Stone house in Contovello, above Miramare

About 250 metres above the sea, on the ridge that falls towards Miramare Castle, Contovello is the only village around Trieste whose year of birth is on record: 1413, when the city settled farmers from the Karst here to work the vineyards above the gulf. This house stands at the heart of the village, among narrow lanes and pastel façades, and is built of the same stone as the rest of it.

Its 103 cadastral square metres are spread over three floors, each with a character of its own. The ground floor is one generous room — kitchen, dining table, sofas — under a ceiling of old beams and boards, with a door onto the lane and another at the back, opening onto a small lawn that the seller describes as private. Upstairs are two bedrooms, the second reached only through the first, and a shower room. At the top, a wooden staircase climbs into the attic, where the roof trusses stay exposed above a double bed, with a washbasin and WC.

The restoration kept the stone, the timber and the terracotta. The house has its own heating, with radiators; there is no air conditioning, and the stairs inside are steep — every house in the village has them. On request it is sold furnished, except for the artworks, the wedding chest and the dining table with its chairs.

Around the house, distances are counted in footsteps. From the front door: an osmiza — one of the Karst's farmhouse wine taverns — at 90 metres, the viewpoint at 100, the ruins of the castle from which Prosecco takes its name at 120, the church of San Gerolamo at 130 and a bus stop for the city centre at 140. The sea is not visible from the windows; from the viewpoint beside the church, the ridge looks out over the gulf. The lanes around the house are public, and in the little square neighbours still stop to talk.

A little further, Prosecco — with its supermarket, bakery, pharmacy and post office — is nine minutes away on foot; the Strada Napoleonica, the level path along the ridge from which Trieste watches the Barcolana regatta, running on to Opicina, a quarter of an hour; a stepped path drops to Miramare station in about twenty minutes. Lines 42, 44 and 46 run to Piazza Oberdan. By car, without traffic, the coast road is 9 minutes away, the Slovenian border at Fernetti 10, Sistiana 12, Piazza Unità 14 and Trieste airport 26.

There is no private parking: public spaces are about a hundred metres away, and Prosecco has a larger car park.

The house earns its keep while its owners are away. In 2025, run as a holiday let, it took €32,600 gross, declared by the seller; guests rate it 4.86/5 on Airbnb (85 reviews) and 9.5/10 on Booking (58). Whoever makes it a home for part of the year can let it for the rest, with takings in proportion: the business is registered in the buyer's own name, listings and CIN (Italy's national short-let code) included, and we help set it up. The demand has already proved itself.

The restoration also carries a ten-year tax deduction: with completion by the end of 2026, four annual instalments of roughly €4,500 are left. By law they pass to a buyer who is a private individual, unless the deed says otherwise, and they are set against Italian income tax (IRPEF), up to the tax due. Figures and documents are shared during negotiations.

Energy class G (EPgl,nren 303.23 kWh/m² a year), according to the 2019 certificate, which predates the latest works; a new certificate is in preparation and will appear here once ready.