Salt air drifts through the narrow stone streets of Santo Stefano di Camastra, and if you climb to the roof of this old house, you can already see the mountains on one side and, just past the rooftops, the glimmer of the Mediterranean on the other. Five minutes is all it takes to walk from the front door down to the water’s edge.
Step outside and you are standing directly across from the Church of Santa Maria della Catena, built in 1708, its facade glowing gold in the late afternoon light. A few steps further and you are in the piazza (town square), the same spot where we like to sit and watch the sunset melt over the sea almost every evening.
This is not a polished, move-in-ready villa. It is a raw, four-level stone house with a lot of dirt and a lot of history, the kind of project that rewards anyone who can see past the clutter to the bones underneath. And in this case, the bones are genuinely beautiful.
At €29,000, and negotiable, it is one of the more affordable entry points we have found into a town we personally spend a huge amount of time in and love.
The Sea Is Closer Than You Think
One of the questions we get asked constantly is whether you can actually live in Sicily without a car. In Santo Stefano di Camastra, the answer is an easy yes.
This house sits right in the centro storico (historic center), a short walk from the train station, several supermarkets, and the Saturday mercato (market) where vendors come down from the mountains with fresh cheese and cured meats.
You are also just steps from the old summer palazzo of the Prince of Camastra, which today houses the comune (town hall) and a museum dedicated to the ceramics this town is famous for. The sea, the shops, the history, all of it is within a short stroll from this front door.
Meet Casa Gaitano and the Story Behind the Sale
The seller, Gaitano, is someone we have known for a few years, and he lives right in town. He reached out to us because he had inherited this house from his father and wanted to work with us directly.
He is the sole name on the title, which makes for a much cleaner and simpler transaction than a lot of inherited properties in Sicily, where ownership can be split among several heirs.
It is a genuine project home, filthy in places and clearly untouched for a long time, but structurally solid stone construction from the early 1700s, built around the same era as the church across the street.
The Street-Level Cantina, Ready for a Vespa or a Wine Collection
You enter at street level into what is currently being used as a garage for a Vespa. The walls here are in good shape, and there is a small storage room, or ripostiglio, tucked to the side.
This level could easily become a separate studio apartment down the road, or you could simply keep it practical as a cantina (cellar), garage, or wine storage space, exactly the kind of bonus room that is hard to find in a lot of Italian village homes.
The Second Floor and Its Modest Room with Character to Spare
Climb a short run of stairs and you land on the second level, a single room of maybe 150 square feet with a small rear space almost like a closet.
What really stands out here, and on every floor above it, is the cove-vaulted ceiling. It has been plastered over, but you can either expose the original stone underneath or simply replaster and keep those graceful, curved lines overhead.
The Third Floor’s Straight Walls and Honest Bathroom
The third level has its own bathroom, oddly tucked into the stairwell but functional, with a window for light. There is a shallow balcony looking straight out at the church, and another small rear room laid out almost like a closet.
What matters most structurally is that the stone walls up here are straight and true. This is not a knockdown renovation. It is a house you restore, not rebuild.
The Top Floor, Where a Dropped Ceiling Hides Real Height
At some point, a previous owner installed a drop ceiling about two feet below the original open-beam roof structure, so this top floor actually has far more height available than it first appears.
There is a tiny kitchen up here, small enough that you will want to redo it completely, and a door leading up a few steps to roof access.
The Roof Access, With a Sea View Worth Building For
This is the one spot in the house where the payoff really hits you. Step through that door and up a few steps, and you are on the roof looking out toward the ceramics museum, the mountain behind town, and the sea glittering just beyond the next row of rooftops.
Turning this into a proper roof terrace would take a full rebuild of the wood structure, and we would estimate somewhere around €15,000 to €20,000 for the roof and structural work. Given what you would gain, a private perch with a Mediterranean view, it strikes us as money very well spent.
What to Look for Beyond the Dirt
We always tell people to look for what we call the absolutes, the things you truly cannot change later. Structure, walls, vaulted ceilings, and location all fall into that category here, and all of them check out.
Everything else, the grime, the outdated kitchen, the plaster, can be cleaned up or redone in a matter of days once real renovation work begins.
Property Highlights of Casa Gaitano
- Price: €29,000, negotiable
- Size: 121 square meters (about 1,302 square feet)
- Bedrooms and bathrooms: to be determined after renovation
- Structure: historic stone house on four levels, dating to the early 1700s
- Bonus street-level cantina, ideal as a garage or wine cellar
- Characteristic vaulted ceilings on multiple floors
- Roof access with potential for a private terrace and sea view
- Located directly across from the 1708 Church of Santa Maria della Catena
- Steps from the former summer palazzo of the Prince of Camastra, now the comune and ceramics museum
- Five-minute walk to the sea, and walking distance to shops, the train station, and the weekly mercato
- Estimated €15,000 to €20,000 for a full roof and structural redo
- Watch the full property tour
- Featured in Episode 51
- Asking price: €29,000
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.
A Budget Stone House Steps from the Sicilian Sea
This is not a finished, polished property, and it was never meant to be sold as one. It is a genuine wholesale opportunity in a town we know intimately and love spending time in.
What you get for €29,000 is a stone house with straight walls, gorgeous vaulted ceilings, four flexible levels, and a cantina that could become almost anything you want it to be.
What you also get, if you climb those stairs all the way to the roof, is a view of the sea that costs nothing extra and never gets old. Watching the sun go down over that water from your own rooftop, after an evening stroll through the piazza, is exactly the kind of la dolce vita (the sweet life) moment people dream about when they think of Sicily.
If you have been waiting for an affordable way into a walkable, history-rich Sicilian town five minutes from the water, this house, and this price, are worth a serious look.
