A desk above the sea. For three months.
My furnished flat in Joppolo, Calabria, with a railway station in the village and 17 minutes by train to Tropea. 550 euros a month, bills included. Internet from a SIM card, a beach of boulders, gas heating in winter.
Who it suits. And who it doesn’t.
A good fit
- You stay three months at a stretch.
- Self-employed, on sabbatical, an Italian course in Tropea, a winter away from home.
- You work at a desk.
- With a view of the sea, over your phone’s hotspot, with an Italian SIM card.
- You run your own daily life.
- Shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry. There is no service, hence this price.
- You walk.
- Alleys, steps, 100 metres of climb to the station, 160 to the water.
- You like a village.
- People greet each other in the street here. In winter, one bar, one supermarket and one restaurant are open.
Not a good fit
- You need a sandy beach on the doorstep.
- Here it is boulders. Sand is at Capo Vaticano, one station up the line.
- You need air conditioning.
- There are ceiling fans. July and August are hot and humid.
- You need nightlife or coworking.
- Joppolo has neither. Tropea has bars, Reggio is a city.
- You travel with two wheeled suitcases.
- From the station it is 15 to 20 minutes uphill, with steps at the end. A backpack is easier.
- You need step-free access.
- The flat is in the Borgo, up steps.
50 square metres, high ceilings, two windows facing the sea.
The Loft is the lower level of my house in the Borgo of Joppolo. Two rooms, a kitchen with an island, a bathroom with tub and shower, washing machine, dishwasher. Simply furnished; bed linen and towels are provided.
The desk stands at one window, the kitchen has the other. The flat is ideal for one person; two works too. Outside the door is the lane with a table, two chairs and my flower pots; my favourite spot is the top step of the entrance stairs. From the doormat you look out at the sea and the neighbours’ houses.
Upstairs, in the Bellevue with the roof terrace, at Via Roma 3, my friends stay, sometimes for three days, sometimes for three weeks. Downstairs is yours. I also let the Bellevue (60 m² plus a 70 m² terrace) by the month, but it is rarely free for several months at a stretch.
A few things up front. The Loft is the ground floor; it gets aired a lot. You share the heating and the three kilowatts of electricity with the friends upstairs. The church above the house has loudspeakers; on Sundays you hear Mass all the way into the kitchen. And if the mains water fails for a while, there is the tank on the roof.
550 euros a month, bills included.
The flat rate covers all running costs, gas and electricity included. If you use noticeably more than usual, you pay the difference; the threshold is in the contract. Not included: the Italian SIM card.
Three months and up, start and end dates as you like, part months pro rata. Shorter stays by arrangement. There is no final cleaning fee: you clean at the end yourself, or I have it cleaned, which costs 100 euros. The tenancy agreement is one page long; the deposit doubles as the down payment.
- Rent, bills included
- €550 a month
- Deposit
- €600, doubles as the down payment
- Minimum stay
- three months, start and end as you like
- People
- one or two
- Final cleaning
- none, you clean yourself
- Cancellation
- tiered, see the contract
Working here: hotspot, SIM card, three kilowatts.
There is no Wi-Fi. I work over my phone’s hotspot: 5G and hotspot work beautifully; I have done long video calls and watched films this way.
Joppolo has 4G everywhere and 5G in parts. What you need is an Italian SIM card: 250 to 440 gigabytes cost 9 to 14 euros a month; there are shops in Tropea and at Rosarno station. Your contract from home will do for emails and a film, but its EU roaming allowance won’t last three months of video calls.
There is no router or landline yet; fibre has been announced for the village, and I am keeping at it. I will send you a speed test from the Loft on request.
- Network
- 4G everywhere in the village, 5G in parts
- SIM
- 250 to 440 GB for €9 to 14 a month
- Power
- 3 kW for the whole house, shared with upstairs. Laptop and lights don’t matter; washing machine and kettle not at the same time
- Heat
- small gas heating across both floors; on damp days I wear a jacket indoors too
- Cool
- ceiling fans, no air conditioning
- Space
- desk at the window with two chairs, second window at the kitchen island
The village through the year.
