The 26-year-old tells PEOPLE she fell back in love with Sicily before purchasing the neglected beachfront property

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Some people dream of finding the perfect beach house. One 26-year-old woman found one that had been sitting empty for 65 years, so neglected that many people would have walked away without a second thought.

But when Gabriele Andreozzi began sharing the transformation of what she calls Sicily’s “ugliest beach house” on TikTok and Instagram, viewers quickly became invested in the ambitious renovation. Now, Andreozzi tells PEOPLE she saw something in the abandoned property that everyone else seemed to miss.

The crumbling beachfront home looked almost charming in listing photos, but the reality was far different once she stepped inside. Mold covered parts of the house, finishes were falling apart and years of salty sea air had left corrosion throughout the property.

“I think that is why most people walked away from it,” Andreozzi says. “But for me, the fact that it needed a complete renovation was actually part of the opportunity.”

Instead of seeing an impossible project, she envisioned a home that felt modern, personal and functional while preserving the relaxed Sicilian character that first drew her in. That vision took shape after she returned to the island during a family trip and fell in love with her birthplace all over again as an adult.

“I was born and raised in Sicily, but like many people from the island, I left to study and work because opportunities were limited,” she says. “I knew I wanted a summer home there, and because the sea has always been such a big part of what Sicily means to me, I was determined to find somewhere directly on the beach.”

Her search lasted more than a year before she found the abandoned house with direct access to a sandy beach. Although the structure had been left untouched for decades, she says its location was something she knew she “would not find twice.”

Bringing that vision to life has been no small undertaking. Including the renovation, exterior work and custom furniture, Andreozzi says the project is expected to cost just over $700,000.

She says one of the biggest surprises wasn’t immediately visible but hidden in the realities of restoring a home beside the sea. “The sea is beautiful, but the salty air damages almost everything over time, so materials and details have to be chosen much more carefully,” she explains.

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The project also found an unexpected audience online after delays slowed construction, giving Andreozzi time to document each milestone on social media. In just three months, she says her TikTok and Instagram accounts have grown to more than 650,000 followers and generated over 50 million views.

“The long approval process changed the rhythm of the whole project,” Andreozzi says, explaining that months of waiting for permits gave her more time to refine her plans instead of rushing decisions. She adds that the encouragement from viewers became a source of motivation during the renovation’s most frustrating moments.

Looking back, Andreozzi says the greatest reward has been watching other people finally recognize the potential she spotted from the very beginning. “Many initially saw only an ugly, difficult house,” she says, “but slowly they are beginning to see the potential I saw from the beginning.”