Sicily
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Each holiday villa, holiday apartment and home in our overview includes a link to the Solemar Sicilia website. There you will find detailed information and can book straight away.

Do you find booking via websites too com­pli­ca­ted? No problem. Simply send an informal email to:

Tip: Booking via websites is a bit of a hassle and impersonal - but it's quick. Booking via email is simple and personal – but it takes time.

With the right vacation home, a holiday in Sicily without a car is a great idea. The following points are key:

• The holiday home is located near a railway station.
• The station has good connections to an airport.
• Bicycle are available to hire as an optional extra with the holiday home.

Holiday flats of this kind are mainly found in the old town of Santa Flavia - a typical Sicilian seaside town.

The old town is completely free from mass tourism. The few holiday flats are almost lost amongst the town's buildings.

Renting a holiday home for more than two weeks? Nobody can afford that!

That may be true during the holiday season. But in winter, the prices of holiday homes are much lower. And for a long-term rental, you can usually negotiate a good discount.

When choosing a holiday home for the winter, you should pay attention to the following points:

• Large windows
• Good heating
• Well-equipped kitchen
• Balcony or terrace
• Good internet connection

On top of the rent, there are of course the costs of getting around. However, without a car, you can keep these costs to a minimum.

One holiday apartment that ticks all these boxes is Casa Enza in the old town of Santa Flavia.

Tourism is an important source of income for many regions around the world. However, the flip side is now also obvious: the growing number of holiday lettings is reducing the supply of affordable rental accommodation for locals.

However, this does not apply to Bagheria, Santa Flavia and many other Sicilian towns! The reason is the millions of people who have left Sicily over the last 130 years. And the aban­doned houses? They are standing around and rotting away.

Abandoned houses

For this reason, houses whose owners can no longer be iden­ti­fied are now being taken over by the municipal authorities and sold for a symbolic euro, in some areas.

If the owners are still known, some are moti­va­ted to sell their properties. The family-run company Solemar Sicilia is particularly active in this area. It supports northern Europeans in buying and renovating abandoned houses.

Ruins into holiday lettings

Many of these northern Europeans would like to live in the warm south after re­ti­re­ment and in the meantime rent out their pro­per­ty as a holiday home. Solemar Sicilia also supports them in this endeavour.

Therefore, in Bagheria and Santa Flavia, holiday lettings are not taking housing away from anyone. On the contrary: tourism ensures that abandoned houses are brought to new life.

So it's no wonder that tourists are very welcome in Bagheria and Santa Flavia.

Yes - there's not much left of the original Airbnb idea - the short-term exchange of flats between private individuals. On the con­tra­ry: on Airbnb and other platforms, professional managers offer holiday lettings all year round. And this leads to a shortage of affordable housing for locals.

Guides for "travelling without a guilty con­science" therefore recommend avoiding professional property managers of holiday lettings.

However, this advice has no basis in Ba­ghe­ria, Santa Flavia. Because, as described above, holiday lettings do not take up any living space here.

And the general question is whether this advice is really wise:

Doubts are allowed...

... and questions are good:

• Is the holiday letting legal?
• Does the owner of the holiday letting follow the administrative rules for the guest's stay?
• Can the owner help with issues getting around?
• Does the owner offer rental bikes?
• Can the owner help with activities?
• And does the owner speak English at all?

Private owners?  Yes - but...

If the answer to all these questions is "yes", booking with a private owner may work. Otherwise, renting from a professional local(!) property manager may be the better choice.

Solemar Sicilia

For Bagheria, Santa Flavia we recommend the holiday flats offered by Solemar Sicilia.

Solemar Sicilia is a local family business that not only offers holiday lettings, but also helps foreigners to fulfil their dream of a home in the warm south.