paquita

Hello Kabela!
Sicily does have a lot to offer!!I totally understand about the proximity of Sicily to Malta via the ferry.A friend of mine of Maltese heritage has bought in Cianciana for that reason.
I personally love Cianciana and being a someone that likes eating out,clubs and live bands-I have not been disappointed by the nightlife in season.
I like shopping too and again have not been disappointed.
I also use Cianciana as a base for sightseeing as there are quite a few things nearby.The temples of Agrigento,Ereclea Minoa,Castabellota,Sciacca are just a few of the places to see.There are loads.
There are also loads of beaches.
I think that to stop this post reading like some encyclopaedic essay,I shall pm you with the agents details.They also are involved in local tourism so can answer all your questions.
They are not the only agents in town and I did not buy through them but they are the honest and most helpful ones.
They can also arrange accomodation for you if you decide to visit.
Good luck.

kabela

Hi paquita thanks for tips above. unfortunately the above was my first post onto this website so i require a further two posts to be allowed to view PMs )

so will await your msg and reply again hopefully i can read

thanks again for info

kabela

will this enable me to view PMs?

paquita

Should do now!

nunderwood

Hi Kabela
Go see Cianciana!!! You won't regret it!!!
I am buying my property through Myhouse and they are really great! So helpful!
I had looked into buying a place in Molice and came away feeling like I barely escaped being skinned. They were very nice but their fees were twice what they should have been charging.
Hope you are as impressed with Cianciana as much as I am!

kabela

i am liking what i am seeing

Modena360

Hi Nunderwood! Sorry not replied sooner, but just sent you a PM re above...hope you find it of use. Modena 360

Hil

Ciao Tutti,
I am pretty sure we know quite a few of you adopted "ciancianese"! We have lived here for 5 years, neither of us with any previous connection to Italy or Sicily. And we have bought houses through 2 of the 3 agencies in town. Suffice it to say, we had ONLY positive experiences with MyHouse. As far as renovation, follow Paquita's advice, it is indeed sound. For smaller jobs, like fitting kitchens, plastering etc. there are many choices, and all the work we have seen finished over 5 years has been really beautiful.
We live here all year, I am American (California) and my husband is English (Brighton). I am thinking there must be at least 10 of us foreigners who live here all year, if not more.
It can be very quiet in the winter here, after the all out fun between Xmas and new Years, but even in the depth of winter on a rainy night (yes it rains!) you can find people out and about at bars and cafes. This was one of the main reasons we fell in love with it here, after 5 years in the depths of France, where the sidewalks curl up at 9pm...You can be at home on your amazingly quiet street, and it seems the whole town is asleep, and then a few minutes walk into the center, and you can always find people and warmth.
Speaking of, we finally got our wood stove back in! It does get cold here, nothing like England or the mid-west (Welcome Nancy from Kansas! Yeah, another American!), but as all the houses are stone (a yellow sandstone 'tufa', or cement block), with tiled floors, they are not designed for cold weather. There is town gas, and central heating is becoming more common. We just tend to live in a smaller bit of the house during winter, and luckily spring actually arrives around mid-march.
As a place to have a holiday home, it is perfect. If you live here all year, you need to find a different niche, learn as much Italian as possible, and go out a lot. I am an artist and my husband a carpenter, so we always have projects on the go around our own place.
So, that's it, I just came across this thread today. Yes you really can find inexpensive property here, the buyer pays the property tax (which varies according to state valuation, I'd say it averages 10%), lawyers fees, around 2%, and Notary fees around 2-3%. That's just an estimate.
Hope that helps those who want to come, and those who have.
Cheers,
Hilary

kabela

my wife and i should be coming to view Cianciana sometime in feb. hope to see property and find something we are hapy with...

Hil

Ciao! You're in Malta, right? I hear it's beautiful. Rent a car or can you bring one by ferry? You'll want to be able to see the surrounding countryside and the beach, Eraclea Minoa, which is pretty much stunning. Hopefully the weather will warm up by then! Hopefully we'll meet, I think you'll like Cianciana. Bon Viaggio!

kabela

Yes that is correct, Malta is a great place to be in . Malta is situated just 60 miles south of sicily and has a great history/architecture/art amongst other things (great entertainment, restaurants, sea, beaches etc). The Knigths of St. John have left us a heritage to be proud of, but it goes even beyond that. There are the oldest free standing temples in the world here in Malta (google skorba temples) which at 7,000 years of age predate the egyptian pyramids. The people are very friendly, the weather very moderate. The fact that the island is so small (19 miles long and 9 miles wide) helps make everything so easily accessible. but enough about Malta as i am so passionate about it that i would end up eating up all the site's memory .....

We will be coming over in our car as the catamaran trip is just 1.5 hours, and although my wife hates ships, the catamaran is a very large one making crossing very comfortable and at this time of year the rates are really low (it is costing us just €159 for the both of us including car)

Just a small tale on the catamaran, it has been recently purchased from Australia and on its maiden voyage to Malta, it was attacked by Somali pirates, but the crew had just run on full throtle and outran them .

hope to see some property we like and conclude quickly. Following that, God willing we will meet up for a few beers or glasses of wine

kenneth

nunderwood

Hi Hil
I recieved a notice that you had sent me a PM but for some unknown reason I'm not able to get it. I have gotten them before so I hope it's not my computer showing off again. Maybe you could try to contact me again if it doesn't work this time will try to think of something else. Really would love to hear from you!!!
Thanks and ciao!!
Nancy

Hil

Ciao Nancy, I don't think I sent any messages, but I am not the most technologically advanced! Welcome to Cianciana. When are you coming again, and where is your house?(you can send a ~PM about that if you want.) We live just off the main road on Via Roma and our vacation rental is on Via Montalbano. I don't know how familiar you are with the town yet, but look forward to meeting you. It's raining and cold today, but yesterday was beautiful. Oh well that's winter in Sicily. A ci vediamo! ~Hilary

Hil

Kenneth! Look forward to seeing you in February. Glad the boat was able to outrun the pirates...what a world. What a great boat. You can see how international Cianciana is becoming at the following link, which is a Cianciana news site: http://www.cianciana.info/index.php?...=1760&Itemid=1

Oops, I am sure the link will need be approved, but it's a good site, yep in Italian only really, but you can get a feel for the town and character. Cheers ~Hilary

Steve TO

Hello All - hello Modena360 (my brother) and hello Hil (you might not remember me but a bunch of us had a drink(s) at the Clock Tower last year!).

My brother put me on to the forum and very interesting. I'm actually an expat living in Toronto although my wife and I purchased a property in Cianciana last year after we caught the bug from my brother. We chose to spend a little more money for a place that really only needs cosmetic work done. Would have loved a project but simply put we wanted more of a turnkey property that we can enjoy straight away and that we did/do.

For the record we are over the moon with our place and the only thing we don't like about it is that we don't get to come over as often as possible.

As Mod mentioned we're of Sicilian parents so language not really a problem but as Hil said you can get by. In addition my wife's originally from South London and after only 2 weeks there she picked up about as much as I've "taught" her in over 10 years. She's also learning Italian with Rosetta Stone which I've also been using to brush up.

We plan on going over as much as possible and we're already thinking about early retirement, moreso after spending some time there and coming back to the rat race.

We all used to go there as kids and for some reason didn't go for something like 20 years. So glad that we have replanted our roots. Love our home, love the people (relatives, friends (local and expats alike)), love the town and the island, which we have yet to really explore.

Good luck for those thinking of buying and see you all in August (if not sooner).