Casa Indipendente in vendita a Acireale
Ad Acireale, precisamentre in Via Penelope n. 16, in una zona tranquilla e residenziale, presentiamo una casa indipendente, libera al rogito, situata al piano terra di una piccola palazzina di soli due piani. Immobile costruito prima del 1942 e si presenta totalmente da ristrutturare. La casa si sviluppa su una…
What it really costs
Can you move in?
Not before the basics are done
In the listingNeeds renovationSee what needs doing and what each job costs
The listing explicitly says there is an 'ordinanza di divieto di accesso e di utilizzo', meaning it is currently not legally usable/habitable; that is a veto red flag. At €35,000 for 61 sqm plus full restoration (~€1,100/sqm), the effective cost is about €1,674/sqm versus a €445/sqm local baseline, so it is not cheap enough to offset the legal/usability risk.
More on the house and the area
There is some atmospheric Sicilian character in the worn corner facade, old street setting and little shrine niche, and the near-sea location helps the dream a bit. But the house shown is not a charming fixer-upper ready for light work: the interiors are heavily cluttered, damp-stained and clearly need major renovation to become a usable home. At €35k it has bargain-project appeal, but the wow is mostly potential rather than present livable beauty.
All the services redone, bathrooms, kitchen, windows. The structure is left alone.
Turnkey, facade and insulation included.
Our read of the photos, €1,100/m², falls in this band.
Materials only, work you may do yourself€24,000 – €36,000
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.
- Full renovation needed before it is realistically livable
- Visible damp, peeling plaster and probable water infiltration
- Interiors are cluttered, making structural condition hard to verify
- No view, terrace or outdoor space shown
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 on the Ionian side of eastern Sicily, on the lava terrace between Mount Etna and the sea. The Timpa di Acireale, a protected coastal escarpment and nature reserve, is within the area, with basalt cliffs and Mediterranean scrub above the shoreline. Mount Etna is the dominant mountain landscape inland, and the lower eastern slopes begin close to the town. The coast here is rocky rather than sandy, with small lava inlets at Santa Maria la Scala and the Cyclops Riviera around Aci Trezza a little to the south. The nearest ski lifts are on Etna, roughly an hour to Piano Provenzana or Rifugio Sapienza depending on road conditions. Catania is the nearest large city, with the airport, major rail links, a university and full urban services. Acireale itself is known for its Baroque centre and for the Carnival of Acireale.