Are there any parts of Abruzzo or

I don't know much (make that anything) about Molise, but we decided the further South the more problems there seemed to be with water shortages... The only other aspects were earthquakes where we knew only too well about the worries after arriving here on vacation the day after the L'Aquila quake and having to drive from Rome with the motorway swaying in aftershocks. The other aspect was pollution which we read about on the web, but it seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. It appeared to be in a large area in and around Bussi, but last time I looked most of the results has gone! There are restrictions inside the Nationa Park which made us avoid looking too close. However when you get down to real detail, the next hill can be the difference between an ideal house and the also ran on the next hill... A lot depends on what you are after e.g. to live here, rent, invest etc.... We looked at the maps, decided we had enough of the coast (seaside) in England (lived 5 mins from it), mountains looked remote, so had an area drawn on Google maps of what was left in the middle.

Well you are very wise to come and see the place out of season... It's difficult to advise anyone in your situation as you are no doubt like we were at the time - caught up in the dream.... It is actually as good as the dream, if not better, but for totally different reasons than we set out with... It's very hard to explain, but the "ideal" place we had in mind, within walking distance of a small village, with shops and cafe. A pool with a reasonable amount of land and good views ... etc. I'm sure it exists, but it might have took us a lot longer than 2 years to find... I would look, and look a lot more.... and more online to find as much information about specific areas. Not knowing about Molise, so talking Abruzzo here.... It's split up in 4 regions, so ideally you would drive around all 4. We looked at the map and based on a lot of web research and visits to all 4, we then looked at a specific area, not coast and not mountain, so middle ground. For us no further north than Atri and no further south than Alanno, east and west was Bisenti and Cita sant Angelo, so a tight area. To be honest you could pick any area, but most important is the actual house location. By that I mean does it sit in a shaded valley, is it built to capture maximum sun in winter and minumum in summer. There are so many (and I wish we knew them all before we bought - but were lucky) that it would take an age to explain it all... However DONT be put off, it's a great point in your adventure, just do not get carried away... We were once told the average is 5-7 years that buyers last before their return to the UK. This has been shown from people we have since met to be a very, very true range...  Been here getting on 5 and don't regret it a jot! 2 years to go....

We have been thinking of retiring to Italy for years so find your comments LL very interesting.  I don't like the area where my family came from as it is too remote and quiet for us :(  which is a shame so we (I) keep looking so when the time arrives hopefully we can make a good decision. Do you know why so many people decide to return to UK?

Apparantly a lot of people move abroad without ever having visited the country!  I would find that really scary but then US, Oz etc would never have been populated without those very brave people.We have thought for quite a few years that when we retire we would move to Italy but I still have a lot to check out before we do it.I like to ask other peoples opinions as they could come up with something I hadn't thought of.  We don't want to be in the position of moving then regretting it because of not thinking it through first.I know people that have returned from Spain and even here in Dorset as they think their family will come for regular visits.....but they don't!For us we want it to be a final home and not to return back to UK so we hope to get it right (if we can!)

Joy, four people we know of, two still here, had their OH fall seriously ill. One of the ladies who stayed here in Italy lost her husband just after moving here. She has been here several years and has no intention of going back to the UK. She has family there whom she does visit now and then and they occasionally (less often now) come out and see her. One of the other couples again had the husband fall seriously ill just after buying here and ended up going back to the UK, they had great difficulty trying to sell here and I still don’t know if they have done so. Worse still, following his recovery they tried to make a go of it coming back and found it was all too much and had to leave again. Both occasions they had all the waste of buying and selling new house contents. I would reckon more than 90% of those buying here from the UK are of a similar ilk – retired… Some buy and have a holiday home for a few years, but from what we have found most buy as part of their retirement project. Retirement in itself is a life time experience, I described mine as getting out of jail after 50 years (including school). To combine these events is perhaps a bit confusing in as much you are never sure which is impacting you the most. You are also very wise to look at it now and get as many opinions views as possible before doing anything. Hopefully you will take these into consideration and not like us, ignore most of the warnings we came across! Have to say again how lucky we were in how things worked out. Just had lunch on the balcony with views to die for. We have often taking these for granted, which is a grave sin as many would see it as the ideal world. Only 18c and windy, but masses of olive groves waiting to be harvested throwing off light an colours we have never seen in England, although the lake district in autumn is very hard to beat!

Awful for those 2 couples.  I have read before of not being able to sell when someone feels the need to leave hence I am wary of going into this without covering all angles.   I have heard the health service is good but do not have the same sort of help in the community that England has so we would need to be able to fund this.  I don't know if all areas are the same or whether the quality differs by much according to where you are.  I read the other day that in Portugal you need to take out private health insurance to top up what is not covered. Is that the same in Italy - I haven't seen that before. 

In Italy the health service is good, but creaking ... It is "free" on a residence basis, but like the UK there are certain items you have to pay for. I do believe they don’t cost a lot, but thankfully we have never had cause to find out. 

Thanks - glad you haven't had to find out!