Salt air drifts up from the coastline below and settles over a rooftop view that stretches toward the Aeolian Islands on a clear day. Stand at the top floor window of this stone house and you are looking at centuries of Sicilian history laid out in front of you, terracotta rooftops tumbling downhill toward a shimmering stretch of Mediterranean sea view that most homeowners spend a fortune to buy. Here, it comes with a house that is basically free.
We know that sounds like a hook, but stick with us. The math actually works. The sellers just put a brand new roof on this ancient stone home, and the asking price is roughly what that roof cost them. Buy the house, and you are essentially getting a thousand year old neighborhood, thick stone walls, hand planed custom doors, and that sea view for the price of a new roof someone else already paid for.
The Story Behind This Nearly Free Stone House
This property sits in Badia, which is the oldest neighborhood in the Centro Storico (historic center) of Tusa, close to Piazza San Nicola. We are talking about a neighborhood that is close to a thousand years old, tucked into one of those quiet, characterful corners of Sicily where the streets themselves feel like a museum.
The current owners recently replaced the entire roof, keeping the original beams that checked out structurally sound. That investment is where the asking price comes from. Everything else, the stone, the tile floors, the archways, the history, comes along essentially for free.
The Grand Entry Room and Its Centuries Old Floor
You step down one stair into what we can only call a grand room. The custom made doors alone are worth saving, hand planed raised panels that deserve restoration rather than replacement.
Underfoot is the original tile floor, centuries old by any estimate. The tiles are loose and need regrouting, but they are in surprisingly good shape for their age.
Double doors open toward the street, with an old monastery turned museum visible in the distance. It is a room with real presence, easily 250 square feet on its own, and it sets the tone for the rest of the house.
The Upper Floor’s Open Beams and a Sweeping Sicilian Sea View
Climb the first flight of stairs and you find the clearest sign of the recent investment, a completely new roof with straight, solid beams overhead. The open beam ceiling gives the room instant character, paired with a wood burning oven and thick two foot stone walls with a little peekaboo window built right in.
Step outside and the payoff is immediate. From up here you get a gorgeous, sweeping Mediterranean sea view over the rooftops of Badia, with the town of Capo d’Orlando visible across the hill and, on a clear day, several of the Aeolian Islands out on the horizon.
It is the kind of view that turns a renovation project into a home you actually daydream about finishing.
The Cantina Below, Once Stables for the Mules
Down at street level, accessible both from inside the house and directly from the road, sits the cantina (cellar). Originally this space held the stables for the mules and donkeys, later converted into storage for spices and provisions for the year.
The floor here is original stone, the walls are exposed rock in places, and there is a beautiful archway that is just begging to be highlighted once the space is finished. Soot on the walls tells you people once cooked here over wood fire, living in this very room.
A solid steel I-beam has already been added to keep the structure secure, so you are not inheriting a safety question, just a blank canvas. This 37 square meter (about 398 square foot) space does not even count toward the home’s official living area, which makes it pure bonus square footage.
Property Highlights of Casa Angela
- 75 square meters of living space (about 807 square feet), plus a 37 square meter (about 398 square foot) cantina that is easily convertible to additional living space
- Recently replaced roof, with an estimated cost roughly matching the home’s asking price
- Ancient stone construction throughout, with original open beam ceilings preserved on the upper floor
- Mediterranean sea view from the top floor, with the Aeolian Islands visible on clear days
- Located in Badia, the oldest neighborhood in Tusa’s Centro Storico, near Piazza San Nicola
- Charming stone street entrance and dual access, with both an interior staircase and a separate street level entrance to the cantina
- Original centuries old tile flooring in the main rooms, with the original stone floor preserved in the cantina
- Take the video tour of this stone house
- Featured in Episode 49
- Asking price: €15,000
Please note: our property tours stay online long after filming, and homes like this tend to sell quickly, so this one may no longer be available. If it has already sold, we can still help you find something similar. Tell us your dream, and we’ll help make it real.
Final Thoughts on This Nearly Free Stone House in Tusa
We have toured a lot of project houses in Sicily, but the math on this one still stands out to us. A brand new roof, ancient stone bones, and a genuine Mediterranean sea view from the top floor, all for an asking price that essentially covers just the roof.
Yes, it is a project. The tile floors need attention, some walls want re-plastering, and that beautiful cantina still needs plumbing and wiring if you want to turn it into living space. But the structure is sound, the beams are straight, and the hardest and most expensive part, the roof, is already done.
For anyone who has been asking us for a true fixer upper in an authentic historic neighborhood, this is it. Badia gives you a thousand years of Sicilian history right outside your door, and that view over the rooftops toward the Aeolian Islands is the kind of thing you cannot put a price on, even though here, you basically already have.
If a stone house with a view like this speaks to you, it is worth reaching out for more details before someone else claims that free house and its roof.
