Casa Indipendente
A Ruffano, in Via Vittorio Emanuele, importante arteria stradale della Cittadina, a pochi passi dal Centro Storico, Abitazione indipendente di carattere storico di ampia metratura, distribuita su due livelli. Al Piano Seminterrato troviamo una cantina composta da tre vani a stella ed una vano a volta piana, con scala…
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
At €68k for 145 sqm, the asking price is only €469/sqm, but with a realistic renovation budget of about €700/sqm the effective cost rises to roughly €1,169/sqm, well above the local baseline of €735/sqm. Good central/historic-position appeal in Ruffano, but the listing itself says it needs renovation and has 0 photos, so the low ask is not enough to make it a strong deal.
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€29,000 – €51,000
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.
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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.
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 58/100This is the inland Salento plain, with low olive-growing countryside and scattered masserie between the Ionian and Adriatic sides of the peninsula. The nearest coast is the Ionian shore around Torre San Giovanni and Ugento, about 15 km away, with long sandy beaches and pine-backed stretches; the Adriatic coast is farther and does not count for the immediate setting. The nearest larger town is Casarano, which provides the main services, shops and rail connections for this part of southern Salento; Gallipoli is the nearest coastal town of size. Ugento, within the surrounding area, has a historic centre and an archaeological museum, and its coastal territory is what this area is most known for. The area is broadly known for olive groves, dry-stone rural landscape and access to the beaches of the lower Salento Ionian coast.