Salt air drifts through an open balcony door as the haze over the water starts to lift, and slowly, one by one, the silhouettes of the Aeolian Islands appear on the horizon. You are standing on the back balcony of a centuries-old stone home in Sicily, coffee in hand, and what unfolds in front of you is not a postcard, it is your actual view, every single morning.
This is what it feels like to stand on the top floor of Casa Rosalia in Motta d’Affermo. On a clear day you can count five of the seven Aeolian Islands from this exact spot, Alicudi, Filicudi, Salina, and more stretched across the Mediterranean like stepping stones. Downstairs, a wood-burning oven that has baked bread for this family for generations still waits for someone to light it again. This is a home with history in its bones and a view that stops you mid-sentence, and it belongs to friends of ours who are ready to pass it on.
The Story Behind Casa Rosalia
We have known the family who owns this home for over five years, since we first arrived in our own comune (municipality) of Motta d’Affermo. They are lovely people, and their home sits right in the centro storico (historic center), just a minute’s walk from Piazza San Luca.
Unlike some of the fixer-uppers we have toured, this one is not really a project. It has been unoccupied for a number of years, so the electricity is currently cut off and there is some clutter to look past, but the bones here are honestly in great shape.
We already have people on the ground who can help take care of renovations once you close on a place like this, so the road from purchase to move-in does not have to be complicated.
Touring the Four Levels of Casa Rosalia
The Ground Floor Entry, Where Old Doors Meet Solid Stone
Walking in from the front street, the first thing you notice is a single room off to the right with beautiful, intact walls and a floor in very good condition. The old wooden doors are gorgeous but original, and we would suggest adding a double-glazed storm door on the outside for energy efficiency.
The iron stair railings throughout the home are unique and in wonderful shape, though the stone treads themselves still need finishing work, easily done with local granite or marble.
The Cellar Level, Storage, Water, and a Working Kitchen
Head down to the bottom level and you will find ample storage space plus a small spigot connected to a pump that fills a cisterna (cistern) from a natural spring-fed city water supply. There is a modest half bath here too, perfectly adequate by local standards.
The full kitchen is a real keeper. It has a stainless steel double sink, gas burners and an oven fed by a bombola (gas canister), granite countertops, and solid hardwood cabinetry that does not need to be touched. There is also an old tank once used for olive oil storage and space for a dishwasher.
The Fireplace Room and Its Wood-Burning Pizza Oven
Just off the kitchen sits the heart of this home, an eating area anchored by a wood-burning oven that has been used for baking bread here for centuries, alongside a cozy fireplace. There is a half bath tucked into this room as well.
We could easily picture this space converted into a media room or gathering spot. With the fireplace going and the oven warm, this would be the coolest room in the house come summertime, and the liveliest one in winter.
Dual Street Access, a Rare Convenience in a Medieval Village
Step outside the fireplace room and you land on a back street where you can actually drive a car up to unload groceries, a rare luxury for a home in centro storico. Walk back up to the original front entrance and you will find the same thing there too, car access on both streets.
That means this home has two full ingress points, one opening onto the second level from the front street and a separate ground-floor entrance from the back. It is easy to imagine one side as your main living space and the other as a private studio apartment or rental unit.
The Second Floor Bedroom and Balcony, Sea Views from Your Own Room
Up on the next level you will find a full bathroom in very good shape, aside from one small area near a past leak that will need repair. Just beyond it is a spacious, clean, modern bedroom with a beautiful armadio (built-in wardrobe) serving as the closet.
Walk out through the bedroom doors onto a shallow balcony and there it is, the sea, stretched out in the distance. This home also already has central heating from a wood-burning boiler, with the radiant floor tubing and radiators already installed, which is no small expense you get to skip.
The Top Floor, Laundry Potential and a Third Bathroom in Waiting
The top floor is one generously sized room, roughly 200 square feet (about 18.5 square meters), with a back section that was walled off years ago and fitted with a window to let light through. The idea was to use it as a laundry room, and it still could be, but there is enough space here to also carve out a third half bath.
That would bring this home to three full bathrooms total, a genuine rarity in a medieval village home. There is a small water intrusion issue on this level, likely coming from the neighboring roof, that would need flashing to resolve, but it is a manageable fix.
The Back Balcony and Its Sweeping Mediterranean Views
From the front of this top floor, another shallow balcony looks down onto the street and still catches a glimpse of the sea in the distance. But it is the back balcony that truly delivers, opening onto an uninterrupted, wide-open panorama of the Mediterranean.
On a hazy day you might just make out the islands. On a clear one, you can count five of the seven Aeolian Islands scattered across the water, Alicudi, Filicudi, and Salina among them. Take down the old antenna and the laundry lines, and this view becomes the kind that never gets old.
Property Highlights of Casa Rosalia in Motta d’Affermo
- 4 levels with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with potential for a third bathroom
- Dual entrances from two different streets, both car accessible
- Authentic wood-burning pizza oven on the ground level
- Cozy fireplace and a convenient half bath on the bottom floor
- Existing central heating with radiant floor tubing, fed by a wood-burning boiler
- Top floor balcony and rear balcony with sweeping sea and Aeolian Island views
- Laundry room with potential for additional bathroom expansion
- Ideal layout for a private studio apartment or rental income unit
- Located in the centro storico, a minute’s walk from Piazza San Luca
- Take the video tour of this home
- Featured in Episode 44
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 Medieval Home Worth Dreaming About
Casa Rosalia is not a gut renovation. It is a home with good bones, a working kitchen, a wood-burning pizza oven, and a sea view that genuinely takes your breath away from two different balconies.
The dual street access alone makes this one stand out among centro storico properties, giving you the flexibility to live in it fully or carve off a rental unit for extra income. Add in the existing radiant heating and you are skipping one of the bigger renovation costs from day one.
Most of all, we keep coming back to that back balcony. Watching the haze lift off the water until Alicudi and Filicudi appear on the horizon is the kind of moment that makes you understand why people fall for Sicily in the first place.
If a medieval home with a view of the Aeolian Islands sounds like the life you have been imagining, Casa Rosalia is worth a serious look.
