Salemi Castle

Remember Salemi ? and the 1 Euro property regeneration project…

Follow here for a Salemi 2012 update further to recent Salemi news.

La Valle Brembana : Brembana Valley : Brembo Ski

Just over 1 hours drive north from Bergamo airport BGY (ryanair call it Milan-Bergamo or as it is known locally “Orio al Serio” airport), you can be in the Brembana Valley ski resorts of Foppolo – Carona – San Simone, collectively known as the ski resort “Brembo Ski”.

We have many Italian ski chalets, ski apartments for sale In Italy on our books. Contact for more details.

Why Brembo Ski ? Its just over an hours drive from BGY. That is it’s the nearest skiing to any Italian airport. It’s already popular with English school trips. Many small apartments ideal for kids groups. A 1970’s resort a bit like Marilleva, was popular but as skiing became more of a lifestyle event rather than intensive skiing they lost their market share to other smarter resorts. There were political problems between the 3 local resorts and they never got it together. Now the local mayors of each town are on the same side and they are re-investing into the infrastructure and have brought serious international investors in to the area.

The Italian group De Benedetti has recently bought out the whole old ski infrastructure and is now committed with local partners to spend over 100million euros in the redevelopment of the area, creating new hotels, new parking, new ski lifts  and new property developments.

Skiing : these slopes are great for beginners & intermediate skiers.

Follows relevant ski local website information for documenting :

Brembo Ski

http://www.brembanaski.com/ (English links in bottom right hand corner)

http://www.brembanaski.com/ingleseski/index.html

http://www.piazzatorreskiarea.com/impianti.html

http://www.valbrembanaweb.it/valtortaski.html

http://www.brembanaski.com/ingleseski/alberghi.html

http://www.orobievive.net/10_demanio_foppolo/rs_foppolo/record%20su%20piste%20sci_%2004%20gennaio%202011.pdf

Medieval village in Gran Sasso national park in Abruzzo for sale £485,000 /  Euros 555,000 / $800,000

Valle Piola

The small abandoned mountain village of Valle Piola consists of a church, 11 stone delapidated stone houses and 2 farmers barns. Interesting proposal for the development of a boutique village/hotel.

View more photos here at Italian Property Valle Piola.

Estimated restoration fees at 1500euros/square metre would involve a development fund of at least 2 million+.

A similar business model has been developed at Santo Stefano di Sessanio and offers unique hotel accomodation in a medieval village. Meandering in the narrow village cobbled streets, history, luxury accomodation and restaurants around every corner. I visited Santo Stefano 4 years ago when it was in the stage of development. incredabile really that a mountain village can be refurbished and turn in a tourist destination. The weather here is great in summer with sun and fresh mountain air. In winter there are ski facilities nearby.

A similar business model is also been designed by the same architect of Santo Stefano in Salemi, Sicily. Here the ruins are for sale at 1 euro and registration for a property is open at Salemi.

In Italy there are many restoration properties available. You are advised to get a qualified surveyor and fixed price construction quotes for the restoration as many restoration projects heavily run over budget.

MIPC offers property restoration services in Sicily via our Italian construction firm.
Email MIPC for further details regarding any of the above projects.

The italian defense department has recently offered for sale some of her assets, including some intersting buildings. One in particulr is the light house on the italian island of Marettimo in the Egadi islands near Trapani sicily, next to the islands od Levanzo and Favignana. I will be visiting it on Sunday to take some photos and will report back next week. This is an interesting italian property development opportunity of a lighthouse on an accesabile island in Italy, I see a boutique hotel/residence with an exclusive mooring for yachts and a private jet runway or helicpoter landing pad….Buy a piece of italian history…sign up to our RSS to keep updated on this italian historic building development opportunity in Italy on the Egadi Islands near Trapani, Sicily in Marettimo.

Sicily continues to be highlighted in travel destinations as the sicilian lifestyle in it’s new era is discovered by international tourism. International investment opportunities are opening up. The UK telegraph continues with further articles on Sicily.
A guide to Sicily
Sicily : A new dawn
Considering a holiday in sicily, contact us for further details. Sicilian villas, B&B, property and more in Sicily.

