Casa Indipendente
Casa Indipendente
What it really costs
Can you move in?
Not before the basics are done
Condition not stated in the listingMust be done first
- Roof
See what needs doing and what each job costs
At €253/m², the €24,000 asking price looks cheap, but the listing gives no condition, bathroom, or habitability details. Allowing roughly €700/m² for an unspecified farmhouse renovation brings the effective cost to about €953/m², well above the local comparison level of €389/m².
More on the house and the area
This is a photogenic Sicilian agricultural property with a mature citrus orchard, greenery, and weathered rural buildings. However, the structures look like abandoned farm outbuildings rather than a usable home, with no bedrooms, bathrooms, or finished interiors evident; it is a major renovation project.
Certified wiring, water and drainage, a heat source, a roof that keeps the water out, one working bathroom. Facade, insulation, a second bathroom and the floors wait.
All the services redone, bathrooms, kitchen, windows. The structure is left alone.
Our read of the photos, €700/m², falls in this band.
Turnkey, facade and insulation included.
Materials only, work you may do yourself€19,000 – €34,000
Wiring, water and sanitary work of any kind, heating, air conditioning and gas go to a registered firm by law, and so do flues and the air openings for gas appliances. That labour stays in the bill. Yours is the stripping out, plaster, paint, floors, tiling and carpentry.
Labour is 61% of a renovation price on average and 67% at the median, across 191 items of the Emilia-Romagna 2025 public price list. Materials are the rest. An averaged price list, not a quote.
Materials you buy yourself carry 22% VAT; supplied by the firm doing the work they go at the 10% renovation rate. On a €30,000 materials bill that is €3,600 of extra tax.
Household wiring installed before 13 March 1990 counts as compliant if it has a main breaker with overcurrent protection, protection against direct contact and a 30 mA RCD. Having a firm bring the existing wiring up to that and certify it is the cheapest lawful route.
- The buildings appear uninhabitable without substantial renovation; no livable interiors, kitchen, or bathrooms are shown.
- Roofs, masonry, utilities, and legal residential status require careful inspection.
- The land is heavily overgrown and access appears to be via an unpaved farm track.
Estimate from the listing and its photos, not a survey. Treat it as the starting point for your own quotes. An Italian builder's quote is normally written without VAT and without design fees, so add about a quarter to any figure a firm gives you.
The area around
Location score 42/100The cluster is in the flat agricultural plain between Vittoria and the south coast, with the Ippari river valley and the pinewood and dune reserve of the Riserva naturale della Pineta di Vittoria within reach toward the coast. The nearest coast is the Gulf of Gela around Scoglitti, with long sandy beaches and low shoreline rather than cliffs. Ragusa is the nearest provincial town of size with services and the Baroque old towns of Ragusa Ibla and Modica are farther inland but outside the immediate landscape. This area is known above all for intensive greenhouse agriculture and the Vittoria wine zone, including Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG.