Salt air drifts up from the coast below, carrying just a hint of the Tyrrhenian Sea, while silvery olive leaves rustle in the breeze around you. You’re standing on a stone balcony a kilometer above Castel di Tusa, and if you look past the ribbon of highway in the distance, there it is, the sea, glinting under the Sicilian sun. This is the kind of view that stops you mid-sentence.
Now picture that same view from three different floors, each one a separate apartment, each one waiting for you to decide what it becomes. Maybe it’s a rental unit for summer visitors chasing the same view you’re chasing right now. Maybe it’s a guest suite for family who fly in from abroad. Maybe it’s just more space to breathe in a home that’s entirely your own. That’s the story of this property in the campagna (countryside) of Tusa, and it’s one of the more flexible, value-packed opportunities we’ve toured.
This is Episode 63, and we’re taking you into the countryside above Marina di Tusa, in the comune (municipality) of Tusa, just a five-minute drive from the beach.
A Family Home Built with Pride, Left Unfinished
This property was built by a man named Giuseppe. He built it for himself and his wife, and for his two grown daughters and their husbands, each family wanting their own autonomy under one roof.
So Giuseppe designed three separate apartments, one per floor, each with its own private entrance. He got the ground floor almost finished, just missing the casework, before he passed away in 2018.
The upper two floors were left in various stages of construction. Nobody has lived here, or even worked on it, in eight years.
What struck us walking through is that Giuseppe didn’t cut corners. The stone stairs are solid, the doors and windows are top quality, and much of the plumbing and electrical work was already roughed into the walls before construction stopped. This was his family’s future, and it shows in the materials.
Touring Villa Giuseppe, Floor by Floor
The Top Floor and Its Plastered Walls with a Balcony Over the Olive Grove
We started at the top, which is actually the most complete of the two unfinished apartments. The walls here are already plastered, and the electrical tubing is run and ready for wiring.
The floor has channels laid for radiant heat, just waiting for a massetto (leveling layer) to be poured before tiling. Layout-wise, it’s simple and effective, a long balcony out front, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
Stepping onto that balcony is where this property really sells itself. The olive grove rolls out below you, and beyond the autostrada in the distance, the sea view opens up along the coastline, the kind of vantage point you’d want your morning coffee on every single day.
The Middle Floor, a Sound Shell Ready for Your Vision
One level down, construction had barely started when it halted. This is a completely sound structure of about 68 square meters (roughly 730 square feet), with just a single column and beam breaking up the open space.
Windows wrap all four sides, and there’s a private balcony looking out over the property. The exterior doors and windows are already installed and in great shape, so a lot of the expensive work is already done for you.
The Ground Floor, Mama and Papa’s Nearly-Finished Apartment
The ground floor was meant for Giuseppe and his wife, and it’s the closest to move-in ready. The walls are plastered and look almost new, and a real, extensive layer of reinforced concrete went into the foundation here.
You’ll find a living area, a kitchen space (just missing its casework), a three-quarter bathroom with a window, and a bedroom with its own outdoor view. There’s also a room originally meant as a garage that could easily become an extra bedroom, since it opens onto a lovely covered terrazzo (patio) perfect for eating al fresco.
Honestly, of the three levels, this is the one where you could move in with the least amount of work and live comfortably while finishing the floors above at your own pace.
The Land Featuring Olive Groves, a Vineyard, and Room for a Pool
Outside, there’s 1.12 acres (about 4,530 square meters) of well-groomed, mature olive orchard surrounding the house. Giuseppe also planted a small vineyard here, enough to produce his own wine, along with several fruit trees scattered across the property.
Water is never a concern. There’s a functioning well, a natural spring, and a rainwater collection system feeding a cistern that holds at least 20,000 liters (about 5,280 gallons).
There’s also a wide, gently graded patio built into the hillside, shaded by fruit trees and clearly a favorite family gathering spot. Because the slope here isn’t steep, this same patio area is a strong candidate for a future pool, and at a fraction of the cost you’d pay on steeper terrain.
Why Is This One of the Most Affordable Homes We’ve Toured?
There are two honest reasons this property is priced so competitively. First, the autostrada runs a few hundred yards below the house, sitting between the property and the coastline.
From the upper floors you hear a bit of ambient road noise, though it fades the lower you go. In exchange, you get that dramatic elevated sea view stretching past the highway to the water.
Second, the access road up to the house is a bit rough. You don’t need a 4×4, but higher ground clearance helps during the rainy season when the unmaintained road can get muddy.
Property Highlights of Villa Giuseppe in Marina di Tusa
- Location: countryside above Marina di Tusa, Sicily, about 1km (roughly a 5-minute drive) from Castel di Tusa’s beach
- Size: 200 square meters (about 2,200 square feet) across three floors
- Land: 1.12 acres (about 4,530 square meters) of olive orchard with a small vineyard and fruit trees
- Layout: 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, split into three separate apartments each with its own entrance
- Exterior fully finished with quality doors, windows, and stonework; interior a blank canvas for renovation
- Three water sources: a well, a natural spring, and rainwater collection into a 20,000-liter cistern
- Sea and mountain views from the upper balconies, with the autostrada between the property and the coastline
- Flexible potential as a multi-unit rental, B&B, or large single-family home
- Watch the full property tour
- Featured in Episode 63
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.
A Blank Canvas Above the Sicilian Coast
We keep coming back to how many lives this one property could lead. It could be a rental complex catching the summer wave of European vacationers. It could be one big multi-generational home with room for everyone. It could just be a quiet retreat where you finish one floor at a time and grow into the rest.
What won’t change no matter which path you choose is that view. Standing on that top balcony, looking out over silver olive leaves toward the glimmer of the sea, is the kind of moment that makes the rough road and the unfinished walls feel entirely worth it.
Giuseppe built this with real pride and real quality, and that foundation is still here waiting for someone to finish the story. If you have the vision to see past the missing casework and unfinished floors, there’s a lot of house, and a lot of land, waiting for you.
The price on this one is negotiable, so if a customizable villa above the Sicilian coast sounds like your kind of project, this is a property worth a serious look.
