Property Description

Two-bedroom Detached Villa to Renovate near Selinunte (Castelvetrano), with Views of the Sea and the Ancient Temples of Europe’s Largest Archaeological Park

This two-bedroom villa stands in spacious gardens in the far south of the province of Trapani. It’s  midway between the historic market town of Castelvetrano and the beach town of Marina di Selinunte. Its huge flat roof terrace gives you views of the Mediterranean, three kilometres to the south, and, best of all, the ancient temples of the Selinunte Archaeological Park. With beautiful tree-filled gardens to the front and rear, it offers great privacy and sunshine all day long.

The property has been uninhabited for many years, and needs a complete renovation, both indoors and out. However, aside from some rising damp on one wall of the living room, it seems to be in very good condition. There are certainly no bad smells or water damage from the outside.

The ample garden, over 1,000m2, includes a large green orchard with fruit trees, and a driveway that leads to a garage.

Obviously, this will be a significant project and you will need to budget for some work in addition to the initial outlay, but considering the ample size of the villa and grounds, the low asking price, and the location so close to the sea and the temples, we think that this villa to renovate near Selinunte is a really interesting proposition.

The Property

A short driveway leads you from the front gate, under a beautiful pair of twin pine trees, to the villa. This immediately shows itself to have a striking and individual design, with broad whitewashed stairs leading up to a concrete portico framed by huge Roman arches. Two wooden-framed verandas (currently uncovered) flank the building on the north and east sides, and an external staircase leads up to the flat roof terrace. Everything combines to create a very distinctive silhouette. It is a single-storey building, but the balustrade around the upper terrace and a slightly raised ground floor give it extra height. It offers 174m2 of indoor space, which rises to 185m2 in the cadastral records (a figure which includes a proportion of the concrete portico).

The entrance through the portico is straight into the property’s largest indoor space, a huge 35m2 living room with twin windows looking onto the eastern veranda. At the far end a short corridor connects to the kitchen, comfortably big enough to hold a breakfast table or island, and with direct access onto this veranda. It’s a lovely room, both bright and airy, with windows on two other sides as well. Off the small corridor you’ll also find a practical storeroom, as well as an internal access to the garage, which occupies on the north-western corner of the property.

To the south, in separate section of the home reached by heading back through the living room, two double bedrooms with west-facing garden views are joined by a smaller room measuring 4m x 2m which could be a very small single, a south-facing home office. These are served by a narrow bathroom with a shower, and a wider one with a bathtub.

Outdoors, you will find an outbuilding which serves as storage for tools and garden furniture, and an old rainwater tank which has been used for garden irrigation. The property is completely enclosed by a low wall with metal fence, and both of these are in good condition. A fixed grill has been built opposite the kitchen for al-fresco cooking.

The roof terrace is a fabulous space and brimming with potential. Covering the entire area of the home, it offers views of the leafy gardens, as well as the temples and sea to the south. It catches a nice sea breeze and could become a focal point of family life if you redecorate and add some greenery.

Casa Nicola is connected to the electricity grid, and a new meter has been installed, this will be easy to reactivate. Water is a more difficult proposition, as the house is not on the municipal water network – indeed, there is no supply in the area. The previous owners only used the villa in summer, and were happy to have a large cistern (housed under the concrete structure under the kitchen window by the garage door) filled occasionally by tanker; when we come to talk about the property’s potential we’ll propose a more practical solution. As you can imagine there is no gas connection either. Sewage drains into an old-fashioned cesspool, which you will need to replace with a more modern septic tank.

Surroundings

The villa is just off the SS115 road, which brings you from the motorway which runs through Sicily’s eastern province into the town of Marina di Selinunte. You definitely feel like you’re in the countryside, but in truth the town begins just a short distance to the south. One lovely aspect of the position is that it’s built to the west of the SS115, where there is relatively little development compared to the eastern side. Your view, instead, is across farmlands down to the temples and Mediterranean Sea on the horizon.

The access road is paved except for the last few metres, and even here it’s in good condition. You do have to take a slightly circuitous route around a neighbouring property but it’s worth it to be on the quiet side of the main road.

Selinunte Archaeological Park is actually the biggest and one of the most important sites of its kind anywhere in the Mediterranean. You can spend an entire days meandering its 270 hectares, along well-preserved streets past temples, a necropolis and what was once the largest Agora, or piazza, of the entire ancient world. The entrance to the park is only three kilometres away.

The coast is just a kilometre further on, and the beach here is one of our favourites. The Foce Belice nature reserve runs east along the coast from Marina di Selinunte, and offers such a huge expanse of sandy dunes that even in the height of summer it’s possible to find a large expanse to yourself. A thicket of tall green reeds cut you off completely from any human development on their far side – it’s an amazing spot to have on your doorstep.

Marina di Selinunte is a bustling place in summer, but in the winter months you’ll appreciate the fact that you can drive to the bigger town of Castelvetrano in only fifteen minutes. This has a population of about 30,000 residents and is served by all kinds of shops, supermarkets and a hospital. The Arabic street decorations of Mazara del Vallo are 25 minutes away. Sciacca, home of one of Sicily’s most impressive carnivals, is 30 minutes and the historic wine capital of Marsala is less than an hour away. Travelling east, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento is just an 80 minute drive.

Two airports can be reached in under an hour, in the provincial capital Trapani and the regional capital Palermo respectively.

Potential

Although it will obviously need a full renovation, the house does contain some interesting pieces of furniture in hardwood that are very typical of mid-century Sicilian living. If you can find a good restorer then these are the kind of statement pieces around which you could build your new décor, if you can tailor the interiors to compliment them. The bathrooms and kitchen have some rather striking tiles which you might want to reuse, though probably not in the same quantities that they’ve been deployed in the past!

Unless you’re prepares to depend on tankers for your water, the best solution will undoubtedly be to dig a well. If you want to move here full-time we’d say this is basically essential.

With no option to use gas for heating or power, we would recommend you invest in a photovoltaic system, for which there is more than enough space on the roof terrace. Modern options with storage batteries and smaller water heaters can really cut your bills and push you close to complete energy independence.

The lack of mains water would make it an expensive and time-consuming project to build a swimming pool, but there would always be the option to do so and fill it annually by tankers.

The house is fully compliant with regulations and was built before 1967, so once the renovation work is complete you will be able to apply for the all-important certificate of habitability without any issues.

If you would like to discuss how we can support you through the landscaping and reconstruction work that lies ahead for this villa to renovate near Selinunte, ask us about our after-sale services. These have seen us take every role from informal consultancy to complete project management with exactly this kind of work many times in the past. The testimonials we’ve received from satisfied clients are a tremendous source of pride for us.