Property Description

Sea View House in Sicily’s Most Beautiful Countryside Village

Casa Pace is a five storey, seven room house that stands towards the top of the hillside town of Gratteri in the Madonie National Park. With Sicily’s pristine north coast within easy reach, including the famous beach of Cefalù to the East, the location is a perfect balance of convenience and escape from the outside world. In this timeless little community the old traditions of home cooking, close friendship and the dolce vita life have endured in a way seldom seen within such a short journey of Europe’s major cities.

Taking full advantage of its lofty perch, the top floors of this quintessential Sicilian property have spectacular sea views, including from a roof terrace that offers a spectacular panorama of countryside and sea.

The Property

Casa Pace’s five floors each contain one or two rooms, making full use of the floor space available. The ground level, accessed directly from a medium-sized street with no access issues, has a medium-sized room with a box window onto the street and, to the rear, a storage space with a plumbed sink.

Going up the staircase we find a square room to the front of the property, with a balcony onto the street. Larger than its somewhat dated tiles make it look at present, it would make a very reasonably-sized bedroom or lounge. To the rear here is a bathroom with a small tub.

On the second floor the layout is similar, a large room to the front with a balcony and a smaller guest room, which could become an extra bathroom or a study, which looks out over the street to the rear of the property. Another staircase leads up to the third floor, where two connected rooms enjoy a balcony and a small terrace, respectively. At this level you are above the roofs of the houses opposite, and the gradient of the village means that your view takes in a swathe of green countryside and the blue Mediterranean Sea in the middle distance.

Lastly, but probably best of all, the final flight of stairs runs up to an open kitchen space, finished with smart white tiling, that opens onto a small balcony at the rear. We think the bold step of opening up the small window to the front of the house and creating a staircase down to the terrace below would brighten the room, unify the indoor and outdoor spaces and give you an absolutely fabulous view.

Note that we have checked the paperwork thoroughly for this property and even this top floor, added relatively recently by the current vendors, has all of the requisite documentation in order. There will be no nasty surprises after the ink is dry on your purchase agreement.

Surroundings

Almost at the top of the picturesque town, Casa Pace is just a few minutes’ walk from its grocery shops, pharmacy, restaurants and bars. Fresh fruit and vegetables of the most mouth-watering quality are available right on your doorstep. You can pick up everything that will get you through the week, in other words. When the time comes to do a bigger shop, the town of Lascari is a fifteen minute drive away, with supermarkets and places to buy clothes and electrical goods.

If you really need a big commercial centre, Sicily’s capital Palermo is just an hour up the road. This is also where you will find the nearest airport.

Also within a half-hour’s car travel are the stunning holiday paradise of Cefalù, the many other medieval villages of the Madonie Natural Park, and the long unspoilt beaches of Campofelice and Mazzaforno. In the Madonie you can enjoy all manner of outdoor sports from trekking to sky-diving, and even ski in winter!

All of the historic island’s famous attractions, including the Greek temples of Agrigento, the Turkish Steps, Mount Etna and characterful old port cities like Siracusa and Marsala are within day trip range. Even if you’re planning on spending entire summers at your newly-acquired sea-view house in Sicily you could still visit the island many years in a row before you sample everything there is to do, see – and of course taste!

Gratteri (of which you can read a full-length description here) is a friendly community with ancient roots and many residents whose families have called its narrow streets home for centuries. However, a growing little cadre of international transplants have started to take advantage of the superb value property market here in recent years, bringing a touch of Northern Europe to this Mediterranean town. We have helped several of these new arrivals buy and some renovate their new homes, and would be very happy to make the introductions to our new friends. Just take a look at what this magical place has to offer…

Potential

You may have heard about the famous ‘1 euro houses in Sicily‘ promotions run by towns like Sambuca di Sicilia and Regalbuto. These promise incredible value, but the strings attached in terms of obligatory investment, and the extreme renovations needed (in a closed market where every tradesperson in town knows you have a legal obligation to get the work done, no less) can mean the bills run up way beyond what you thought of spending. The likes of Gratteri offer you the chance, by paying a little more up front and cashing in on the incredible public subsidies available for green renovations, to get the sea-view house in Sicily you dream of – for what is actually a lower total cost.

Renovating in a foreign country can seem a daunting prospect, but we have many years of experience managing exactly this kind of project. Even more to your advantage, in the area of Gratteri our contact directory for architects, construction teams, decorators and (perhaps most important of all) the local government authorities who need to green-light and sign-off on all the work is particularly thick. We would be delighted to offer our after-sale services on any level from making introductions to overseeing your entire renovation.

Where would we advise you to start here? The outside is in need of a refresh, though the sturdy marble balconies can certainly be retained. The wiring and plumbing will need to be redone, and a gas connection and meter would be a smart investment for the long term. The floor slabs are in good condition, but much of the tiling is rather dated and the kitchen certainly needs to be modernised.

If you would like to know our full thoughts on the necessary work, as well as an accurate estimation of the costs you will be looking at, contact us today and let us help refine and budget your vision for Casa Pace. Our friendly, English-speaking team will be waiting for you!