Joppolo has 1,711 inhabitants, a third of them over 65. The railway station dates from 1893, the village from around 1300. It sits 177 metres above the sea on the slope of Monte Poro, at the southern end of the Costa degli Dei between Capo Vaticano and Nicotera. The old town is called the Borgo.
The unfinished buildings are shells from the eighties, built for children who long since moved north. The village sorts its rubbish at the front door, something different every morning. What lies about in the landscape I pick up when hiking; I always have a bag with me.
The view. From the house, the Gulf of Gioia Tauro, the sandy beach of Nicotera Marina, the cranes of the container port, behind them the Aspromonte, almost 2,000 metres. Through the Strait of Messina you see the 232-metre pylon of Torre Faro and, on a clear day, Etna behind it, some 120 kilometres away. To the west, the Aeolian Islands. Stromboli you see from the Lungomare; from June to August the sun sets behind it.
“Careful, Calabria is not Tuscany. A bit of expectation management: unfortunately, in and around Joppolo you keep having to live with dumped rubbish, unfinished buildings and dilapidated infrastructure.”From my guide for guests
A Tuesday in February.
It gets light around seven. The train to Tropea leaves at 6:19 and then roughly every two hours; I don’t take it, I sit at the desk until one. Then 300 metres downhill to the supermarket with the cheese counter and uphill back; that is the exercise. In the afternoon 14 degrees and sun, or rain, on about eleven days in February. The sun sets around half past five, a quarter of an hour later than in Berlin; in return it gets light half an hour earlier in the morning. In the evening the bar-trattoria next to the town hall, Il Ritrovo, open all year except between one and two. Sometimes a concert in the old police station. On Sundays, market in Nicotera, from seven to two.
A Tuesday in June.
Light at half past five, until eight in the evening. 24 degrees, the water 23. Desk in the morning, at midday along the Lungomare to the rocks, into the water in swim shoes. The beach is boulders; in June hardly anyone is on it. In the evening in the lane outside the door, or by train to Tropea, 17 minutes. The onion harvest is on, the pecorino from Monte Poro is fresh. In July and August it gets hot and humid, around 35 degrees on the hottest days; then the ceiling fans run, there is no air conditioning.
Winter in Calabria, and the rest of the year.
| Month | Day °C | Night °C | Rain days | Sea °C | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 9.8 h |
| February | 14 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 10.8 h |
| March | 15 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 12.0 h |
| April | 17 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 13.3 h |
| May | 21 | 15 | 6 | 19 | 14.3 h |
| June | 24 | 19 | 3 | 23 | 14.8 h |
| July | 27 | 21 | 3 | 26 | 14.5 h |
| August | 27 | 22 | 4 | 27 | 13.6 h |
| September | 25 | 19 | 8 | 25 | 12.4 h |
| October | 22 | 16 | 10 | 23 | 11.1 h |
| November | 18 | 13 | 12 | 20 | 10.1 h |
| December | 15 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 9.5 h |
Typical values for the coast near Tropea, ten kilometres north, not measurements from Joppolo. Empty, with the sea above 20 degrees: June and September to October. April, May and November are just as empty, but the water is cold then.
From December to February the days are as warm as Berlin in April, and the places along the Lungomare are closed. From April it turns green and quiet, from June warm enough for the sea, July and August are hot. In October the water is still 23 degrees, then the rain comes.
What is open in winter: the bar next to the town hall, the supermarket, the restaurant by the station, plus Tropea and Reggio with their restaurants all year round. What summer brings: the sagre on the Lungomare, San Sisto on 6 August, the ’nduja sagra in Spilinga on the 8th, and more people than usual, but no crowds; the boulder beach sees to that.
Hiking, straight from the house.
