Property Description

Top Value in this Three-storey Sea-View Renovation Project in Gratteri with a Bird’s Eye Panorama of a Magical Stretch of Coastline

A sea-view renovation project with great heritage and even better balconies, Casa Pinuccia is right in the heart of the hilltop town of Gratteri in the Madonie Natural Park. As you’ll see from our photos and virtual tour, it will require an investment of time and money, but we believe that you can buy and restore this charming home back to the condition it deserves to be seen in for a total spend of under €100,000.

The three-storey property has a simple floor plan, with a living room and a bathroom on the ground floor, a bedroom on the first and a kitchen and dining room on the top floor. There is an additional WC and a pair of balconies which offer views of the Tyrrhenian Sea about 7km to the north. The 650m of elevation above sea level guarantees a beautiful cooling breeze as well as some stunning and completely uninterrupted views.

The neighbours are extremely friendly, with one couple living in the house directly next door recent buyers from London who have begun renovation on what is now their second home in the village. So whether you need to borrow a cup of sugar or advice on the best way to restore an antique tiled floor, the perfect source of help is right at hand!

The example wasn’t chosen at random – there is some lovely decorative flooring which you will surely want to retain in your renovated home. The built-in wood-fired oven on the top floor is another such treasure. The only question is how you plan to make the rest of the place home!

The Property

The front door is on a staircase, so clearly it’s not possible to drive directly to the property, but there are parking options above and below the house. When we talk about the front door we should really say ‘front doors’, as there are twin entrances, and the building is officially both number 45 and 47 on its street.

One of these is into a small hallway from which you can reach the bathroom and staircase, the other is straight into the living room. This measures a little over 15m2 and gets plenty of light and air from the double glazed doors onto the street. The floor is a checkerboard pattern in a beautiful old cement tile. Unfortunately there is rising damp, and the ceiling has been affected.The bathroom was redone in the 1980s. It’s still in good working order and thanks to the simple white tiling hasn’t dated badly. There’s a mini tub with a shower attachment at the far end.  Bathroom has mini tub with shower attachment.

The staircase was also rebuilt at a similar time, in concrete topped with some nice marble flagstones, and is in very good condition. In similar vein, the roof also looks to be in good shape.
The first floor bedroom is the same size as the living room below, plus a small balcony with a lateral sea view. Some water has come in through the window and the the ceiling will need to be redone. Sadly it’s not only a plaster issue, the wooden timbers have become brittle, so there is a significant amount of work needed. Here too, though, are some nice tiles to keep and re-use.

On you way up the second flight of stairs you pass a small room with a single toilet. Past this, the top floor consists of a landing, a kitchen and a 12m2 living room. The tiles are still fabulous, and the kitchen has a good view. The best one, from the second balcony, lets you see straight over the surrounding rooftops to the green hills and blue sea on the horizon. It’s a beautiful sunny spot with a bird’s eye view of a magical coastline.

Surroundings

The whole of Gratteri is within easy walking distance, at least if you’re comfortable with steps, slopes and cobbles. You’ll find that most of the locals shop locally in small quantities, paying regular visits to stores that include a bakery, pharmacy and butcher’s shop. The village also has a post office, a couple of bars and a good pizzeria. At one end of the town are the remains of Castle Ventimiglia, around which the little community originally grew up.

We’ve always loved Gratteri, which we profiled several years ago, believing it to offer value for money even beyond what you can find in the ‘One Euro Homes in Sicily’ promotions. A growing number of the village’s 800 residents are international arrivals who have bought homes here through us, but we believe that it has retained its traditional character better than some of the places offering those high-profile schemes.

On all sides are the dazzling green hills of the Madonie Natural Park, whose highest peaks are just over 2000m. Whether you like to hike, ride, trek or just visit its idyllic little towns to taste their local flavours and globally-recognised specialities, you can find new sights to see all year round. Maybe you want to paraglide down to the golden sands of Cefalù on a sunny summer’s day, or even try out the ski slopes of Piano Battaglia in the short winter.

The nearest small town is Lascari, about twenty minutes down a great driving road. When you need a supermarket shop this is the place to head.

Palermo, the largest and most important city on the island, is 70 minutes away. If you want to travel home, its airport can be reached in an hour and a half, while the next nearest, in Catania, is just thirty minutes further.

Potential

It’s never easy to be exact about the costs involved in renovation work on this scale, because everyone’s ideas and tastes are unique, but we want to be as transparent as possible, so here is a look at what we think it would cost to do the job to a standard that is beautiful and reliable without being excessive.

You will definitely need to redo the internal ceilings, which are in wood and have been damaged by humidity. Allow €10,000 for this. Also essential are a revamped electrical system and plumbing, probably €7,000 each, including the necessary re-plastering. The windows have aged badly, and to replace six of them will cost about €9,000 including labour.

Slightly less urgently, but still something we would strongly recommend if you’re doing the rest of the work, modern and efficient heat pumps that can heat the place reliably in winter as well as cooling it in summer will need a budget approaching €5,000, and work to restore the fascia would probably be another €10,000. If you want to update the bathroom that will be about another €5,000.

In the realm of discretionary spending, we would personally look to take out the two dividing walls on the top floor. The enclosed landing isn’t really usable space, and an open kitchen-living room would be brighter and more sociable. You might want to add a bathroom up here, but if you didn’t then the resulting room would be about 20m2, comfortably the biggest and most welcoming in the home – especially with that great sea-view balcony.

If you like the sound of the sea-view renovation project but feel intimidated by the prospect of taking on such a big task in a foreign country, our project management service is perfect for you. We’re the only agency in Sicily to offer this to all of our buyers, and as well as regular site visits, translation and interpretation and our local negotiating power, it means that you have access to all of our contacts. In an area where we’ve helped as many clients as Gratteri, this is a huge ace to have up your sleeve.