I bought a famous house in Sicily for $1 and renovated it for $446,000 — take a look inside | Wilnesh News

Prices for properties in Sicily start at €1, and Tabbone bid €5,555 for her building. Including taxes and fees, she paid 5,900 euros (about $6,200) to take ownership of the property.

In June 2019, she visited her new home for the first time. Pigeon poop” on the floor.”

After seeing the space, she also purchased the vacant house next door for €22,000 (just over $23,000) through a private sale with the owner.

Merging the two properties meant a larger renovation budget: Tabbone initially planned to spend €40,000 to renovate 620 square feet, but this was later increased to €140,000 for 2,700 square feet.

By the time the renovations were completed in October 2023, she had spent approximately 425,000 euros ($446,000). Because the plan was delayed for several years due to the pandemic, she was able to pay for it all at once without taking out a loan.

Taborn’s goal for her property in Sicily is to build a vacation home where she can also host visiting friends and family.

First, Tabbone’s renovation team made structural changes, such as removing several walls to open up common areas, leveling the floors of both buildings, adding steel beams to protect against earthquakes, and adding two patios.

This is Tabbone’s first ever renovation project. She was inspired by her father, an architect who died when she was 15.

Taborn said her vision was to design a space that was “simple but meaningful” in homage to the character Don Draper from “Mad Men.”

The finished project, she said, was “a thousand times better” than her original vision. “It’s modern but still comfortable. It really showcases all the best features that are already in the home” such as the original archways, sink in the kitchen and unique staircase.

Now that her home is complete, Taborn plans to spend four months every year in Sicily. She also uses it as a gathering space, hosting dinner parties with friends she met in Sambuca.

It’s an “amazing community” of expats and locals, she said.

Taborn said her property in Sambuca is more than just a resort. “What this home really means to me is a bridge between my past and my future,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to really reconnect with my father’s lineage. But it’s also about my future because this is something I’ve created for myself…where I can think more about enjoying my life and better work-life balance.”

Taborn has no plans to sell the house and has promised to sell it to her if her cousin dies first. “Afterwards, it will be donated to the village,” Taborn said.

Although Taborn spent a lot of money on her other home, she said what she gained from the experience was priceless.

“There’s a real sense of community here, so I definitely think people are very happy here,” she said. Additionally, “I started thinking about building my career differently, and maybe the focus of my life was less about work and more about overall personal fulfillment,” she said.