My name is Claire and I live in

Hi Heiko, Gromit and Annec, nice to meet you all.  Gromit, my nose usually tells me what to buy and, so far at least, I haven't put a foot wrong.  By the time I bought my house in Edinburgh I had it down to two streets and ended up buying in my favourite one so I know what I want.  Unfortunately, things haven't gone so smoothly in Italy... I've always looked to the North of Italy as I thought it was more European, more organised.  What I forgot is that even the North has the Mediterranean touch which translates into mañana with a bit of chaos thrown in to keep you on your toes.  I should know, I'm Greek by birth and no one understands Italians better than us and vice versa.  Hence the saying on both sides "una faccia, una razza"....................which is why I live in Endiburgh. lol  But, my love affair with Italy was rather of the coup de foudre variety and it won't go away.  On the contrary, with every passing year it's getting worse and I really hate not being able to spend more than a holiday there.  So the plan is to spend six months here and six months there.  That would really be the dream.   I couldn't leave Edinburgh permanently, I love it just as much so it's got to be half and half.Heiko, funnily enough I looked at Vezzano Ligure houses on the net but I didn't like the prices.  it seems you can get more house for your money in the three I mentioned, well Sarzana can pinch too but not as bad. So my first question, if I may, is what are train connections like.  You see I have a problem, I get car sick even when I'm behind the wheel so I'd rather spend as little time as possible in that mode of transport.  Trains and legs work far better in my case.  I know that the fast train out of Pisa reaches Sarzana and Villafranca but what happens with Fivizzano? Is there a choo choo train? Bus? I know there's a Villafranca/Bagnone train so I'm ok there but Fivizzano remains a bit of a mystery so far. lolAnnec, glad to see a fellow Gemini here--we make so much sense.  To each other.

Hi Alan, thank you for that link.  Blonde moment, clearly, because I should have thought of googling "Fivizzano train" myself.   This simplifies things considerably as I could definitely bear 6k's in a car.Hi Gala and thank you for your kind wishes.  You're right about research, google earth is invaluable when it comes to terrain and location.  I've got eight houses on my A list and about ten on the B so one of those will, hopefully, still be up for sale by the time I get to buying.   I know my limitations as well as preferences and don't deviate.   It's got to be a one-flight journey so I'm limited to Pisa from here as anything else would add too many hours between connections.  Proximity to people/a town is important, as is water.  I'd love a big garden as I'm a keen gardener and the house has to be of some age and size.  After that I'm easy. lol  Of course, nothing beats hands-on experience and I intend to take as much time as necessary to be certain I don't make a mistake.  There's no 100% beforehand but I do try to minimise the possibility of error as much as I can.

Hi Gemini, thank you for your advice. These forums are full of invaluable information and earlier I was reading up on seismic zones and flooding zones courtesy of someone's comment on the L'Aquila earthquake.  Where I'm thinking of looking is a seismic zone, thankfully category II, but it's not a flood zone as such, at least not from what I've read so far. Rule one in my book is not paying for other people's taste when it disagrees with yours.  That's why I'd prefer a tired property vs. one where all the work has been done (according to the vendor, always).   There are a couple of things that are high on my list, like underfloor heating, solar power and good insulation which I expect to have to install, of course.Once I decide on a property I intend to have a survey done by a structural engineer which should highlight a few nightmares.  Of course, with older properties one never knows what lurks below and you don't find out until you start scratching the surface (by which time it's too late as it's already yours).  But then I could step outside my house tomorrow and get hit by a bus.  Everything in life involves risks, what makes a difference is the degree.Estate agents are the spawn of the devil as far as I'm concerned but they also fall under the category of "better the devil you know".  From what I've read and from conversations I've had with friends who lived in Italy for a number of years, it's not unheard of for an agent to price a property according to the vendor's perception of what it's worth.  However, this is also possible when you talk to locals so I'd rather take my chances with an agent.

That's very kind of you and I will happily pick your brains when I've decided on a town.  That's the most important decision in my view as my Italian life, to a large extent, will revolve around it. Thank you also for the link and the information about Sarzana and Fivizzano.  Funnily enough, the other day I was talking with a friend about locations, and she too made the comment you did about La Spezia and she said that she and her husband used to always go there when they lived in Italy.  We have quite similar tastes so I'm sure I too will enjoy it. Ok, I'll go make myself a cup of tea now and look up Arcola.  By the way, the pictures on your blog are great!

Have you any suggestions? As I'm a "virtual buyer" at the moment, I'd love to hear of places people like/are fond of that haven't crossed my mind as yet.  Like Arcola that Heiko suggested.  I googled it and it  is picture-book beautiful. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe bad, but when I zoom in on an area, my search doesn't venture too far from it because it makes for more "orderly knowledge".   Perhaps, I'm limiting myself too soon.  Of course you can't jump around the map like a chipmunk on speed, you wouldn't get anywhere that way but, as you said, an hour out of Pisa does give me options, maybe more than I have considered so far.  My only condition, not south of Pisa please.  I know Piedmont and Lombardy reasonably well, Maggiore and Lugano, as well as Bolzano and the Südtirol (German is my first language so it's easy for me up there), and Venice.  I like the North and feel very comfortable there.  Liguria I've been to many times as a child but that doesn't count as I can't remember much but, what I do, is all positive. 

That's the reaction I'm looking for--that's when I know that that's the area for me and it hasn't happened so far.  Thank you for the links, I'll check them out.

Thank you for your suggestions.   I have PMd you.

Nice to meet you.  No, I haven't as it's a landlocked area and I need to have access to water.  I know it might sound weird but I can't live too far from a big lake or, preferably, the sea.  The weather is different in such areas too as there's usually a microclimate, like around Maggiore and the other lakes, as there is in Liguria/lower Lunigiana.  Thanks for the suggestion though.