Property Description

Superb Value, Sea-view Home in the Nebrodi Park, with Three Bedrooms and Roof Terrace

With an incredibly attractive price tag, this three-bedroom townhouse is a Sicilian classic. Compact but well-designed, it’s built on four floors and topped off by a covered roof terrace which offers lovely views and a perfect alternative to a garden.

Casa de Nonni lies right at the heart of the village of Galati Mamertino, a quiet hilltop oasis in the Nebdrodi Natural Park. Eleven kilometres inland from the island’s north coast, it’s a timeless spot with a close-knit community full of friendly, helpful neighbours and sensational panoramic views.

Built in the 1970s, the home has remained in the same family since its construction, and was renovated in the late 1980s. It’s ready to use, with no renovation work necessary unless you choose to invest further. This makes it a beautifully practical and appealing option for a holiday home in a region of Sicily that offers the very best of its countryside and small-town traditions.

The 18 m² roof terrace gives you a great view of the rooftops of Galati Mamertino and the mountains of the central Nebrodi, while windows to the north on every floor showcase the thrilling volcanic archipelago of the Aeolian Islands, on the horizon out to sea.

The Property

The sea-view home in the Nebrodi is a traditional construction with a simple floor plan. The entrance hallway is broad, with a black marble floor. The first flight of stairs extends directly in front of you, finished with the same dark stone, while more traditional lighter marble tile patterns and plain ceramics are used underfoot in most of the rest of the house. To your left are the kitchen and a guest bedroom.

The 12m² kitchen is bright and sociable with street-facing window. It has semi-tiled walls on all sides. The kitchen units were installed ten years ago and are still in good working order, simple but practical. These are in a colourful blue, with a double sink, electric oven, gas hobs and a fridge-freezer.

The bedroom is a similar size, big enough to hold a double bed or two singles. The highlight is the view, the steep hillside of the region meaning that even here on the ground floor you can enjoy the sight of the sea in the morning. A small storage cupboard under the stairs completes the ground floor.

The first floor is laid out much more simply. It’s almost entirely given to the master bedroom, a huge open space of about 24m² with dual exposition. On the west side, French windows lead you onto a long balcony which runs nearly the full width of the home. To the north, much like the guest room downstairs, is a sea-view window. By this level it is really spectacular – providing a panoramic view of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Aeolian Islands 50 kilometres away. By night the nearby towns of San Salvatore di Fitalia, Mirto, Naso are lit up like stars in the sky. Closer to home, you also have a view of the main parish church of Santa Maria Assunta and the smaller Church of the Rosary.

A compact family bathroom with a bath and shower attachment is tiled in clean, simple white. This is reached by the small landing before the well-lit staircase continues up to the top floor.

Here we find a third bedroom, very slightly larger than the one on the ground floor. It offers the same spectacular view to the north. It’s also a little brighter, thanks to a second window onto the covered veranda. This takes up the whole of the front side of the property, giving you about 18m² of space, shady but open to the fresh air. From here you can enjoy a better view of the village and the mountains on the horizon.

There is a fourth floor to the property, a semi-submerged basement which is accessible from street level from the alleyway behind Casa dei Nonni. This will offer you all the storage or workshop space you might possibly need.

The electrical system dates from the 1980s, but is in perfect working order. Water comes from the municipal supply, with the security of a 1,000-litre cistern which is kept constantly topped up by a pump and guarantees you against any days when the supply is turned off. The building is connected to the gas main, with all certification in order. This feeds both the kitchen and the radiators on the ground and first floors. The bathroom and kitchen water are heated by electrical water-heaters.

Surroundings

Galati Mamertino is a small village of a few thousand people, located 800m above sea level in the central hills of the Nebrodi Natural Park. It’s around 11km from the coast, and a half hour by car from the coastal towns of Sant’Agata di Militello and Capo d’Orlando. It has everything you’ll need on a day-to-day basis, including convenience stores and supermarkets, a pharmacy and doctor’s surgeries, a post office and small sports centre.

It’s a town steeped in tradition, one of the last villages you come to before the great uninhabited heart of the Natural Park rises up to mountain peaks nearly two thousand metres high. Its cobbled streets and stone walls have a medieval feel, whether bathed in the warm summer sunshine or wrapped in the evocative mist of a winter’s day.

Casa dei Nonni stands in the upper part of town. The street on which it stands is only accessible on foot, but there is parking nearby on several different roads and the walk is just a couple of minutes. Nowhere in the town is more than a fifteen minute walk away. A number of nearby villages are similar in size and offer similar amenities, but the larger communities are down at sea level to the north.

To the south, the mountains of the Nebrodi offer a wealth of opportunities for hiking, biking, climbing, swimming in mountain lakes, birdwatching and photography. It’s Sicily’s largest unspoilt wilderness, and an absolute paradise for nature lovers. For a deeper look at what’s on offer in this beautiful and underrated region, take a look at our full guide to the Nebrodi Park.

Potential

Although outwardly old-world, the village has actually invested in some very high speed fibre optic internet cabling, allowing you to connect to the web at  industrial speeds. This allows you to consider Casa dei Nonni as a great base for remote working if you would like to use it for longer stays or even make it a permanent home. Sicily offers a very attractive tax climate for overseas buyers who can bring their own work to the region.

In terms of work that needs to be done to the house itself, nothing is urgent. The fascia could do with a new coat of paint. Some of the decoration is a bit dated – you might want to redo the bathroom or kitchen. You might consider the possibility of installing a gas boiler to replace the electrical heaters. There is no air conditioning, but the ample airflow and altitude mean that this is unlikely to be a priority.

If you need any help with the logistics of the move, renovation work or getting settled into life in Sicily, our range of after-sale packages will offer you peace of mind. Knowing that you can always rely on expert multilingual help, including personal communication, accurate translation and realistic timekeeping, will make your journey to Sicily the adventure you want it to be. Contact us about this charming sea-view home in the Nebrodi today.