Salt air drifts over a veranda where the table is already set for lunch, the branches overhead filtering the light just enough to keep your wine cool. Beyond the iron-framed roof of that veranda, the land rolls gently downhill through a hundred well-groomed olive trees toward a stretch of blue that never quite leaves your peripheral vision. On a clear day you can pick out the silhouette of Filicudi sitting out in the water, and behind you, when you turn around, the mountains rise up to remind you that this little corner of Sicily gives you both worlds at once.
This is what daily life could look like at this stone property just outside Santo Stefano di Camastra, a town on Sicily’s northern coast that so many of our viewers have told us they love. We hear you, and this one checks a lot of boxes people have been asking for. It has been sitting untouched for twenty years, which means the oranges, lemons, and pomegranates have gone unharvested and the olive grove has just kept quietly doing its thing, waiting for someone to come back and put it to use.
A Villa Built in Three Chapters
We are calling this one a villa because of what it can become, not just what it is today. The property is made up of three connected sections that were built at different points in its history, each with its own personality.
There is an ancient stone portion with a dining area, a kitchen, and a small cantina (cellar) loft where the previous owners kept their wine and preserves. There is a stable section that still has the manger where mules and goats were once fed. And there is a newer section with the current bedrooms and bathroom.
The three parts are not internally connected right now, so opening up a doorway or two between them is the first project on the list. Once that is done, you have one flowing home instead of three separate buildings.
The Ancient Kitchen and Dining Wing, Full of Character
Walking into the oldest part of the house, you are standing inside genuinely ancient stone construction. The plaster on the walls can be chipped away to expose that original stone, which is our honest recommendation if you want to bring out the character this place deserves.
The dining area still has its old furnishings, including a deep freeze, and all of it can be included in your offer. The kitchen has hardwood cabinetry that has held up beautifully along with a gas cooktop, and the ceiling shows a roof system in very good shape, which matters because a solid roof means you are not looking at tens of thousands of euros in repairs.
The Old Stable, Ready for a New Life
Next door sits what was once the stable, complete with the trough where mules were tied up and fed. The floor is simple cement and could stay that way or be tiled over.
It is easy to picture this space converted into a guest suite, a studio, or extra living area once it is connected to the rest of the house.
The Newer Wing, With Three Bedrooms and Sea Views
The newer section holds the three current bedrooms and single bathroom. The flooring throughout is in good shape, the walls are solid, and most of what is needed here is paint and some cosmetic plaster repair around an old, already-fixed water spot.
Two of the bedrooms look out toward that same coastline, and once a few overgrown branches are trimmed back, the sea view from these rooms opens up completely. The largest bedroom is L-shaped and sits right next to the single bathroom, making it a natural candidate for a future master suite if you connect the two with a new doorway.
The Views That Sell This Property
We have toured a lot of properties in Sicily, and the combination here is a genuinely special one. You get the sea view rolling out toward Filicudi on one side, and mountain views on the other, which gives you a kind of visual variety that a pure sea view alone does not.
From the outbuildings out back, you can look out over the olive grove with that same water view sitting in the distance. Every angle of this property seems to have been positioned with the view in mind, even if a few decades of untrimmed trees currently soften the edges of it.
The Land, the Water, and a Little Mystery
This property sits on 2.5 hectares (about 6.25 acres), and the olivetto (olive grove) alone is close to a hundred well-groomed trees, along with orange, lemon, and pomegranate trees that were simply left to fruit on their own for years.
There are two water sources on site, a fully functioning well and a second, historic well, which matters a lot if you are planning any kind of organic or sustainable growing project here.
Tucked among the olive trees are the ruins of a small stone structure, just waiting for someone to decide what it becomes. A guest cottage, an art studio, a little reading room. That part is entirely up to you.
Outbuildings Built for Real Sicilian Farm Life
Several outbuildings surround the main house, and each one tells its own story about how this land used to be worked. One was used to keep pigs, another set up for chickens.
Another outbuilding still holds the netting and containers used to harvest olives, the same equipment used to gather the olives before bringing them to the frantoio (olive press) for pressing into oil. A separate room was used for canning tomatoes, complete with the big pot and table where the previous family made their own tomato paste.
One of the smaller outbuildings is already finished inside, with tiled floors and a solid roof, and could easily become usable space with very little work.
The Attic, an Empty Canvas Above the Newer Wing
Above the newer section of the house sits a full attic space that has not been finished out yet. Ceiling height is comfortable throughout, aside from one support column near the center, and the space is large enough to become real living area once you decide how you want to use it.
Property Highlights of Casa Nuniata in Santo Stefano di Camastra
- Located just 3 kilometers from the nearest supermarket in Santo Stefano di Camastra, Sicily, on a quiet country road
- Sits on 2.5 hectares (about 6.25 acres) of land
- Nearly a hundred well-groomed olive trees plus orange, lemon, and pomegranate trees
- Sea views paired with mountain views, with the island of Filicudi visible in the distance
- Currently 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, with easy potential to add 2 more bathrooms
- Roughly 111 square meters (about 1,200 square feet) of current living space, with potential to expand to 167 to 186 square meters (about 1,800 to 2,000 square feet) once the attic and stable areas are finished
- Three connected building sections: ancient stone kitchen and dining area, former stable, and newer bedroom wing
- Approximately 30 square meter (about 323 square foot) covered veranda for outdoor dining
- Fully functioning well plus a second, historic well on the property
- Multiple outbuildings previously used for livestock, olive harvesting equipment, and tomato canning
- Ruins of a small stone structure hidden among the olive trees, ready for a creative renovation
- Unfinished attic space above the newer wing, ready to be built out
- Furnishings, including antique beds, an armadio (wardrobe), and kitchen cabinetry, can be included in the offer
- Take the full video tour of this property
- Featured in Episode 57
- Asking price: €275,000 (negotiable)
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 Sea View Fixer-Upper Worth a Serious Look
This is exactly the kind of property that rewards someone willing to see past twenty years of neglect. The roof is solid, the water sources are in place, and the bones of the house are genuinely good.
What you are really buying here is that view. Waking up with the sea stretching out in one direction and the mountains rising in the other is not something you can add later, and here it comes built in.
Between the olive grove, the fruit trees, the ancient wells, and the mystery ruins waiting for their second act, there is a real organic living project sitting on this land for the right person. We have seen firsthand, from our own renovation, how a property in rougher shape than this one can be turned into a home worth far more than what you put into it.
If this sounds like the kind of project you have been waiting for, we would love to walk you through the numbers and the potential in more detail.