Serpentara Sardegna Italian Island for Sale Italy 600,000 euros

island for sale sardegna

Serpentara 2 miles off the South East coast of Sardegna is for sale. Located in the province of Cagliari in the far south east corner near the town of Villasimius, see google maps.  South of Villasimius heading towards the Punta Santa Caterina is the island of Isola dei Cavoli, further east and a little north is the island of Serpentera, 2 miles off the coast of Sardegna see google maps , which translated means Serpent named after the shape of the island coast line.  134 hectares of land in Italy with 1 old building known as the La Torre di San Luigi (circa 1700), that’s Saint Luigi’s old tower / lighthouse in Italy and a 2^nd world war buncker on the coast. There is no planning permission to build your luxury Italian beachside property, nor a lovely villa set in the Italian island in Italy overlooking the sea…. as a matter of fact the island is part of an Italian nature reserve a the protected area of Capo Carbonara.

The property was owned by an Italian estate agent which has gone bankrupt and only today the liquidators offered the property in an Italian property auction, but no one offered the asking price of 600,000 euros . The local council of Villasimius unfortunately couldn’t raise sufficient funds. There are online groups creating an Italian property syndicate but they too failed to raise funds. So this is the 3^rd time the sardegna island as not reached the auction reserve price.

Are you interested in making an offer for a paradise island, set in the natural coastline of Sardegna. If so contact MIPC quickly before the Regione Sardegna , that’s the regional government, make an offer.

Italian property auctions are a high risk experience for a non Italian buyer of property in Italy. There are some great bargains available, but most bargains are “sold” prior to the auction. It is known in certain areas of southern Italy for the bankrupt party to turn up after the auction and claim back their property. Always take professional advice from an Italian property consultant.

Whilst travelling looking for land in Sicily to buy for clients to build a house in Sicily a little local knowledge of dialect and traditional measurements is required. It gets very complicated as different regions of Sicily use the same words for different sizes of land in Sicily.

When evaluating land in Sicily always get an Italian surveyor to document its size in hectares. Remember the crop and quality currently on the land is the principal product you are buying.

Most of the land is agricultural land with restrictive building permission. The restriction is that you can only rebuild a set volume of cubic metres based on the existing registered cubic metres of buildings on the land. Always check with the local Italian land registry, where it will be documented the official volume of buildings on the land. Remember some of the registered buildings may have been knocked down to cultivate the land, so you may have more volume than you can actually see on the land in Sicily. Once you know the existing volume in square metres divide it by 3 (the average height of a room is 3metres) and this will give you the square metres that you can rebuild.

Farmhouse in sicily with 4 hectares

MIPC has available a mix of farmhouses with different plots of land and crops. You too can become part of the Sicilian culture owning your own farmhouse in Sicily producing your own grapes and olives under your own label. Follow this link to download Farmhouse in Sicily.

Sqm = square metre : Sqf =square feet :  1sqm=10sqf

1 Hectare=10,000sqm

Now for the Sicilian land sizes:

Un (one) tumolo = 2,143sqm (in the province of Trapani…remember it varies in different areas.)

Un (1) salma = 16 tumoli = 34,288sqm

1 tomolo = 4 mondelli : 1 mondello = 4 carozzi : 1 carozzo = 4 quarti : 1 quarto = 4 quartigli

So 1 hectare is just under 5 tumuli.

These are important measurements as they originate from the time that the Sicilian barons and land lords handed out land to the peasants to farm. Most farmers in Sicily were given a “Salma”, with a small farmhouse (rudere).

Many farmers are now struggling to work the land as the price of crops has dropped with the opening of European markets. Grapes once were sold onto the vineyard consortiums to produce the wine at 120 euros /kilo now the market is only paying 30 euros/kilo. With manual labour during the vendemmia costing 50 euros per day, they have to collect a lot of grapes for it to pay.

There is an increased trend for the farmers to sell their land in sicily. MIPC is currently sourcing farmhouses in the Sicilian countryside. Prices vary primarily depending on the crops and quality of the land and density of the crops. Most of the farmhouses are very old and need complete restoration.

