathroom, spacious and with a bathtub, is on the right side of the corridor.

At the end of the hallway, three doors open in different directions. The shower room is straight ahead. To the right is the third bedroom, with its own balcony giving a panoramic view across the city rather than the sea. And through a bookshelf archway to the left is the kitchen-diner, framed by shelving on both sides as you step through.

 The kitchen is divided into two distinct zones: a serious cooking area, and a dining space that seats eight comfortably around the table. There is room for a sofa arrangement in the dining zone as well, so the kitchen can become the social heart of the home rather than a room you simply pass through after eating. The floor plan of this sea-view penthouse in Palermo – 165 square metres across the three bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room and kitchen-diner – gives everyone in the household real room to move.

Surroundings

On the southern fringe of the great city, with the green mountains that surround it on full display, Guadagna is one of Palermo’s nicest residential suburbs. It's very well-connected, and the urban fabric is bounded by the ring road just half a kilometre away. This is certainly not the tourist-facing old town, and there are no crowds here, and daily life is genuinely local. Pharmacies, supermarkets and a good range of independent shops are all within easy reach, and a public park directly opposite the building provides an unusual green outlook for a city apartment. Bus lines to the centre run along the main road, a short walk away.

Palermo itself is five minutes away by car and about ten by train from Guadagna station, a fifteen-minute walk. For a city of over a million people it is impressively accessible: the three famous street markets of Ballarò, Vucciria and Capo spread across the old town; the Arab-Norman circuit, including the UNESCO-protected cathedral and Palazzo dei Normanni, is compact enough to walk between sites; and the recently remodelled seafront marina, with its choreographed fountains and good restaurants, has added a new dimension to the city’s social life. The Teatro Massimo – reputedly the most acoustically perfect opera house in Europe – anchors a cultural calendar that has no quiet season.

For travel beyond the city, the ring road is accessible in minutes, putting the Capo Zafferano peninsula roughly twenty minutes to the east, with some of the finest swimming in the province and the beaches of Mongerbino within easy reach. Day trips west towards the Trapani province and its extraordinary coastline are entirely feasible, and rail connections from Guadagna station run north along the coast towards Cefalù. Falcone-Borsellino International Airport is approximately twenty minutes by car.

Potential

As noted in above, Appartamento Melina is in excellent shape and can be moved into without any work beyond furnishing. The communal areas are in particularly good condition – the recent lift replacement and roof waterproofing mean there are no significant shared expenditure items on the horizon. What there is, for anyone who wants it, is scope for cosmetic upgrading: replacing the existing aluminium window frames with contemporary, thermally efficient alternatives would run somewhere between €8,000 and €15,000, and a fresh interior throughout would complete the transformation to a fully contemporary standard.

For those planning to make this their primary Italian residence, there are significant tax advantages worth understanding before completing the purchase. Our Welcome to Sicily service can handle the practical side of establishing yourself here – utilities, residency registration, bank accounts, and anything else that tends to create friction when you are setting up in a new country.

The rental credentials of a sea-view penthouse in Palermo are not difficult to establish: three bedrooms, an eight-seat dining table, and a lift to the eleventh floor with panoramic views make a persuasive short-let proposition. Our guide to running a holiday rental in Sicily sets out the practicalities, and Solemar Sicilia offer a professional management service for those who want a hands-off arrangement.

 One planning note: a small enclosed laundry veranda was added to the sea-view balcony without formal consent at some point. It can either remain as it is or be removed to restore the original open balcony – both routes are entirely manageable. Our network of trusted legal and technical advisers can guide you through whichever you prefer. Get in touch to arrange a viewing or ask us anything.