Land in Sicily

Whilst travelling looking for land in Sicily to buy for clients to build a house in Sicily a little local knowledge of dialect and traditional measurements is required. It gets very complicated as different regions of Sicily use the same words for different sizes of land in Sicily.

When evaluating land in Sicily always get an Italian surveyor to document its size in hectares. Remember the crop and quality currently on the land is the principal product you are buying.

Most of the land is agricultural land with restrictive building permission. The restriction is that you can only rebuild a set volume of cubic metres based on the existing registered cubic metres of buildings on the land. Always check with the local Italian land registry, where it will be documented the official volume of buildings on the land. Remember some of the registered buildings may have been knocked down to cultivate the land, so you may have more volume than you can actually see on the land in Sicily. Once you know the existing volume in square metres divide it by 3 (the average height of a room is 3metres) and this will give you the square metres that you can rebuild.

Farmhouse in sicily with 4 hectares

Farmhouse in sicily with 4 hectares

MIPC has available a mix of farmhouses with different plots of land and crops. You too can become part of the Sicilian culture owning your own farmhouse in Sicily producing your own grapes and olives under your own label. Follow this link to download Farmhouse in Sicily.

Sqm = square metre : Sqf =square feet :  1sqm=10sqf

1 Hectare=10,000sqm

Now for the Sicilian land sizes:

Un (one) tumolo = 2,143sqm (in the province of Trapani…remember it varies in different areas.)

Un (1) salma = 16 tumoli = 34,288sqm

1 tomolo = 4 mondelli : 1 mondello = 4 carozzi : 1 carozzo = 4 quarti : 1 quarto = 4 quartigli

So 1 hectare is just under 5 tumuli.

These are important measurements as they originate from the time that the Sicilian barons and land lords handed out land to the peasants to farm. Most farmers in Sicily were given a “Salma”, with a small farmhouse (rudere).

Many farmers are now struggling to work the land as the price of crops has dropped with the opening of European markets. Grapes once were sold onto the vineyard consortiums to produce the wine at 120 euros /kilo now the market is only paying 30 euros/kilo. With manual labour during the vendemmia costing 50 euros per day, they have to collect a lot of grapes for it to pay.

There is an increased trend for the farmers to sell their land in sicily. MIPC is currently sourcing farmhouses in the Sicilian countryside. Prices vary primarily depending on the crops and quality of the land and density of the crops. Most of the farmhouses are very old and need complete restoration.

Uncultivated land costs from 2000 euros/ tumolo  which is 10,000/hectare. The more expensive land having quality grapes or olives can reach 5000 euros/tumolo or 25,000euros/hectare.

The actual farmhouses don’t have a market value as there is limited demand for them, but they still carry a symbolic price, depending on their size and structural state, from 10,000–50,000 euros.

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  1. 1
    David Wenman // June 10th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    We are looking for some farmland in Sicily to build a house. We need a house of min 100sqm. The area we like is anything near to Palermo (as far west as Partinico). We would prefer land set back from the coast. The quality of the land doesnt matter. Electricity and water must be possible. Land size could be from a minimum of 100,000sq m upwards (assuming the bare laND WOULD BE ABOUT 10,000 eURO A HECTARE. We are in Balastrata now and will be in Sicily for another 2 weeks. Please let us know if you know of anything. (By the way your website is very informative- I liked the bit on Italian measurment!
    David Wenman

  2. 2
    mipc // June 13th, 2010 at 11:24 am

    David, yes there are inland plots from 10 hectares along the west coast from Palermo. I would advise upto 30 minutes inland, as you get better value for money. You could acquire land with an old farmhouse, olive groves, vineyards, fruit trees and space to build a swimming pool. Inland property is great because they are generally cooler as here in summer it gets very hot. Can you please identify which specific area west of Palermo you are interested in…for example inland from Isola delle femmine, Muzza, Terrasini, Trappeto, Balestrate, Alcamo Marina, Castellamare del Golfo, Scopello ? East of Palermo i would advise Cefalu moving inland towards the rustic town of Petralia Soprana. Our office is in Salemi if you wish to visit or we can arrange to meet up in your hotel at Balestrate. Ciao David

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