Salt air drifts up from the coastline below as you step out onto a narrow stone balcony in the heart of Tusa, and there it is between the rooftops, a slice of the Mediterranean catching the afternoon light. The street below hums with the low murmur of neighbors who have lived on this same block for generations, and somewhere a shutter creaks against a stone wall that has stood for a couple hundred years or more.
This is what it feels like to stand on the top floor of this little stone house in Tusa’s Centro Storico (historic center), and it is exactly the kind of moment that makes you understand why people fall for Sicily. You are not just looking at a view, you are looking at the reason so many of our viewers keep asking us for a home just like this one.
Now let’s be honest about what this actually is. This is not a move-in-ready villa with a pool and a finished kitchen. This is a €12,000 stone shell with three exposed walls, original quarry tile, and more character than almost anything we have toured, but it needs a full restoration from top to bottom.
If you have been asking us for something with real bones and real history, something that has not been plastered over and modernized into oblivion, this is it.
A Rare Unplastered Stone House in Tusa’s Centro Storico
We get so many requests for Tusa specifically, and we have sold a couple of homes on this very street over the past few months. Tusa sits on the north coast of Sicily, about a 15 minute drive to the beach, restaurants, and everyday life by the water.
What makes this particular house stand out is that it has never been plastered over. So many of the old stone homes in this region got a layer of plaster and cement at some point in the last century, but this one still shows its original stone construction almost everywhere you look.
The house also carries three separate street addresses and has three exposed exterior walls, which is unusual for an attached home in a dense historic center. That means natural light pours in from three different directions, something you rarely get in these tightly packed old neighborhoods.
Walking Through the House, Floor by Floor
The Cantina and Ground Floor, Full of Original Character
You enter at street level into what we like to call the pink room, an old bedroom and living space with the original quarry tile floor still intact. Directly below is a cantina (cellar) accessible from outside, more like a small storage garage than a full basement.
Inside the ground floor there is also a small storage room boxed in with a cheap masonite wall and an oddly placed doorway right at the entrance. Honestly, that wall and doorway would be the first things we would tear out, since they block off what could be a really nice open entry space.
The First Floor’s Exposed Stone and Old Wiring
Climb up a rickety ladder-style staircase, which is one of the first upgrades this house needs, and you land on a floor with a noticeable sag. That is likely from the wooden beams overhead, currently hidden behind masonite panels that were nailed up decades ago.
Pull those panels down and you will almost certainly find exposed beam ceilings underneath. The stone walls here have barely any plaster left on them, so exposing the full stone face is a realistic and fairly easy goal.
You can also see exactly how electrical work was done here a century ago, with wires simply tacked to the outside of the wall rather than run through it. A full rewire, with tubing run through plaster or grout joints, is a must for any renovation plan.
The Top Floor and Its Sliver of Mediterranean View
Up on the top floor, the stone walls run about two to two and a half feet thick, which gives you a real sense of how solidly this house was built. Step out onto the little balcony and you get your reward, a genuine glimpse of the sea in the distance beyond the rooftops of Tusa.
Inside, there is a small rounded interior wall mirroring the curved exterior shape of the house, with a tiny round window that lets in soft natural light. It is a detail you would never design from scratch today, and that is exactly what makes it special.
The Kitchen and Its Centuries-Old Details
What was once used as a dining and kitchen space still has an old sink and is plumbed with an existing sewer line, though everything here needs to be gutted and redone. Strip back the plaster and you will find rock walls with a striking stone niche, the kind of detail that either speaks to your heart or does not, depending on your taste.
You will also notice a wooden lintel over one doorway and a distinctive blue paint around the doors and windows. That blue contains a mineral that was traditionally used to keep insects out, a tradition some say dates back to plague-era Italy.
The Real Investment and Its Blank Slate for Restoration
This is a project property in the truest sense. Every ceiling needs to come down, every wire needs to be replaced, and the staircase needs to be rebuilt into something safe and legal.
But that also means you get to shape it entirely to your own taste, rather than inheriting someone else’s renovation choices. We can help work out realistic renovation numbers so a place like this becomes a genuinely move-in ready home rather than an open-ended money pit.
Properties at this price point in Tusa tend to move quickly, often sight unseen, because buyers with vision recognize a wholesale opportunity when they see one.
Property Highlights in Tusa’s Centro Storico
- 75 square meters (about 807 square feet) of original Italian stone construction
- 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
- Partial sea view from the top floor balcony
- Natural light on three exposed sides, rare for an attached historic home
- Original irregular stone walls, roughly 2 to 2.5 feet thick
- Cantina (cellar) accessible from outside, plus original quarry tile floors
- Located in the heart of Tusa’s Centro Storico, 15 minutes from the beach
- Watch the full property tour
- Featured in Episode 38
- Asking price: €12,000
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.
Wrapping Up This Affordable Stone House Project in Tusa
A house like this is not for everyone, and we said that from the start. If you want turnkey, this is not it.
But if you want a genuine slice of centuries-old Sicilian history, with thick stone walls, original quarry tile, and a top floor balcony that hands you a real view of the Mediterranean, this is a rare find at €12,000.
We have watched properties on this exact street in Tusa get snapped up quickly, often by buyers who never even see the place in person before committing.
If restoring an unplastered stone house in the historic center of a Sicilian coastal town sounds like your kind of project, this one is worth a serious look before it disappears from the market.
