Dear International Living Reader,
Autumn in Calabria, southern Italy, and the temperature is still in the 70s. Plenty warm enough for the last of the season’s holidaymakers to have a dip in the shimmering blue Mediterranean… stroll Scalea’s lungomare (promenade) to see the sun set over the arch-shaped black rocks…linger over a coffee, beer or ice cream on the terrace of the Lanterna Blu café-bar.
Scalea is a seaside town on the Calabria region’s western coast. Amazingly, you could buy a studio apartment here for just $15,500. Admittedly you don’t get much space–a mere 195 square feet–but larger properties won’t break the bank. New-build apartments generally go from $127 to $180 per square foot, older apartments around $100 per square foot. One example–a 1,200 square foot apartment with fabulous sea views is $210,000.
The catch? As far as I can tell, none. Although Scalea’s beach is volcanic gray shingle, the sea is wonderfully clear. The town itself–home to around 10,000 people–is an attractive mix of old and new. The modern part has grown up around a hilltop centro storico (historic center) topped with a ruined castle. In its labyrinth of lanes you come across delights such as an 8th-century chapel with colored frescos of the saints still clearly visible.
Why is Scalea so inexpensive? Undoubtedly because Calabria is as far in southern Italy as you can go–the region forms the country’s toe. Few foreigners ever explore beyond Naples and the Amalfi coast. They don’t know what they’re missing–or how cheap things are here.
Last night I ate in Il Corsaro–a ristorante-pizzeria on Corso Mediterraneo. A proper wood-fired pizza oven–and a huge variety of full-sized pizzas for between $3.80 and $6.50. Risotto pescatora (tomato-flavored rice studded with mussels, clams and octopus) costs $10. Bottles of named variety wines start at $9.50, while house wine costs $5 a jug.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro-editor, International Living
P.S. Subscribers will find contact information for an English-speaking Scalea realtor in my full report on the region to be featured in an upcoming print issue of International Living. In that report, I’ll also tell why you should definitely consider buying here before next June.
