Villa Iolanda – Cefalù

€ 220.000

Cefalù - 90015 - Contrada Ciluzzo

#86991878

5 Rooms
1 Bathroom
93 m²
1st

A Sea-view Villa Above Cefalù, to Complete: Well-built Shell with Views of the Rocca and Cathedral in a Quiet, Green Hillside Setting

Visitors flock to the picturesque medieval beach town of Cefalù with every reason – the history, beauty and spectacular golden sands are some of the best that Italy has to offer. Space on the seafront is at a premium, however, particularly in the sultry summer months. For this reason we have long advised prospective buyers to hunt for value in the fertile hills that overlook the town. Here you will find fresh air all year round, privacy fabulous views, with greenery on three sides and the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea twinkling to the north.

Villa Iolanda, in the district of Contrada Ciluzzo, is a wonderful example of this phenomenon. Close enough to drive down to the beach or the old town in ten minutes, it is nonetheless far enough up the slope to leave behind the crowds, the noise and the extreme humidity of the old town in summer.

It is a partially completed detached villa on two storeys, with around 93m2 of indoor space and surrounding gardens. Well-built and structurally complete including the roof, it was originally designed as a second family home but never finished, so the interior is currently a clean, dry shell. The half of the construction project which remains is certainly the more enjoyable one – less bureaucracy and heavy lifting, more design and decoration. The buyer will be able to customise the finished home with any finishes, services, fixtures and layout they like.

Contrada Ciluzzo is just above Cefalù’s hospital, 1.3km inland and around 200 metres above sea level. The upper floor looks out over the iconic Rocca, the Norman cathedral and the sea, while the surrounding plot has room for a garden, a small pool and off-street parking.

All of the documentation is in order for this sea-view villa above Cefalù, and the building is ready for work to begin immediately upon completion of the sale.

The Property

Villa Iolanda stands on a flat building plot carved into the green slope. An external staircase leads up from the access road and parking space to the entrance on the upper floor, where the layout has been conceived around an open living and kitchen space. Wide openings on all four sides will fill it with natural light, and French windows open onto a wraparound terrace. From this raised vantage point, looking out over the woodland and well-spaced houses of the Contrada, you can pick out the iconic Rocca rising above the old town of Cefalù, the twin towers of the Norman cathedral and a glimpse of the Tyrrhenian Sea beyond.

Below this, the ground floor has been planned as the sleeping area, with space for two or three bedrooms and a family bathroom. It would also be possible to realise a separate entrance, giving direct access to both levels of the home. This would open onto the private garden of a few hundred square metres, wrapping around the front of the building. It will be big enough for a lawn, outdoor kitchen and dining area and a small swimming pool

The construction is in reinforced concrete with 30 cm cavity walls in insulating clay, which will keeps internal temperatures naturally stable. The pitched roof is structurally complete and watertight, although the final terracotta tiles still need to be added. The exact dimensions of the rooms, as well of course as all fixtures and finishings are all open to customise, giving you a degree of blank canvas which you wouldn't be able to find in a renovation project.

A sustainable public water supply is guaranteed thanks to a spring which rises on the property. This is shared with the neighbouring house but has already been formally registered. Mains electricity reaches the homes immediately along the road, and it will not be a challenge to extend it to this villa. For a brand new sea-view villa above Cefalù, having solutions to both key utilities already in place is a very helpful head start.

Surroundings

Contrada Ciluzzo is a quiet area with homes distributed at generous intervals around the slopes of hills that will eventually rise up into the Madonie Natural Park. A short stretch of the E90 motorway which connects Palermo to Messina along the island's north coast is just visible in the distance, but you barely hear it.

The access road is in good condition. The drive down towards the coast will bring you to a choice of three or four supermarkets within ten minutes, as well as a range of bars and restaurants which attract local residents more than the tourist crowds. The seafront and the edge of the old town are only slightly further one. The historic centre of Cefalù itself, with its UNESCO-listed Norman cathedral, narrow medieval alleyways and famous two-kilometre crescent of sandy beach, is a quiet wonder that will give you the sensation of stepping into a film from the golden era of Italian cinema.

Inland, the foothills rise quickly into the Madonie, which is one of Sicily’s great protected landscapes. Swathes of beech forest and dramatic limestone peaks which reach 2,000m above sea level are interrupted by towns and towns and villages with a wide range of local traditions and culinary specialities to discover and savour.

For longer trips, Cefalù has its own railway station on the main coastal line, with regular direct services that can bring you to Sicily’s vibrant capital, Palermo, in under an hour. The great Mediterranean city, with its food markets, baroque palaces and emerging contemporary art scene, is also reachable by car in around an hour. Just twenty minutes further to the west, Falcone-Borsellino international airport will be your nearest hub for return trips to the north of Europe and the eastern seaboard of the US.

Potential

To complete the project, you will need to take care of plumbing and electrics, drainage, doors and windows, the last bit of roof tiling, plastering and of course all interior finishes. While tastes and needs will vary, we estimate that a realistic budget of €100,000 to €140,000 will be needed to give you a perfect new sea-view villa above Cefalù. Given the attractive asking price, this makes Villa Iolanda a great option for a buyer who can trade some time and effort for a reduced total expenditure.

The wastewater system will require an Imhoff septic tank, a straightforward installation given the size of the plot, and the electrical connection will be made from the supply that already serves the houses along the road. Water is in place from a registered private spring shared with the seller’s main house, an asset you would not normally find at this end of the market.

The documentation is in good order: a technical report has already been drawn up confirming compliance, and the sellers will hand over with renewed permits so that work can begin without delay.

If you would like to keep the journey as simple as possible for yourself, Property in Sicily would be able to project-manage the build on your behalf. Our long track record of satisfied clients who have allowed us to help them in this way is a point of great pride for the agency, which is the only one in Sicily to offer this kind of assistance to all our buyers. With an office in Cefalù itself, we have an unbeatable knowledge of the local market and can put you in touch with the very best surveyors and solicitors who handle the legal and licensing side of a build in our area, alongside the architects, builders and craftspeople we work with to deliver to international standards.

If language feels like a barrier, our sister company, the highly regarded Italian language school Solemar Academy is only a ten minute drive away, and their expert team of teachers and language coaches will have you holding your own in Italian in no time at all.