Tasteful friends: historic house in Lecce, Puglia, Italy, 4 bedrooms, €180,000
Located in Rescale, a town of 10,800, 8 km from the sea, 15km from Gallipoli beaches, and 80 and 150km from Brindisi and Bari airports.
It has an entrance courtyard with 4 bedrooms (2 up and 2 down), a living room with kitchen, and 4 bathrooms. Sold furnished.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 24 | January 29, 2023 5:24 PM
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Quite nice. Seen worse. All those Italians and Spanish sell homes 'furnished'. They can't be bothered taking the beat up furniture to the landfill or skip.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 28, 2023 6:18 PM
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I like the interiors, and I'd like the exterior much more, but it needs to good power wash with a 1 to 1 water/bleach solution. Way too much mold, mildew, and moss growing on the exterior.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | January 28, 2023 10:15 PM
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It appears to have been someone's holiday house or second home, and those are often sold furnished, as R1 notes because it's easier than having to do anything with them. In this case, it's not much stuff: beds and some furniture, mostly - useful enough to keep for the interim without having to rush to buy things. The courtyard is a great space, the selling point for me; it deserves more attention and some better furniture.
The worst of the renovation for me is the exposed stonework above the bed in one bedroom. It was always meant to be plastered and looks rough as fuck where it's been exposed -- a constant shedding of bits of grit. They might at least have sealed it with a slurry of whitewashed plaster if they wanted "texture." Easily fixed.
Likewise the kitchen looks s little AirBnB basic. Something more fitting in design and more useful would be easy, without going overboard.
I'd use it as one bedroom plus a guest room and have more living space.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 29, 2023 1:55 AM
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Does it come with a hot Italian houseboy?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 29, 2023 3:23 AM
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Quirky and cool. Plus there's AC and ass washers. I know the AC has probably never been used though. My relatives in Southern Italy all think you get sick from it.
They do wash their asses though.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 29, 2023 3:44 AM
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These are much better prices for a much better location, than in the U.S. viva la Italia!
by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 29, 2023 4:33 AM
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Stunning! So much could be done with it. I've been to that area of Italy.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 29, 2023 4:38 AM
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Doesn't Meryl own a property in Lecce? Imagine running into her at local salumeria.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 29, 2023 4:51 AM
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Anyone coming down those disgustingly filthy steps into the courtyard had better hold on for dear life. Look how those steps have been worn down or sunk in the middle, and there is a layer of mung all over them. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 9 | January 29, 2023 10:40 AM
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Those steps look lethal!
Sweet cheese and crackers. Imagine the drunk Air BNB tenants breaking ankles on those
by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 29, 2023 10:45 AM
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And the sad thing is that making those steps safe would be relatively easy. All the money the owner spent on renovating that old building and they couldn't even be bothered to spend a little money on that? Makes no sense.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 29, 2023 10:56 AM
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Ehh. The stairs wouldn't bother me, and probably not the owners in response to R11. If you're used to old stone stairs, it's not so obvious a fault.
The bottom three steps are not single worn stone slabs, rather each step is made of three stones. It would be very easy to have these lower steps repaired/reset for something a little more uniform and less tricky.
The green moss surely disappears in summer. From the plants and other indicators, it's been shut up and empty for a while - in winter, I assume. In any case, a bucket, brush, bleach, and water and the "mung" is gone.
I like the house because it's (mostly) under renovated and that's a bit if a rare thing: the usual choice is restored with a heavy hand so that it's more new than old, or a semi-ruin with piles of rubble that used to be walls. When every uneven step, every door that closes tighter on one edge than the other, every flawed bit of mortar between the floor stones, every bit of stucco is freshly whitewashed, every bit of hardware replaced, the front gates replaced with metal security doors...when all those things are "fixed" there's not much of an old house left, not much of interest - for me.
I'd replace that ugly kitchen before worry about moss or resetting uneven steps, but that's me.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 29, 2023 11:13 AM
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eh - I like the worn steps and the moss, R9, and I live with a spinal cord injury that makes me a literal spaz. I think it’s “rustic” and gives the place “character”. 🤷🏻
I did note the painting of Saint Sebastian in the courtyard, which is really cool…
by Anonymous | reply 13 | January 29, 2023 11:21 AM
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R8 It's Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford that own a castle just outside the historic centre, you see them quite often in town.
Meryl Streep has a house about 35 miles away in Tricase/Serra del Mirto.
The house the OP posted is overpriced (probably double it's true value).
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 15 | January 29, 2023 11:23 AM
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Is there a steady supply of clifftop twinks? Asking for a friend.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 29, 2023 11:24 AM
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I trust R15 that the house is overpriced.
Looking around a bit, most roughly similar houses are in the 100 square meters to 120 square meter range, whereas the OP listing has165 square meters. I don't see anything currently for sale that is similar in size and in renovated condition. This one, which strikes me as genuinely overpriced given the ugliness of the facade and the poor quality of work/materials is 120 square meters and €195K. The doors and millwork and floors are all new, but not a plus -- the floor already has problems with grouting and the tile has no real quality, certainly it looks bad. The major thing they did was expose the stone of the ceiling, someting many people like and it is done fairly well here. There's nice volume to the space with the height of the ceilings, but that's the major attribute. The courtyard needs some work to be a beautiful space, and the roof is simply that.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 18 | January 29, 2023 12:22 PM
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Here's an unrenovated house of 146 square meters asking €85K, all on one floor so a more spacious feel to it. The volumes of the spaces under the arched ceilings is very nice, and the courtyard has real potential. With electrical and plumbing updates, a new kitchen in the pleasant current kitchen space and updated bath/s, and installing new floors of terracotta or hydraulic tile, smooth finishing the walls and ceilings with plaster and whitewash it would be a very handsome space inside. The exterior is nice enough, maybe less charming than the OP exterior, and you get fewer but fairly big rooms with more flexibility, no doubt for less cost in renovations than the purchase price.
Not considering the locations, just the houses, I would probably prefer this one after the renovations. The larger scale spaces, the handsome vaulted ceilings, the potential of the courtyard, and a proper kitchen count for more for me than loads of bedrooms and bathrooms.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 19 | January 29, 2023 12:34 PM
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For Saint Sebastian, he seems remarkably arrow-free.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 29, 2023 12:37 PM
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Racale is wonderful. I spent a few weeks there last summer.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 29, 2023 12:42 PM
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[quote]Anyone coming down those disgustingly filthy steps into the courtyard had better hold on for dear life. Look how those steps have been worn down or sunk in the middle, and there is a layer of mung all over them. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
All they need to do is install an Acorn Stair-Lift!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 22 | January 29, 2023 4:56 PM
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I love it. So much authentic character.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | January 29, 2023 5:11 PM
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I love it. I’ve seen much worse for sale in Italy.
And thankfully, it comes furnished, as those steps look treacherous.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | January 29, 2023 5:24 PM
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