After decades in which it was held back by a combination of punishing bureaucracy, poor infrastructure and the long arm of the Mafia, Sicily is on the rise. There’s a new energy in the air, and a combination of EU funding, private initiatives — like Rocco Forte’s just-opened €140m Verdura Golf & Spa Resort near Sciacca — and some notable police coups in the war on organised crime have made Italy’s largest island increasingly attractive to foreign investors.

Huw Beaugié, owner of Sicilian villa rental specialists Think Sicily and local property agent for Knight Frank, says that this summer he’s seen “the first wave of interest from potential buyers since the credit fiasco”. According to Beaugié: “Sicilian property is now attracting some quite highprofi le non-Italian clients, including businessmen, aristocrats and people from the entertainment industry.” Trailblazers in the latter category include Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall, who has his own winery on the slopes of Etna, and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, who co-owns a hotel in the classic Sicilian dolce vita resort of Taormina.

Taormina still has its fans, but interest among second-home buyers is shifting south, to the area around the Baroque towns of Noto, Modica, Ragusa and Scicli. Heightening the buzz, real estate news feed Property Wire trilled in April 2009 that “Sicily is the new Tuscany… and could be the next hot spot in Europe when investors start to look for bargains once again”.

Ramsay Gilderdale, an English estate agent based in Modica, says that historic country properties, in particular, have been attracting interest — especially between Ragusa and the sea, in the area around upcoming Scicli, and just inland from the protected coastline of Vendicari near Noto. But he is keen to stress that there are currently no easy bargains to be had; lifestyle and long-term value are on sale here, at prices that are not signifi cantly lower than in many parts of Tuscany. “I’m giving lower estimates than I was a year ago, but sellers tend to ignore them; most can afford to wait until they get something close to the price they’re looking for. And there’s no huge advantage for cash buyers; in Sicily, that’s the norm.”

As a sign of just how hot southern Sicily is right now, Beaugié says he was recently contacted by a businessman who is interested in setting up a fund to invest in a range of property in the area. It’s not just northern Europeans who are getting their chequebooks out; Maltese buyers (Valletta is just 90 minutes away by catamaran) have begun to buy land. And according to Gilderdale, both Russian and Chinese companies have been exploring the potential for seaside luxury hotels along a coast that is still largely undiscovered and relatively unspoiled.

The 800-berth yacht marina that was inaugurated in July at Marina di Ragusa is part of a chain of planned leisure ports up the south-western side of the Sicilian triangle. And Sicily is also being touted by local politicians as a key player in the ongoing EU push to create closer links between Mediterranean EU countries and North Africa.

But the real key to the southern Sicilian renaissance is the imminent opening of Comiso International Airport, just 15km west of Ragusa. Once a NATO air base, and the site of some lively anti-cruise-missile demonstrations, the new airport with its 2,460m runway is currently slated to open in spring 2010.

Finishing on schedule is vital as Catania airport (which owns a 51% stake in Comiso) will be diverting all its flights there when it closes for essential runway repairs in November 2010. Anyone hoping to do business in southern Sicily should worry more about coming to terms with the handshake approach to deals, and the rather proud and prickly local character, than about the Mafia, which is less prevalent here than in other parts of the island. Beaugié’s advises: “You need to listen, you need to flatter, but above all you need to be honest because so much down here runs on trust.”