Appartamento
Appartamento. Needs renovation, balcone.
What it really costs
Can you move in?
Not before the basics are done
In the listingNeeds renovationMust be done first
- Damp
- Heating
- Kitchen
See what needs doing and what each job costs
At €70,000, the estimated renovation brings the total to about €137,900, or €1,422/m² versus €482/m² for comparable apartments in the area. Being only 2 km from the sea helps, but the sparse listing provides little detail beyond the need for renovation.
More on the house and the area
This is a spacious, conventional 97 sqm apartment with multiple balconies and a glimpse toward the nearby hillside. The interiors are complete enough to be recognizable as a real home, but they are dated and visibly worn, while the kitchen and moisture damage require work. The deteriorating balcony concrete is the major concern and reduces the overall dream-home appeal.
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.
Bringing a house that has stood empty back into service: new water, sewer and electricity, plus the practices. The same sum on an 80 m² house and on a 300 m² one, which is why a €40,000 house is not a €40,000 project.
Show more
Water 1,800 · sewer 2,500 · electricity 700–1,600 · CILA 1,000 · cadastral filing 500 · structural design 700 · Legge 10 report 900 · safety coordination 1,800
No mains drain: add €2,000–4,500 for a septic tank. Listings never say, so ask.
- Substantial renovation is needed, including repainting and repair of visible damp or water-damaged ceilings and walls.
- The kitchen appears incomplete or lacks fitted units and appliances.
- Significant concrete spalling is visible on the apartment balconies and surrounding building façades; structural and condominium works should be investigated.
- Dense urban surroundings provide limited privacy and no meaningful outdoor space beyond balconies.
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 55/100The cluster is in the built-up area of Messina on the Strait of Messina, with the Peloritani immediately behind the city and the Ionian and Tyrrhenian coasts meeting in the wider area. The nearest extensive mountain landscape is the Peloritani range, with wooded ridges and small upland villages within a short drive. The nearest town of size is Messina itself, which has a major port, university, hospitals, rail and ferry connections to Calabria, and the city’s setting is shaped more by dense urban fabric and transport infrastructure than by open countryside. Taormina and the larger scenery of Etna are outside the 15 km landscape and do not raise the score. Messina is known for the strait crossing and for its port.