The average price for a second home in Italy geared to the needs of foreign buyers is in the region of €560,000, according to the Italymag.co.uk property index, which tracks advertisements placed on this website. But you don’t need to have such deep pockets to buy in the Bel Paese.
If you scour agents listings carefully, you’ll find many interesting homes, often in historic buildings, at genuinely affordable prices.
Here, we have selected three old houses that caught our eye.
Village house to restore, Scano di Montiferro, Sardinia
Set close to the beaches of north-western Sardinia, Scano di Montiferro is wrapped in the gentle embrace of sinuous hills and ancient nuraghi, those idiosyncratic towers that pepper the island since prehistoric times.
Right in the village’s historic centre stands an old house in need of renovation. L’Ortensia is laid across three floors, with the living room, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, a bedroom and terrace on the first floor, and two more rooms on the top floor.
What makes it special are its ancient floors and rib vaults, as well as a panoramic terrace on the top floor. The asking price is €75,000 through San Marco Immobiliare (+39 0785 375521, www.smimmobiliare.com)
Medieval tower apartment B, Massa Martana, Umbria
It is hard to come across an older home than this apartment in a small village near Todi, in Umbria. It is set in a 12th century watch tower, an imposing building facing south towards a vineyard strewn valley peppered with olive groves.
The tower has been converted into two independent apartments for sale and this one, apartment B, is a pretty studio, with the sleeping area sheltered from the living quarters.
Fully renovated seven years ago, it has a bathroom (cut into the tower wall) a separate kitchen, two small balconies and a small terrace, as well as communal access to the roof terrace.
“Not many property owners can boast the fact that they own a studio apartment in a 12th-century building,” says selling agent Eliana Andolfo of Homes in Italy. She believes it is a great buy because “it is of easy maintenance—there is no garden to take care of and since it has been recently renovated it won't need work for years. Finally, since the building used to be a watch tower, it enjoys superb views over the surrounding valley and hills.”
Garden space is available if required, and the apartment could be sold fully furnished. The asking price is €105,000 (+44 (0)845 2297057
Palazzetto, Mompeo, Lazio
The tiny medieval village of Mompeo, in Sabina, Lazio, looks stuck in a time warp. It is a place of cobbled stones and noble palazzos, ancient festivals and graceful churches. But for a village that only counts 500 residents, it is surprisingly lively, with restaurants, bars and an annual international short film festival.
Here, Immobiliare Polidori are selling a small palazzo of medieval origins, laid across three floors. The living quarters, which include a sitting room with fireplace, a living room, also with fireplace, and an open plan kitchen, take up the ground floor.
Upstairs are two bedrooms and a bathroom, and on the top floor is the attic with a panoramic terrace overlooking the lush Sabina countryside.
The palazzetto has been carefully restored to preserve its period atmosphere. “Wherever possible, original materials, such as old wooden beams and ancient terracotta bricks, were employed,” says Riccardo Tonnina of Immobiliare Polidori.
But, he adds, “its greatest draw is the terrace, which allows you to enjoy extraordinary views of the sun setting over Mount Soratte.” The asking price is €130,000 (+39 0765 576477, www.immobiliarepolidori.it).
