4 years into being self-employed and my husband's Accountant announced he should be paying INAIL. Claimed it wouldn't be very much. Just received a demand for €4,903.00 of which €1,700.00 is interest and charges going back to 2008. Payment to be made by 16th August 2012. Accountant at fault for not letting us know about this but no doubt we will have to cough up the charges and bill - hopefully we can ask for longer than 3 weeks to pay it. Seems bizzarre back paying an insurance - anyone had any experience of this? Not happy!!

We recently got 2 raccomandata from our local commune with bills for local rubbish collection amounting to €4500. This includes €1000 non payment fines. We finished our house build years ago and the Giometra finalised the paperwork with the comune. We have the paperwork clearly date stamped by the planning department. We visited the comune to find out what it was all about. They said they hadn’t billed us for rubbish because they didn’t know we were there.

Hi everyone :)

I need some help: I'm moving to Rome from the UK and need to use a MasterCard there from time to time. I use my prepaid credit card from tuxedo in the UK, does it make sense to keep the prepaid card from tuxedo or apply for some italian card? Can anyone give some advice? Oh yeah I'm only staying for 15 months. This is their Website: http://www.tuxedoprepaid.com/

Jessica

Recommendations please.... Where, other than Ikea, would you advise the best place to buy good second hand or new furniture in or near western Umbria.

Anyone moving and hove some for sale?

I need beds, sofas, kitchen cabinets, appliances etc. The nearest Ikea is Florence, which is 150 Km away!

Thanks in anticipation....

I was looking for some new (old) traditional dining chairs. Both Ikea and Marino Fa Mercato do traditional -looking rush-seated chairs very cheaply. But are there any artisan or local craftsmen who make this type of chair in Tuscany/Umbria??? I remember seeing a couple of wood mills on the slopes of Monte Amiata and wasn't sure about local chair making. Thanks.

I thought I'd do a post as nobody else seems to be saying much. We're off on our car journey to Italy on Friday morning (for the fourth time). I haven't been put off by all the negative comments about roughing it camping, and I have been energised by people who seem to know that camping can mean fresh air, the chance to stop whenever and wherever the fancy takes without prior arrangement, independence and a young heart. My family are frowning, (they know I like my hairdrier), but then they only know package holidays and pick up at the airport!

I’ve just posted to my Facebook page some information about the RAI TV programmes for immigrants which cover language and ‘civilisation’ material, and I thought it might be of interest to people here. Many of you may already know about them, but there will be others who’ve never heard of them. All the programmes are available online, with lots more accompanying information and activities which would be of interest to visitors to Italy as well.