Property Description

Build your own Sea-View Villa with Pool

Standing on a hectare of land between the hillside towns of Lascari and Collesano in Sicily’s breathtaking Madonie Natural Park, Villa Vaccaro gives you the chance to take advantage of one of Europe’s most generous state-sponsored investment subsidies.

Although the current structure is in need of renovation, planning permission has already been granted and confirmed for a two bedroom house with a timeless, classic design, roof terrace and private swimming pool underneath. A construction team are even in place, ready to start work as soon as the ink is dry on the contract.

For the cost of the purchase and a very affordable construction investment, you could – within the span of a year – be sitting by the side of your sea-view swimming pool in a beautiful, newly-built home that will be the envy of every last visitor.

The Property

The current Villa Vaccaro is a rather run-down old holiday house, with beautiful sea views somewhat lost behind some unkempt trees. You can see it in the photos and video above. Keep in mind that what you will be buying, however, is something completely different.

The current owner, working with a well-known local architect, has designed a beautiful, modern and elegant new house, with a 110m2 footprint. This will stand on the site of the current property, but fully revitalise the plot.

The construction will take advantage of the slope of the surrounding hillside to give fabulous views of the Tyrrhenian Sea below. The roof terrace will rise above the treeline, giving a complete panorama of the olive groves and winding country roads that criss-cross the six gently-sloping kilometres to the coast.

The design (visible below) features a pair of large bedrooms, one with an en-suite, and a further bathroom, plus a living area and kitchen. The finishings are obviously still to be chosen, meaning that you can be assured of no decorating to do when you move into your new sea-view holiday home. The planning documents have been filed, saving considerable time and bureaucratic efforts, but if you have a different idea for the internal configuration it can be adjusted with no problems. Adjustments to the exterior or footprint may be possible, although these would require resubmission of the planning application.

With a cool sea breeze edging up into the hills at this altitude, and its private pool afforded partial shade by the house that bridges it, this will be a comfortable and enticing spot even in the extremes of the Sicilian summer. And in the beautiful, long springs and autumns, the nearby countryside will offer a wealth of possibilities…

Surroundings

The Villa stands in around a quarter-acre of garden and pasture. The first thing you will notice is a number of charming olive trees, which are mature and whose fruit is already producing a good crop of oil. If you’d like to create a little cottage industry you could certainly keep yourself supplied with fresh, unspoilt oil all year round, with more than enough left to provide Christmas presents for all your friends and family!

The neighbourhood immediately surrounding Villa Vaccaro is a pleasant, unspoilt one with a few neighbours, from an interesting variety of backgrounds. The district is popular with Sicilians who look to escape the big towns and cities in the summer months, but a pair of properties on the same road as Vaccaro have recently been bought and restored (not, although we wouldn’t put it like this over a welcome dinner, in quite such a spectacular fashion as Crisanti has imagined for this plot!) by international families.

The access road is narrow but paved and in good condition, and there is ample room for parking. Views throughout the property are superb, and will only be improved by some judicious pruning of the greenery.

As a holiday home the location is unbeatable, a fifteen minute drive from the beautiful sandy beaches that line Sicily’s north coast. The nearest town, Collesano, is just eight minutes away by car, and contains local shops, several lovely restaurants and the infrastructure of a community of about four thousand residents. A little further afield, on the coast, the beachy area comprising Lascari, Campofelice and Mazzaforno has larger supermarkets.

You will find yourself no more than half an hour from the famous resort of Cefalú, where the old town and its Arab-Norman cathedral have been given World Heritage Site protection by UNESCO, and Sicily’s largest city, Palermo, is just a 70km drive to the west. No longer the slightly notorious post-industrial city of the 1980s, Palermo is now a rejuvenated hub, teeming with new businesses, a vibrant artistic scene and hundreds of incredible eateries. Its international airport is also a convenient arrival point to the island from all of Europe’s major airports.

The Madonie Park is protected land, with stringent rules in place to safeguard its greenery and wildlife. Local flora and fauna of note include the distinctive Madonie Fir tree, roe deer, and wild boar. Hikers and bikers will delight in the range of treks and pathways on offer right on their doorstep, while more adventurous types may want to try their hand at kite-surfing, paragliding or even (in the winter months) skiing!

Potential

Although there is much work to be done here, Villa Vaccaro is connected to utilities supply (water, electricty, telecoms and sewage), which is not to be taken as a given in Sicily.

The current owner of the property, collaborating with the architects and construction company, has the building permit in hand, so there is no need to go through the time-consuming and often stressful process of obtaining the certificates required to rebuild a property here in Sicily.  It would usually take about a year to get to this stage of the application – whereas if you buy Villa Vaccaro you can start construction the very next day!

This will also save a significant amount of your cash. Experience tells us that the combined costs of the architect, engineer, and geologist you would need to engage, plus permits and approvals, will total at least €20,000.

So think of this villa as a kind of hybrid project. Let’s say that prospective buyers sit somewhere along a sliding scale of adventurousness and risk. At one end you will find the adventurer who dreams of taking on a rocky, uncultivated plot and building from scratch, or renovating an old ruin in the sun. At the other is a convenience-driven purchaser who wants to buy a polished diamond, fully furnished and turnkey ready.

Villa Vaccaro is in the middle. The need to rebuild gives it a sense of being a challenge and promises the prospect of a good return on your investment. On the other hand, the planning permission takes away a period of bureaucratic wrangling that can be fraught with confusion and uncertainty. This is a kind of joint investment, which will eventually pay off to your benefit.

As far as construction costs are concerned, the cost of building in this area is approximately €1,500/m2. If you want a really luxurious solution, you’ll be very impressed with what you can get for €2,000/m2.

If you have any questions about renovating a house in Sicily, you can get in touch with our friendly, multilingual team and we would love to explain more. Our track record of helping numerous delighted clients with renovation projects is significant, and we would love to help you build your own sea-view villa this winter.