Capo Boi's activity

Vodafone "stick" prices start at €10 per month for 1 hour per day. You can check out the various rates on their website. www.vodafone.it  (Shop)  

Very good post Babyeddiedog. Alice modems are actually pretty good. Your problem is almost certainly that you have thick stone walls as you state. No modem will operate even remotely close to maximum operational distance in these circumstances.

Yet again adriatica, a very good post. I would concur with pretty much everything you said. I don't think however, the underlying market for apartments in beach locations is as bad as you say. I think that the problem is more one of certain developments that were sold at prices that now look inflated. Not to Italians, who still look for their second home to be close to the sea.

Unlike the UK that has a number of established house price series, Nationwide, Halifax etc. there is nothing similar in Italy although a few property agents and consultants do produce their own numbers but these tend to be of limited scope. Its generally thought, however, that property prices have held up fairly well. Maybe falling in the region of 4-8% over the last eighteen months but that is really a guess and covers a very diverse spectrum.  What has fallen quite a bit, however, is the actual number of transactions taking place. This may be the case of sellers holding out for their asking price or having unrealistic asking prices (20% up is common) and buyers happy to sit with what they consider to be fair offers. Either way, it should give you some leverage (more so if you are buying a new build). The other factor to think about is the currency. Although the pound has been hitting nine months highs recently against the euro it is still substantially weaker than its level of two years ago. This has taken a number of potential UK buyers out of the market so should give you a little more room for manoeuvre.

Very good advice from Adriatica. I would agree with everything said. To generate 3kw plus takes a lot of panels. Also, one thing that is often overlooked is that to generate at maximum efficiency the panels have to be scrupulously clean. The sand carrying sirocco wind can have a big affect on performance.

I think you have to be very careful with some of the cheaper policies. When you actually go through the policy document you may find that the cover offered is in fact very basic. This may be fine for you but you should not assume that it is of the equivalent buildings cover offered in the UK by the main UK companies. Go through the policy exclusions very carefully. For example, if frost causes a burst pipe that floods my house, am I insured? What is my excess if I have to make a claim for landfall or subsidence. Am I insured for wind damage to my greenhouse? Hopefully, none of us will ever have to claim but I'm of the view that you get what you pay for.

Assicurazioni Generali (commonly known as Generali) is Italy's biggest insurance company and one of the strongest insurance companies in the world. They have a London office 0207 2656200. Quite possibly they won't be the cheapest as their financial strength means that they can command premium prices but as a first call they should be able to provide you with a decent idea for your house. Proper buildings insurance is higher in Italy compared to the UK so be prepared.

I would definitely vote for him and I make no apologies but purely out of self interest. Two years ago Sardinia came very close to bringing in a tax on second homes. This actually would not have affected us as we have residency, but non residents would have had to pay an annual tax of between €11 and €16 per square metre on the floor space of their house. Berlusconi veoted this. Yes he would have had to pay something like €130,000 per year himself (because although he is Italian he is non-resident in Sardinia) and his brother even more. Obviously this is a drop in the ocean to him but the big fear was that other Italian regions would follow suit.  For people on here, can you imagine if Tuscany, Marche and Abruzzo followed? This was a very real threat.

Its still quite traditional for the seller to take everyone involved out to dinner afterwards. Its a nice touch and not something that would happen in the UK. We were very restrained at the time because we thought that the restaurant bill could be down to us and there were about a dozen people present at not a cheap restaurant. Naturally, though, the notaio did not hold back.

Should add, if you want to do it yourself  "fila" are probably considered to make the best cleaning and sealing products. www.filachim.com. Available throughout Italy.