Gallery: The Local’s Property of the Week

Let’s start with the southern part of Italy first: here you’ll find the "mythical" Sirene, an egg-shaped island in the Bay of Mazzaro, off the coast of Sicily.

Agents at Vladi Private Islands say the paradise, which is on the market for €2.3 million, is “surrounded by sun-speckled sapphire waters” and is ripe for development.

The island also comes with a marina and two farm buildings that “could easily make way for a luxury villa”.

In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a region in the north-east of Italy on the Adriatic coast, the pricier Isola Ravairina is also up for sale.

The island, on the market for €3m, is located in a lagoon, minutes by boat from the city of Grado and comes with a “lot of tourism potential” due to its restaurant, which in earlier times is said to have “thrived” when it was open, and two apartment buildings that could be developed.

There is also a small harbour and a fish farm.

CLICK HERE to take a look at the islands of Sirene and Ravairina.

The good news about these islands is that their sale does not come with a “right of first refusal” clause, a quirk in Italian property law that would allow the Italian authorities to overturn the purchase and buy the island themselves for the same price.

Michael Harte, a businessman from New Zealand, had his Italian island dreams dashed in January when the state used the right to buy back Budelli, part of the national park that makes up the Maddalena archipelago near Sardinia.

Harte, from New Zealand, has had the €2.94 million he paid for the island refunded.

For more details about Sirene and Ravairina and to contact an agent at Vladi Private Islands, click here.

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