Sandro Scalia for The New York Times  In the village of Scicli in southeastern Sicily, a 12-bedroom villa called Palazzo HedonÃ© is on the market for $4.8 million. The property has a swimming pool, seen here at center right. More Photos »  A RESTORED 12-BEDROOM VILLA IN A BAROQUE-ERA SICILIAN TOWN  This limestone villa on a hillside overlooking the Baroque town of Scicli in southeastern Sicily has 12 bedrooms, each with an en-suite bath, over almost 10,000 square feet of space. Dating to 1737, the property was in ruins when discovered in 2006 by the current owners, who undertook a three-year restoration retaining original historic features and incorporating modern elements like two pools, a sauna and a screening room. The restoration cost about $2.65 million, and the three-story home, now used as a rental with a full staff, brings in almost $200,000 a year, said Axel Garrigue-Guyonnaud, an owner.  Called the Palazzo Hedoné, the villa is being sold furnished; it is outfitted with marble fireplace mantels imported from Paris and French Empire-era antiques, among other elements. Its creeper-covered main entrance is off a stone staircase ascending from a side street near a historic church. Large wooden doors painted lavender open to a palatial hall with a bedroom and adjacent bath to the right and a staircase directly ahead.  On the second floor is a family-style kitchen with ebony cabinets and steel countertops, as well as sitting rooms that share a wood-burning fireplace built into their common wall. This floor also has five bedrooms and baths, among them the master suite, with two balconies, a two-person Jacuzzi and a large shower. Many of the other baths, too, have hot tubs, steam showers, or showers with massage jets.  Off the kitchen is the screening room, which seats 20, and a 33-by-10-foot pool with a countercurrent swimming machine, a retractable roof and a surround of heated stone flooring. In addition to a contemporary-style dining area adjacent to the pool, the second floor is also home to the sauna.  The third floor has five more bedrooms and baths, along with terraces overlooking the historic center of Scicli, an international World Heritage site. The 12th bedroom suite is in a studio apartment attached to the villa. Elsewhere on the grounds are terraced gardens of palms and other plants, along with a pool heated by solar panels.  Scicli has its share of ornate buildings to visit, and there are several other international World Heritage sites within an hour’s drive. The Mediterranean is about 10 minutes away; the owners of Palazzo Hedoné are also selling the long-term lease on a house on Bruca beach with a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchenette.  Shopping and dining are nearby, including a golf resort and four restaurants with Michelin stars, Mr. Garrigue-Guyonnaud said. The international airport in Catania is an hour and 15 minutes’ drive, and a new international airport is opening in April 2013 in Comiso, which is 30 minutes away, he said.  Sicily’s real estate market, particularly for higher-end sales to international buyers, is still immature; international real estate agencies haven’t established a presence, said Huw Beaugié, a founding director of Think Sicily, a villa rental agency. The real estate crisis of 2008 slowed it down from the start, with sellers refusing to budge on asking prices and foreign buyers barely making an appearance.  “People were not willing to take risks in a relatively new market like Sicily,” Mr. Beaugié said. “Instead, there was some activity in the more established areas in Italy, such as Tuscany, Umbria, Venice and so on.”  During the crisis, home prices in general on Sicily fell by 20 to 30 percent, though in the vacation- and second-home market, asking prices stayed steady, said Marta Callegaro, a consultant with Homes and Villas Abroad, a real estate agency that covers the Sicilian market from its base in Britain. Since then, she added, the Sicilian home market has gradually evolved in favor of buyers.  “Sellers now are more willing to negotiate, and certainly a 10 percent discount on the asking price has almost become the standard,” Ms. Callegaro said. “We’ve even seen some 20 percent discounts, but 10 percent is the more standard discount that we’re seeing.”  Prices remain lower than in better-established parts of Italy like Tuscany and Sardinia, said Diletta Spinola, a sales manager with Rome Sotheby’s International Realty, in an e-mail.
Sicilyâs second-home market is still young; prices are buyer-friendly, especially when compared with those in popular parts of mainland Italy.