In and around Joppolo the hiking is lovely, rather a rarity near the coast in Calabria. The signposted Mare e Monti trail passes almost by the house, from the Lungomare via Caroniti up Monte Poro, 5 kilometres and 800 metres of climb. Plus my own loops, as of October 2026:
Around Joppolo
- Panorama loop via Caroniti
- To Spiaggia Spelonga
- To the rocks below the Torre
- Parallel to the road towards Nicotera
- High path to Commercioni
- To the beach at Coccorino, with a detour to Spiaggia Tirijiu
Long walks to the next station
Out on foot, back by train.
- To Grotticelle beach at Capo Vaticano, Ricadi station
- Over the hill to Ricadi and San Nicolò, Ricadi station
- Along the sea to Nicotera Marina, Nicotera station
- Via Caroniti, Comerconi and Caroni to Nicotera
The paths are steep in places and not all of them marked. Sturdy shoes, water, and in summer set off early. You get a map with the routes from me along with the tenancy agreement.
Getting here and getting by, without a car.
Sketch map, drawn from coordinates, distances as the crow flies. The coastal railway in red.
The station is 700 metres from the house as the crow flies, a hundred metres lower. Down takes 12 to 15 minutes, up 15 to 20, over paths and steps. The regional train runs along the coast from Lamezia Terme to Reggio Calabria, both with airports.
By plane. Lamezia Terme: all year from Frankfurt-Hahn and Memmingen, in winter 2026/27 also from Bremen, seasonally Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken and Vienna, plus Lufthansa, Condor, Eurowings and easyJet. Reggio Calabria: from Berlin in summer only. In winter there is no direct flight from Berlin to Calabria. From both airports a bus runs to the station, then the train: from Lamezia a good hour, from Reggio an hour and a half; with bus and changes, allow two.
By train. Night train Munich–Rome, then Frecciarossa or Italo to Rosarno, where some of them stop, or to Lamezia Terme; from Rosarno it is two stops on the regional train. From Berlin about 24 hours, or with a stopover in Bologna, Verona, Florence.
By car. A2 motorway, toll-free from Salerno, exit Rosarno, 16 kilometres of coast road. Once here, you won’t need it.
Trains from Joppolo. Roughly every two hours, 8 to 13 a day in each direction, the first at 6:19, the last around 9 pm, few on Sundays. Tropea 17 minutes, Rosarno 19, Lamezia an hour, Reggio an hour and a half, Villa San Giovanni an hour and from there 20 minutes by ferry to Messina.
In the village, on foot. The supermarket Oasi del Fresco with cheese and meat counters, 300 metres downhill. The bar-trattoria Il Ritrovo next to the town hall. The restaurant Gio Kraken by the station, usually open all year. Pharmacy, post office, two tabacchi, hairdresser. Drinking water from the spring on the square. Sunday market in Nicotera, 7 am to 2 pm. Further on foot: the Mare e Monti trail from the Lungomare via Caroniti up Monte Poro, 5 kilometres, 800 metres of climb.
Where this comes from.
I’m Tim, an architect and urban planner from Berlin. In 2024 I bought a townhouse with two small flats in Joppolo and renovated it over two years; in 2025 I added the derelict village house next door, as a workshop and store.
For a year now, friends have been coming: 33 have visited, 13 more than once, two have since bought a house in the Borgo themselves. They stay upstairs; the Loft downstairs I let to people I don’t know yet. Why here? Because Calabria is opening up again after a long time, and because this is how I see it:
“Still, much is dilapidated and past its best; to me it is one huge lost place with incredible potential.”From my guide for guests
If you never want to leave: I am thinking about shared ownership of my houses, and I am happy to help with buying a house in Joppolo. On YouTube there is a video of the Loft, shot in March 2026.
Write to me.
An email is enough: when, how long, what you are planning, whether there are two of you. I reply myself. The Loft is free from April to June 2027, other dates on request.
Tim Lehmann
tim.c.lehmann@gmail.com
Casa Joppolo, Via Roma 3, 89863 Joppolo (VV), Italy. Show on Google Maps. The Loft has its entrance at the back, Traversa di Largo Lanzari 11.
The Loft is also on WG-gesucht, if you would rather write there.