Uncultivated land costs from 2000 euros/ tumolo  which is 10,000/hectare. The more expensive land having quality grapes or olives can reach 5000 euros/tumolo or 25,000euros/hectare.

The actual farmhouses don’t have a market value as there is limited demand for them, but they still carry a symbolic price, depending on their size and structural state, from 10,000–50,000 euros.

Venice is very popular with American & Russian buyers of property in Italy. There was a very good article in yesterdays New York Times discussing house hunting in Venice. If you too are interested in property in Venice then please contact MIPC as we too have some interesting investment opportunities in Venice.

Just make sure you don’t buy a ground floor house in Piazza San Marco, as recent floodings in the Venice city centre have reached as high as 1 metre.

Tre Fontane beach Sicily

Another great day at the beach. Tre Fontane on the south coast of western sicily, not far from Mazara del Vallo and even closer to Selinunte. To be honest i’ve been here in winter when its dead, but amazingly from the months of June to September the rolling sandy beaches and crystal clear water bring  the whole coast line to life.

We arrived late on a sunday morning to find a strange mist hanging in the air. Visibilty was down to 50metres, the sun was struggling to break through the mist. Most odd…considering on the journey dow the A29 Palermo-Mazara the sun had been beating down on us. On to the beach, towels down and off to have a swim. Strangely there weren’t many in the water, but i just thought that was down to the mist, but i soon realised why ?? Cold …the water was freezing. I mean yesterday we had been on the boat in the scopello area and the water had been like a hot bath…yet today on the south coast the sicilian water was at least 12′c less. This helped explain the mist an interaction between the cold water, currents, air and the hot land all meeting on the coast. Anyway an hour later it had lifted and the sicilian sun scorched the beach.

Crystal clear water, low beach shelf (good for kids), no sharks and overall a great place.

Nice few bars along the coast, dancing lessons in the sea, evening entertainment great particularly the Insommnia bar and some good fish restaurants. Well worth a visit.

At tre fontane you can buy a deatched 2 bedroom villa right on the beach for 120,000 euros. Great for summer, but unfortunately in winter the place is very quiet. Ideal if you want to get away during the summer months but not a great rental return during winter….I think its better to buy on the north coast.

Tourists ??? lots of local sicilians, met a few english speaking tourists, mainly in the sicilian holiday residence camps and many day visitors. If you are visiting Selinunte i would recomeend a half day trip to tre fontane.

Sicily villa for sale scopello, zingaro nature reserve.

"wow" villa overlooking beach

View on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PACR62flW_I

Follow this link to view the MIPC property listing of this : Sicilian seaside villa

Exclusive sicilian seaside villa 250m² villa set in 5000m² mature mediterranean gardens overlooking the Scopello bay of Sicily. Situated 5 minutes walk from the Scopello bay locally known as Cala Mazzo di Sciacca. Off the country road leading to the Zingaro nature reserve this villa has the “wow” factor. 4 double bedrooms all with individual bathrooms, 3 small spare rooms, 1 large living room with 6m high ceilings, large outside ground terrace and sun seeking roof terrace.

Sicilian Villa set in mature gardens

A luxury holiday villa up for a quick sale as recently widowed owner does not live here.

Interested parties to act quickly as there is a lot of local interest.

View on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PACR62flW_I

Follow this link to view the MIPC property listing of this : Sicilian seaside villa

Sale price : 1,000,000 : 1 million euros.

Location :
5 minutes from Scopello
20 minutes Castellamare del Golfo
45 minutes Palermo airport.
45 minutes Trapani airport.

Property details:

Ground floor:
Total ground floor 150sqm
Large open plan living room 50sqm
Kitchen 20sqm
Storage room
1 ensuite double bedroom
1 double bedroom
1 Bathroom

1st Floor:
Total 1st floor 100sqm
Study
Storage room
2 double bedrooms
2 bathrooms

Outside:
Ground terrace 60sqm
Roof terrace (accessed by external staircase) 60sqm
Mature terraced gardens 5000sqm
Uncovered Car park
2 Single garages
1 small outside storage building
Electronic gates
Extensive garden lighting
Garden irrigation system
2 water cisterns