Mandevilla are those nice red climbers that are appearing all over the place in markets etc now and I did very well with two of them last year. However the foliage turned brown at the end of the year and I was about to throw them out when I noticed the pot had healthy roots in it plus dahlia style tubers so i left them in a sheltered place for the winter. Unfortunately there are no signs of growth. Are they dead?

I thought I had got this sorted out and knew how much I had to pay but looking on our Comune website to see what aliquota they had decided on I found a link (whch also apperars on other Comune websites mentioned in a previous thread) called Calcolo IMU in an yellow/orange band and Anutel above it which has made me doubt again. Any clarification would be gratefully received. I thought that my house, which is a prima casa, was in Catogory A2. That is what it says in the purchase documents and on the Agenzia delle Entrate site where you can look up rendita catastale.

Are you having a street party? What are you celebrating?

Because it was raining today, thought to do some price comparisons re non Italian B&B's to Italian ones in Marche. I will not name any, but to be honest, you are better staying in Italian establishments. A 3 star hotel was cheaper than a b&b for the same facilities.

Our derelict casale is 300m2 with a nearly finished converted outbuilding of around 80m2. There seems to be lots of conflicting thoughts on what comprises 'luxury' in terms of IMU which I understand incurs higher taxes. At the moment the commune apparently regards the buildings as one dwelling but our architect's commercialista thinks the two buildings will be seen as prima and seconda casa. I took advice from a commercialista today who implied the geometry would determine the classification. It has been suggested anything over 250m2 will be classed as luxury.