Property Description

Three Storeys and a Roof Terrace to Come, in a Stunning Fishing Village just Twenty Minutes Outside Palermo: the Perfect Opportunity to Renovate a House in Sicily

This three-storey home in the centre of Porticello is a real project purchase, in need of a complete renovation. As seen at the moment, it has bricked up windows, missing balconies and rubble in all indoor spaces. However, the skeleton of the building is good, with thick walls in naturally insulating local stone, wooden floor timbers that you may be able to repurpose, and some traditional curved Sicilian roof tiles.

The real attractions are twofold: firstly the location. Casa Maurizio is just a hundred metres from the sea, in one of Sicily’s friendliest little fishing villages. Moreover, with our Porticello office not even two minutes’ walk away, you can count on expert advice and the very best local connections to help you manage your restoration work.

The second big selling point is the flat roof terrace. Covering about twenty square metres of the third floor, this will eventually be transformed into a superb space for outdoor meals, sunbathing and entertaining guests. The sounds and scents of the sea will provide the perfect backdrop.

The building has potential as either a large family home, or a guest house with three separate apartments all sharing the use of the top floor patio. Neighbouring properties show just how well either of these options can turn out.

A great purchase for someone with the energy and enthusiasm renovate a house in Sicily, who likes the idea of ending up with a home that’s rebuilt and finished to their exact specifications on a mid-range budget, Casa Maurizio won’t be on the market long. Let’s show you it as it stands at the moment.

The Property

With each of the three floors measuring around 35m2 and a small utility room under the eaves upstairs, the total indoor area of Casa Maurizio is about 110m2. To this we can add the terrace, which will eventually measure about 20m2.

Very little remains of the interior, even the floors and ceilings, and it was not safe to create a virtual tour, but the floor plan and photography give you a sense of the general condition of the structure.

It is simply laid out, with two rooms per floor. The front ones have balconies (or, in the case of the ground floor, French windows onto the street) and the rear ones are internal spaces which would make good en-suite bathrooms. The house faces west, and is taller than several of the neighbouring properties, so natural light will arrive well through those large windows. Ceilings are three metres or higher throughout, giving this the opportunity to carry well around the spaces. A staircase runs up the right hand side of the building.

The house is connected to municipal supplies for power and water, and despite its old-world appearance, the town has the infrastructure for fibre-optic internet connections that can reach extremely high speeds.

Surroundings

On a quiet one-way street with free parking, Casa Maurizio is just 30 metres from the village’s famous fish market. There’s no better place to pick up fresh seafood for lunch or dinner. The sea is only a hundred metres to the east, and right at the end of the road is start of the seafront park, known as Piano Stenditore. This has recently been re-landscaped to create a beautiful and popular public space which has proven extremely popular with locals and visitors alike.

If you’re looking for the beach you have some excellent choices, with the cove at Sant’Elia only four minutes away on foot, and a fantastic sandy bay called Olivella only ten minutes away to the south. There are several excellent restaurants on hand, and pretty much all the facilities you’d need on a day-to-day basis. As we mentioned before, we are local to the area and can offer all the recommendations you need!

The little town of Santa Flavia is only 10 minutes up the road on foot, with trains carrying you from its station to the centre of Sicily’s ancient capital Palermo in only 20 minutes, and east along the coast to the iconic sands and skyline of Cefalù in only 40. The nearest big city is Bagheria, home to about 50,000 people, incredible restaurants and great nightlife all year round.

The beaches and coves of the Capo Zafferano peninsula surround you on three sides, waiting to be explored by car, bike or – ideally – boat. The mountainous nature reserve of Monte Catalfano dominates the skyline and the important archaeological site of Solunto overlooks Porticello and its busy harbour.

The nearest airport is Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino, 45 minutes by car and also reachable via train with a change at Centrale. Recently expanded and refreshed, it’s a practical and user-friendly hub from which to reach all of Europe’s main destinations. In the summer months you can even fly direct to the east coast of the USA.

Potential

Although the bricks and mortar have seen better days, all of Casa Maurizio’s important legal documentation is in order. The vendor applied for planning permission to construct the roof terrace and this has been granted. We would note that it would be advantageous to move quickly here, as this permit will expire in March 2026. If you can’t get the work finished by then it should be a formality to renew it, but it will cost a bit more money.

There is much to do here, from creating new floors and reopening the windows to restarting electrical and plumbing systems from scratch, to repairing the balconies, re-roofing the property and all decoration work. The sheer quantity involved makes it hard to estimate an exact budget, but we would suggest that depending on your taste and needs, €1,000 – €1,500 per square metre is a good guideline for the cost to renovate a house in Sicily. That would suggest that for a net spend of about €250,000, including the purchase price, you could have a dream home in the Mediterranean or a guest house ready to receive visitors.

If you’re trying to get a clear sense of just what would be involved in a renovation like this, we would suggest you look at our guide to restoring an old house in Sicily. Given the scale of the work needed, some of the principles in our article on building your own home from scratch here might also be helpful to read.

Sadly some of the most enticing financial incentives of the old Italian ‘Bonus system’, which made it incredibly cheap to restore old homes, have been discontinued over the past couple of years, but there are still incentives in place to add eco-friendly infrastructure or facilities that make the building usable for people with reduced mobility.

The most important step is undoubtedly to surround yourself with experienced and trustworthy local professionals, and here we can make your life so much easier. As well as being able to introduce you to architects, designers, lawyers and all manner of other indispensable team members, we can even manage the entire project on your behalf. If you’re not able to be in the area while the work is taking place, it’s impossible to overstate how advantageous it can be to have local eyes and ears on the ground sending regular reports and helping you negotiate the best deals.

Porticello is not by any means a tourist town, but its convenience both for Palermo and the beautiful coast, its easy access from the airport and the low prices, as well as an unmistakeable old-world charm means that it could really work as the site for a guest house. If you would like to know more about this market, let us introduce you to our sister company, vacation rental specialists Solemar Sicilia.