Ancient Noble Residence With Exotic Garden

Christie's International Real Estate is pleased to offer for sale a historic home that belonged to a noble Sicilian family.
Located just two kilometers from the center of Giarre, between Catania and Taormina, the property consists of a complex of buildings surrounded by a lush land of about one and a half hectares with a vineyard and various fruit trees.
The villa, overlooking the Ionian Sea and protected by the imposing volcano, tells anecdotes of the life of the noble and influential family of shipowners who lived there since the early nineteenth century.
The manor house, which occupies a surface area of approximately five hundred square meters, is divided into numerous rooms, including lounges and bedrooms, distributed between the first and second levels.
Renovated about ten years ago, it is elegant and informal, characterized by peculiar elements of the ancient Sicilian noble residences: soft pastel colors, decorated cementine floors, vaulted ceilings embellished with colorful frescoes and ornamental rosettes. Among the various frescoes, the noble family's coat of arms stands out.
The seven bedrooms on the upper floor, welcoming and spacious, proceed one after the other along the corridor, surrounded by the enchanting terrace overlooking the garden and the sea.
Influences of the past in the living area on the lower floor, with the traditional brick kitchen from the period, together with the oven and the fireplace; even the wooden freight elevator, used to transport food and drinks to the upper floor, infuses the atmosphere of the past.
The same building includes the two-room annex of approximately 73 m2 and the garage with double entrance of approximately 54 m2.
In addition to the urban water supply, a natural water well is located in the large patio adjacent to the kitchen, to water the garden. In addition, the structure is equipped with an Arab irrigation system called saia, or "moving water"; in the summer evenings it is exciting to dine under the porch hearing the water flowing like that of a stream.
The protagonist of this ancient residence, a jewel in the crown for every season, is the garden, a romantic and persuasive place, which displays numerous exotic plants introduced by an ancestor of the noble family from his numerous trips to the Caribbean, Don Gaetano Fiamingo: when he became consul of all the Russias, his wife, an English noblewoman, donated some cuttings to the Tsarina, on the occasion of the visit to Palermo of Tsar Nicholas I. Among these plants, some examples of Pomelia, which were imported by him for the first time in Sicily in 1810, adorn the garden together with different types of palms such as the Phoenix reclinata, the Phoenix dactifera and the Washintonia; refined species of camellias such as the Japonica and the Maria Antonietta illuminate and cheer up the fairy-tale place with their large and lively flowering.
Attached to the noble residence, the charming house stands out, renovated and covered with ceramics decorated in shades of blue; it consists of a ground floor with kitchen, bathroom and living room, adorned with a picturesque brick fireplace, and an upper floor that houses a bedroom with a panoramic terrace.
Several buildings to be renovated, such as the winery, warehouses and stables enrich the structure making it suitable for hospitality use as an exclusive luxury resort.
It is two kilometers from the beach, twenty from Taormina and thirty from Catania's "Fontanarossa" airport.


*These information and floor plans are merely indicative and do not constitute contractual elements.