Property Description

Perfect Peaceful Cottage in the Nebrodi Natural Park, with Huge Outdoor Kitchen and Sensational Sea and Valley Views

750m above sea level, just to the south of the small town of Mistretta in the western hills of the Nebrodi Park, Casa Mariolina is a magical escape into nature with a 4,000m2 plot that boasts fabulous views down the slopes of a lush green valley to the sea in the distance.

The property is a dream for a couple of family who want a countryside escape with incredible views and the chance to cook and share food in traditional Sicilian style.

The cottage in the Nebrodi Park is a small one, but the outdoor spaces set it apart. Besides the acre of sloping hillsides, planted with all manner of trees including 60 olives that produce a hundred litres of beautiful fresh oil every year, there is a fabulous collection of gardens, terraces and arbours.

The tile-roofed outdoor kitchen alone would be a treat for any chef, with an assortment of grills, ovens and fireplaces that would allow you to prepare a feast for almost any number of guests you could imagine. The veranda outside the front of the house gives you a magnificent view straight down the valley to the sea in the distance, ten kilometres away at Santo Stefano di Camastra.

Casa Mariolina is available to buy fully as seen, including all of the furniture and fixtures on display in our photos and virtual tour. If you like the sound of retreating into nature in a picturesque, secluded and completely peaceful estate, we think it could be perfect for you.

The Property

The house is 67 square metres, including the covered veranda, and indoors consists of a single studio-style space divided in two by a broad brick arch, and a bathroom with a shower. At one end of the main living space is a kitchen corner with a gas hob, worktop, extractor fan and plenty of cupboard space. Two wooden dining tables have matching chairs, and a stove provides heat for the whole cottage.

The other end of the room is a living area, with a pair of sofas and an open fireplace. In this current configuration there is no bedroom per se, with a sofa bed next to the fireplace used when the owners stay overnight. It’s more often used for family gatherings on holidays, at weekends and for other short breaks. However, the twin entrances mean that it would be very easy to hang a curtain or place a screen across the archway and make the lounge area into a proper bedroom. There is enough room in the kitchen-diner space that you could fit a little lounge area in there.

The ceiling is in light pine, and the ceramic tiled floors underfoot are easy to maintain. The cottage’s most unique feature is a glass section of floor, with a tiny cellar visible beneath. This houses a little collection of historical artefacts below, almost as if you were in a museum or on an archaeological site. It’s a creative and memorable way to connects the old house to its past.

Outside, the deep veranda faces north-west, straight down the valley which drops away hundreds of metres to a little river below. Long outdoor tables can seat twenty or more between them. There is an outdoor light and a path with a handrail down into the garden.

The driveway curls uphill to the public road, through a wide arbour up which grapevines grow in the summer. It’s the perfect Italian scene. The upper terrace has been paved with terracotta tiles, offering a large uncovered area as well as the rustic outdoor kitchen, ready for you to prepare a delicious feast.

The estate is composed of three smaller plots trisected by a pair of roads. The first is the section around the cottage, mostly in front of the veranda. The second plot is further uphill, opposite the front gate of the property, and the third plot is even higher up. Here you’ll find a warehouse, built with all necessary planning permission, for storage of agricultural equipment. Besides the sixty olive trees, you will also be able to enjoy your own plums, apricots, almonds, figs, persimmons, edible grapes and mulberries.

The property is well presented. The windows, though not new, are in fair condition. It is connected to the electricity grid. At the very top of the property a little terrace holds two water cisterns of 5,000 litres each. For thirty years the supply for these has come from an underground pipe, shared with a neighbouring property, which runs from a fountain close to the property. Waste water flows to a cesspit. Hot water is delivered by a gas heater powered by small replaceable cylinders, and heating comes from the stand alone boiler and radiator – as well, of course, as the fireplace.

Surroundings

Covering 86,000 hectares, the Nebrodi Park is Sicily’s largest nature reserve, a huge swathe of land across the eastern side of the island’s north coast. Its gentle beauty and remarkable biodiversity offer an enticing array of opportunities to nature lovers all year round, but it is one of the most overlooked regions of Sicily for tourism, and that means that the region’s property market offers unbelievable value. A case in point, this idyllic country cottage can be bought ready-to-use for an absolute bargain price.

Ten minutes away by car, the small town of Mistretta will be your first point of call for all food, amenities and services. Home to about four thousand residents the picturesque little community offers supermarkets, bars, banks, even a small hospital. 4K inhabitants but everything you need. Our favourite is Sesima, a lovely little agriturismo with a restaurant where they make fabulous dishes from their own produce.

The road leading up to Mistretta from sea level is a treat. Well maintained and incredibly scenic, it winds up into the hills with some unforgettable sea and valley views along the way. In half an hour you can be at the Tyrrhenian Sea, Santo Stefano di Camastra offering a lovely quiet beach as well as a train station from which you can travel west to Cefalù and later Palermo or East to Messina and the mainland of the Italian peninsula.

An unusual attraction closer to home, around the village of Castel di Lucio, is a section of the open-air sculpture park known as the Fiumara d’Arte. A vast labyrinth and several other huge sculptures and installations make a very photogenic backdrop to an outing in the hills.

Potential

The only maintenance issue we found with Casa Mariolina is a crack in the wall near the kitchen, but this is a plaster issue, nothing more serious. If you are concerned about the water situation it would be possible to bore your own well and give yourself access to a private water supply.  well could be created on the property if desired. This requires an initial investment of about €8-10,000, depending on the depth you need to drill, but obviously gives you the advantage of free water in perpetuity.

If you are considering this or any other kind of building work, perhaps reconfiguring or redecorating Casa Mariolina, we can offer our help in the form of anything from recommendations of trustworthy local contractors and professionals to full-scale project management. This is especially helpful if you can’t be in Sicily in person during the work – we can coordinate everything on the ground, including making regular site visits and sending you photos, videos and written reports.Whatever you have planned for this lovely cottage in the Nebrodi Park don’t hesitate to ask our friendly, multilingual team for more information today.