KarenSheffield's activity

The frustrating thing is that the whole process is out of our control- or the builders' control. We are waiting for the beams from a supplier in the north, and as for the electricity and water connections, we are dealing with bureaucracies here, and as Stevegw points out, this is Italy. (A UK-based Italian friend said exactly the same thing!) But reassured by my namesake Karenr that even extensive building work can finish more or less on time! Thank you both for your comments. Will post pictures when/if the house is completed.

Sorry to hear that your house had to be demolished because of the grenades. Have you found out whether they were Axis or Allied grenades? I know that at the end of the war there was a general settling of scores. A friend at the University of Bologna told me that her elderly neighbour had been a resistance fighter, and after the war he had personally shot local Fascists. Mussolini was not the only one  executed. Bologna has always been a strongly Communist area, so Fascists could expect little quarter after the defeat by the Allies.

We used to own a small village house in Andalucia. In many areas illegal development is a big problem, but it is unfair to blame the homeowners alone, as most of them bought their properties in good faith. The fault lies both with the local authorities who sold land to developers, or who turned a blind eye to breaches of planning regulations, and the developers themselves who unscrupulously marketed homes to  (often foreign) buyers knowing full well they were constructed illegally. As for the local inhabitants and their attitude to their host communities, in Spain we found that many expats were there simply for the sunshine and cheap alcohol, as SirTK says, and made no attempt to learn Spanish or contribute to the community. In my experience the foreigners who go to Italy do so for the culture and lifestyle and not just the climate and the wine, so are more positive about Italy and their Italian neighbours. They tend to fall in love with Italy- or an Italian!

Well, we went ahead and bought a disused wine vault in this small hilltop village through Tricali. There was a false start when we went out to sign the contract and found there was a legal hitch, but this was resolved and the contract was signed three months later by proxy. Restoration is now under way: utilities have been installed and the plastering is almost complete. The property is just one large vaulted room, and it needs a window put in at the back and a loft-type platform - a soppalco- built to give additional flooor space. So fingers crossed, it should be ready at the end of May!

We have bought a small property- an ancient wine vault- in Grottole and it is the process of being renovated. It should be finished at the end of May/beginning June, when we shall be coming out for the handover, then trying to make it habitable. It has a lovely view of the valley and hills- and the windmills! But I don't mind these. Anyone who is in the vicinity, do get in touch.

RE the requirement to register with the police - Annec is right, this was due to fascist-era legislation and predates the formation of the EU. How do I know this? I was expelled from Italy in 1969 for not registering. The legislation was aimed at political or other 'undesirables', and was used against those of a radical political bent or those whose lifestyle was deemed unacceptable, eg hippies- yes, I was one!  Actually I had applied for a residence permit, and in fact when a group of us hippies were rounded up and taken to the commissariato, I was told that my application had been approved and my permit was waiting for me. I asked if I could have it, and regularise my presence, but the police officer on duty, with a sad shake of his head, said, "ah, signorina, we can't give you your resident permit because you were found without one". Reeling from this Kafka-esque logic, I didn't bother arguing further.  Peace and love, eh!

Thank you to those who have responded. Fortunately it didn't take too long to resolve the problem. Of course another one soon came up- we had to get permission to 'frazzionare' the house, as it was half of a larger building. The developers suggsted that we buy the other half to solve the problem, but we couldn't afford to do that. Anyway the sale contract was signed at the end of January in our absence by our representative to whom we had given power of attorney. We have been told recently that renovations are progressing well, and we are on course for a handover date some time in the Spring - though whether that means April, May or June is unclear. Several people buying from Tricali seem to have had major problems, especially in Abruzzo, but fingers crossed we will have a habitable property in a few months!

Thank you so much for posting this link to Linea Verde, Adriatica. I watched a programme on Basilicata: 'A spasso nel Pollino', about the Pollino national park, and it was fascinating. There were items on donkey raising - did you know that donkey milk is very close to human milk, and can be given to infants with digestive problems? - and also on preparing the verious delicacies of the region, cheese, dried peppers - the 'peperone crusco' - and the work of the park rangers in the largest natural park in Europe.

I enjoyed reading this piece. A salutary reminder that it is human relationships which make us happy, not material things.

It is ironic that the kind of people who complain about multiculturalism in Britain are often the very same people who expect to maintain exactly the same lifestyle in a foreign country as they did at home, and see no contradiction there.