1 bedroom country house, 31 m²

Bagheria, Palermo (province)

Affacciaturi - "a tiny piece of Heaven"

“Affacciaturi” is an ancient term of the sicilian language meaning  “viewpoint”, and that is the way my old uncle named this rocky promontory overlooking the valley of Eleuterio river. At that time, the piece of land had both a plain section with growing lemons and a steep climbing one that was mostly rough and wild: a bit less than 1400 square meters altogether.
As I inherited the land, I started to transform it. For years, after work and every single weekend, I’ve been driving here from home in Palermo (20 minutes by car), I got changed and worked hard till night. With much love and plenty of sweat I digged up the whole hillside sloping down from mount Giancaldo to the river, and I did it by my own hands. I smashed the solid stone to pieces, created stairs, walk paths, terraces where I brought new rich soil, planted trees, vegetables and flowers, installed a watering system throughout the property. I arranged a lot of pictures on the site so that you can truly experience a detailed virtual tour of the property (you can even watch them on YouTube at https://youtu.be/wniuua1Q7KQmI).
I’ve been taking care of the wild, mostly abandoned neighbouring  pieces of land, too, creating a shrub-free fire safety belt, with natural barriers made of water-rich prickly pears. I fixed up the private driveway leading from the public street to the house as well: I strengthened and straightened it up, planted oleanders, carob trees, acacias, willows, agaves and yuccas; I even created a small fenced car park area, widening the driveway with more than 14  trucks filled with cave stones and gravel.
The plain section of the land is fenced with specifically designed railings that follow its irregular contour line, with a kind of triangular cantilevered “prow” which leans out over the edge of the main terrace due to a reinforced concrete beams frame firmly rooted in the solid stone. This way, the original "viewpoint" ("Affacciaturi") vocation of the site has been strenghten properly. Every single piece of metal furniture (railings, fences, bannisters) are finished off with double coated micaceous iron enamels. The main terrace (about 65 square meters) is paved with tough terracotta-style stoneware large tiles and partly covered with an iron arbour completely concealed by a thick mantle of Azores jasmin and American ivy, as well as by the foliage of three olive trees growing at the back of a wooden bench. A huge table where 16 people may easily have a seat, deckchairs and a hammock which is apparently suspended between heaven and earth complete the main terrace furniture.  Many plants and trees  thrive in the fenced fertile soil around the house: 2 lemons, 2 tangerines, 3 oranges, 1 silver mimosa, 1 fig tree, 1 kalanchoe, 1 dwarf palm, 1 ficus, 1 rambling rose, and then viburnum, pittosporum, geranium, wisteria, a huge rosemary a many different succulents. The entrance path too, leading from the private driveway to the main terrace and the house, is covered by a tunnel vault arbour made of Azores jasmine and bouganvillea. A confortable curved staircase opens onto the valley below, revealing an amazing view spanning from Misilmeri and the central Sicily mountains to Palermo, Monte Pellegrino (“the most beautiful promontory in the world” according to Goethe’s words) and the sea horizon, which stretches out almost up to Capo Zafferano. It looks like being in flight, and yet thoroughly rooted in the stone, amongst the scents of aromatic herbs and flowers, and the sea horizon which makes sense of the whole thing.
I built a house in the plain section of the property with the help of my elder son, who is an architect. It’s a tiny house (net 31 square meters, 42 including the outer walls) yet complete and very confortable. Sure it has got a nice garden around and a beautiful large terrace. What’s more, the house is very solid, due to its reinforced concrete structure with solid grade beams directly connected to the stone ground beneath: in fact the house has got an overabundant seismic suitability certificate, verified under pressures of 1,600 kg/cm2 like in zone 9 even though the house lays actually in zone 2. Thanks to its structure and to the compact stone ground, the house has never suffered any rising dump issue. The house walls are made of pumice/concrete insulating blocks with two air compartments; the upper floor is protected with a thick high-density polystyrene insulating coating and a 20 cm thick pumice screed; all this, together with double-glazed windows and the air-conditioning equipment with heat pumps, ensure a very confortable inner microclimate both in summer and in winter time, frankly much better than what attested in the house official G energy class certificate.
A huge 10,000 litres reinforced concrete tank with autoclave, beneath the house, ensures a remarkable water supply even though water never runs out due to a permanent undergroud connection to an artesian well.
Both the windows and the the armored access door are protected by solid, burglar-proof, and specifically designed, iron gratings. The house itself is partly coated with valuable quarry stone which sometimes covers the whole external walls.
The house is bright and thoroughly furnished, with an entrance area + living room (two strategically set out corner windows reveal the view on the valley), a fully equipped side kitchen, two sofa beds which may host two other people, a large wooden rocking chair, a dining table with chairs, tv + a passageway with sliding door + a double bedroom with king size bed, wardrobe and mezzanine storage closet + a fully equipped L shaped bathroom with marble sink, shower, wc and bidet. Four large and shallow “broom rooms” for external furniture and utensils shelter, closed with zinc-coated iron small doors, were made out taking advantage of the difference in altitude between the house and the main terrace with the “prow”. An iron external stair, still specifically designed and just about concealed by a big japanese jasmine, leads to the upper terrace, as large as the whole house and partly covered by a solid low-arch barrel vaulted arbour, with its main structure made of iron and secondary structure made of rotproof bamboo canes upon which a beautiful bignonia has been growing for the latest years. The upper terrace (about 40 square meters) is enriched by a wide table with chairs, deckchairs and a large hammock. From above, the natural scenery is even wider, as the only interruption is the mountain at the back of the house. Dawns and sunset can often be moving. Stars are even closer.
The entrance path, the land surrounding the house and the two terraces are lighten up with exterior lamps, both mounted on poles and built-in where possible due to the stone coating.
The downward slope of the property links the plain section - with the house and the main terrace - to the public road running along the Eleuterio river. The terraces I created and connected with pathways and staircases, made with the stones digged out from the mountain and limestone blocks, easily accommodate many kinds of plants and trees: mostly olive trees, which by the way produce some excellent olive oil, the same we personally use throughout the year and give out to our closest relatives. Various different fruit trees and many vegetables, as well as purely decorative plants, grow there: a wide variety of flowers, big examples of the agave family, even conifers, and many huge capers plants. The property itself was designed as a miniature landscape here, through a varied compositions of colours, scents, routes, materials and views. The large septic tank is underground and therefore completely unnoticeable; an unobtrusive composting site contributes positively to the widespread bio fertilization of the soil.
We fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws: the house has got no mortgage, is obviously in the land registry and in order with all the necessary permits, without exceptions and included the certificate of landscaping, necessary as the house is relatively close to the river.  As you can see from the pictures, the whole property, with the house  and the terraces, was designed to be virtually invisible and organically inserted into the landscape.
The nearest beach is 8 minutes far by car (less than 2.5 km as the crow flies). The historic centre of Palermo, I mean just Palazzo dei Normanni, which is on the World Heritage List with its wondrous Palatine Chapel, its large palm garden and the mosaic roman houses, can be reached by a 28 minutes drive from Affacciaturi’s gate (13 km as the crow flies). You can easily find Affacciaturi on Google Maps: just digit "Viale Maserpasi".
Whoever saw Affacciaturi has always defined it as “a tiny piece of Heaven”. It is indeed, even because I’ve lovely devoted a good part of my life to this place. I would like to sell it to someone who can really appreciate its magic, its deep peace, someone who could allow Affacciaturi to keep on living and dispensing joy.