Fillide's activity

  You, Charlotte, have evidently followed the case in the Italian media - rather than the 'glossed over' version which the US received! I'm a bit unsure about the issue of the Court having possibly erred in letting the jury see the Knox interview (made without a lawyer present). The Court did not allow the prosecution to use the statement as evidence on the murder charge, but (IMO) the Court was obliged to allow the interview to be shown to the jurors who were also being asked to decide on the defamation (of Lumumba) charge.

 You should ask the architect about this 10% on the builder's estimate, (and I'd also recommend you to make sure you have a detailed contract/terms of agreement with the architect). In a large job such as yours, various other professionals will almost certainly be involved - an engineer for the structure, a geologist for the land conditions, a heating engineer to design and prove the thermal performance of the building and of the installation (and maybe even more experts, especially if you've gone green!) It could be that the builder has put these fees onto his estimate (it makes the architect look less of a robber). That is fair enough, but clearly (I imagine) you will want to deal just with the architect while the building work is being done, so you should all be clear that the architect will be the one who liaises with all the other specialists, rather than the builder. So your first port of call is the architect, he will not be offended by your query of "what's this 10% the builder wants?" As to 'discounting' - you should certainly get at least 10% off a 'computo metrico' produced by the architect using 'book prices'. Do you have a detailed book priced 'computo metrico' (bill of quantities) to compare with the builder's offer?

Sorry MichaelM, but you cannot say that Guede had not (from the very oustet) claimed that Knox was present. Guede was ambivalent as to whether Sollecito was the 'white guy', but he put the finger on Knox in the very early stages.And Carole -  where is your CIA stuff coming from? The case was complicated enough without this red herring!

I have a bit of sympathy for keeping your head below the parapet, (because it is not guaranteed that l'agenzia will choose to investigate you), but being non-resident (ie. not having enlisted on the anagrafe of the comune in Italy) isn't enough to avoid their clutches.http://www.nuovofiscooggi.it/attuali...idenza-fiscaleWhat that link explains is the (post Feb 2009) accord between the Comuni and the agenzia delle entrate.

I really cannot see any rationality from those posters who equate the apalling format of these community thread pages with the disappearance of people they didn't like. I wonder if the person who bullied Jenta (nice of her to emphasise that it wasn't the deviless incarnate!) is still about?I agree with adriatica that the 'magazine' pages are considerably improved over the last version of the Italymag site, but the community portal is dire. Yesterday someone posted a query about tenancy law, three useful replies on, it segued into someone asking about roof-flashing. If anybody ran a check on the selection of 'section' chosen by newcomers I'd stake my money on 'comunity guidelines' coming out top above even 'introductions'.The 'community' is lucky to have newcomers asking for help - any forum needs newcomers, even if sometimes they have a daft question - and I would defy anyone to show me a genuine thread started by a newbie on the old forum which started other than helpfully and politely.Nobody, it seems to me, unless they have made a serious study of THIS particular unique and bizarre 'forum' has half an idea of how to use it - so the only people using it are those who can throw in comments about nutella on pizza margherita and whether her friend is buying his own cigarettes: errm, wasn't that a bannable offence on the old Italymag site? 

I got uppity on this thread, for which I am absolutely not going to apologise - even more determined  since Heiko (a completely innocent non partisan member of the 'old' forum) has expressed perfectly why Heiko (he or she) cannot be bothered any more.It is nothing to do with the engineered bitchiness which this awful Nigel double barreled is trying to engender (to his shame) - it is about this format DOES NOT WORK.This is not Facebook - it never will be. It is (for me) a disastrous lost opportunity, and about how one person (named Ronald) has - Oh God, how can I put it? - effed up the inheritance handed to him on a plate by some thickos at Poundbury.Should I care? Rationally, the answer is NO. And, yes, I have 'moved on'. But - I do still regret that the opportunity to explain, using humour and knowledge, why it costs so much  more to 'do' an Italian roof than it costs to do an English roof, and then to get a nut and bolt assement of how much it 'should' cost from a South African roofer building in Italy...this dalogue just doesn't exist anymore. Uhuh, should this be in 'Living' - I don''t think so - so I will bung it into Commuinty guidlines, and maybe copy it into Introductions - who gives a shyte - no sort of moderator is around to re-position the post.We used to talk about these things -  in a universally understood Vbulletin format, but that wan't good enough for The Webmaster. Clearly he is more interested in...I dunno...effing things up...than promulgating information.  So he gives you a  'wiki link - perlease...why is he trying to compete with a real Wiki?Where is the life which once we led... totally dead...and for those people like annec who default into supporting the status quo, have you really assessed how awful this current stuff is? I can do without nigel double barelled  for sure. But where is lotan, or geotherm, or any other genuine people who got a real pleasure out of simply giving advice - or even just encouragement?

I certainly did the same double-take on your question as ram and Sebastiano! What might surprise you though....is that drivng my own car I'd take Palermo every time over Firenze.Part of it is pace of life, it's  impossible to be in a hurry in Palermo: but at the same time you have to be assertive - there is no quarter given to a mumsie driver in Palermo, you just end up as a stationary chicane. In Florence though, you are expected to know the rules, and the scooteristas are deadly and all in a hurry. Florence is aslo dreadfully full of ill dresed tourists all year, and not big enough to get away from them. Have you not considered Rome or Naples? Even out of town Rome is pretty good - best of both worlds really - a nice place on one of the hills, or in the EUR, quiet, great public transport, coast not far away, knocks spots off foggy Florence.... 

The context of this article (liked to below) is particularly relevant to a US taxpayer, but I think we are looking at the same 'banking transparency' alluded to in the Daily Mail article. Clearly the 'stated intentions' are to control money laundering by drug runners and terrorists, but if you happen to have as much a €10,000 in an Italian bank account - earning you maybe €10 per annum (given the bank charges in Italy!) - not declaring this could land you with a big fine from the IRS (if you are an American citizen), and who knows what the Inland Revenue could screw from you based  on this crumb of now public information.(The consideration that the article is not talking about Italy is irrelevant: probably it is also irrelevant that the article is focussed on the IRS in the United States, it should, IMO, be read more broadly as a warning about what you can no longer 'get away with' with impunity.)http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14085737