About five years ago, my husband and I bought a house in a hillside Sicilian village without having seen it in person.
We knew it was an unconventional decision. We were living in New York City at the time, and I had never even been to Sicily before we closed on the property. Some family and friends doubted our plans.
In retrospect, a lot could have gone wrong — but it wasn't until we were finally on our way to Sicily in May 2022 that I said aloud, "What if we hate the house?"
Thankfully, we didn't.
We bought a house instead of planning a trip
Our plan was risky, but it wasn't one we made on a whim. It was inspired by the limitations I had due to a chronic health condition.
For years, I had lived with chronic migraines, meaning I experienced 15 or more days each month with migraine symptoms. One of my most severe triggers was air travel.
A cross-country flight usually landed me in bed for a week, unable to function. It got so bad that I stopped flying for work and fun, only occasionally traveling by train.
I missed travel, though, and I dreamed of visiting Sicily — specifically, Melilli, the hillside village where many of my husband's relatives lived. My husband and father-in-law had told me so many stories about this village, with its maze of cobbled streets and stunning sea views.
In early 2020, my husband and I came up with a radical solution. If we bought an affordable house in Sicily — and did it all remotely — we could visit often, and for longer periods.
When I got sick for a week, it would only be a blip, rather than an expensive, "once in a lifetime" vacation ruined.
We found the perfect spot within our budget
Initially, we planned on finding a country house. We learned that tending land can become expensive, though, especially with the risk of summer wildfires — and our goal was to make travel to Italy easier and affordable.
We found a Sicilian-British couple to be our on-the-ground property hunters. Out of seven potential houses we looked into, we chose a two-bedroom in Melilli's historic center.
Tucked away on a quiet street too narrow for most cars, the sunny yellow house had a panoramic rooftop terrace the size of our one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.
The undeveloped land behind it was lined with terraced gardens, silver-leafed olive trees, and orange and lemon trees. We paid 57,000 euros, or about $65,000 USD, plus closing costs.
The house was already habitable, though unfurnished. The one wrinkle: Like many Italian houses, it didn't come with a kitchen.
We worried about the added expense, but our local real-estate agent helped us order a basic kitchen. Unlike in the US, Italian kitchens are often purchased as a single unit — cabinets, countertops, and appliances included.
Everything arrives in boxes and is assembled and installed in just a few hours. The total price was about less than $1,500.
Although the house felt cheap to us by US standards, buying it was not risk-free. Properties here often sit on the market for years, so whatever we paid was a sunk cost. If we weren't happy, we likely wouldn't be able to flip the house or quickly resell it.
After our first stay, we knew we couldn't go back to our old lives
After 20 years in New York City apartments, the house felt like a palazzo.
The rooms were bright, and the ceilings were high. Every morning, sunlight streamed in our southeast-facing windows. From our roof, I could see the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Etna in the distance.
I fell in love with the rhythm of village life, including impromptu street chats with neighbors, the abundant local produce, and the nearby ancient ruins and cultural sites.
When we returned to Brooklyn after two months, my husband and I instantly knew it wasn't home anymore. Home was the yellow house in Sicily.
It took us a year to plan our full-time move. My husband was already a dual citizen thanks to his Sicilian father, so we didn't need visas. We did, however, need to prepare my immigration paperwork and plan for how to make a living.
I walked away from my 20-year nonprofit fundraising career and built a consulting business. Between things like being enrolled in the national health system and taking advantage of freelancer tax incentives, I've been able to work part-time instead of full-time.
Even though buying the house in Sicily was a risk, it turned into a smart financial move, too — and I get to spend more time in Italy than I ever dreamed.
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Camellia Phillips is a freelance writer and consultant living in Melilli, Sicily, with her husband, novelist Marco Rafalà. Raised by hippies in Washington State, Camellia built a 20-year nonprofit fundraising career in New York City, chasing the dream of making an impact with her words. Today, she prefers the sleepy bustle of small-town life in Sicily, where she can write more and hustle less.
