Category: Blog

We had been getting a bit frustrated with Andrea the gardener as he did not return to complete the work we agreed and was not communicating with us. Finally, he turned up today in order to remove the large magnolia from the front of the house. This magnolia was taller than the house and was blocking the light and the views from Martin’s bedroom. It was also a source of debris blowing into the upper floor windows.

Andrea did a great job and we are delighted with the results.

The work

The results

Before and after

Domenico had offered to come round and show us how to use the wood oven to cook pizzas. Obviously we jumped at the chance. He sent instructions regarding the fire and told us that he and his wife would be round at about 6pm with the ingredients for pizzas.

We wanted everything to look clean and tidy, given the shock he would get when he saw just how much stuff we had removed from his family home. There was mess outside the front left by the removals guys and all the empty rooms really needed a sweep and clean up. There was also the outside seating area to make nice enough to entertain. There was also shopping for food and drink and a fire to start and tend. A very busy morning and afternoon ensued (particularly for Fenella).

At 3:30 I started the fire – nearly 4 hours before it was needed for cooking. The flames needed to be kept high for the whole time to get the oven up to the required 700C. Luckily we already had plenty of wood in the stable and the wood shed.

At about 6:30 Domenico and Paola arrived with everything needed to make and serve pizzas. We showed them round the house which looks quite different now that a lot of the old furniture and all the junk has been removed. I think Domenico found it a little hard – saying “it’s a different house now”. Paola, however, seemed to approve.

We had thought that we would eat in the kitchen, but Domenico and Paola were determined that all the preparation, cooking and eating would happen outside. Thankfully, Domenico was happy with the fire – though he did send me off for more wood. After a glass or two of prosecco and some nibbles, the real action commenced.

Thankfully, we had kept the outside table with its granite top as this was pressed into service for the preparation of the pizzas. Domenico showed me how to move the fire to the side of the oven and clean the base ready for cooking the pizzas and Paola got started on rolling and preparing the first pizza.

Nearly every pizza was different and and surprisingly about half were blonde:
* Capers and anchovies
* Mushroom (blonde)
* Gorgonzola (blonde)
* Salami
* Lard and garlic (blonde)
* Nutella and ricotta (calzone)
We provided a large salad, fruit and wine.

This was the first time we had properly met Paola and we really liked her. We all had a brilliant time and the pizzas were wonderful.

The removals men finished today and here are the results

Now it’s so much easier to visualise what these rooms will be like and we can start to clean them up.

Oh – and the bath has gone from the garden.

The removals guys left at lunchtime and we headed off to beautiful Montecarlo for a leisurely lunch and a very gentle stroll in 39C heat.

Another result. This tank was removed in one piece. The removals guys didn’t seem too concerned, but we were a little worried that it might contain asbestos. Thankfully, they did not need to break it up to get it out.

A huge day of progress today. Six blokes in 2 vans have carted off loads of the unwanted old furniture and junk. They’ll be back tomorrow to continue the job. It’s been a bit like herding cats making sure they knew what to take – or more importantly what not to take. Most of the top floor has been cleared and the ground floor rooms too. Tomorrow it’s all the storage rooms.

The guys were all nice and fun. One of them was obviously a little too old and not really strong enough for the work, but he carried small stuff down. Nice to see a company with some humanity and loyalty to its people.

We also got our internet connection sorted!

20Mbps may not be super fast, but it’s perfectly adequate. WiFi coverage is a bit limited as the walls are thick and solid, but that can be addressed with extenders later.

It’s been a frustrating time trying to wring a connection out of TIM (the Italian equivalent of BT) for the last month or so. I have now gone with a local provider recommended by our neighbour Riccardo who works from home. So we’re getting our connection by radio transmitter from an antenna on the other side of the valley. Called them on Monday, up and running by Wednesday.

We also got some good news on resolving the issues with the purchase of Rowan’s flat.

We rounded the day off nicely with a trip to Castelvecchio to see the views bathed in the setting sun followed by a celebratory meal at La Cantina.

Rowan has arrived for a 3 week stay. She is our first visitor and must isolate for 5 days in the house. We are sad that Jesse can’t make it out before he goes to Australia, but excited to show Rowan what we’re up to.

Shortly after 8am, the doorbell went and Fenella went down to answer. It was Francesco bearing gifts of fruit and vegetables from his garden. Really touching and much appreciated.

At 11am Domenico arrived. He’s always very punctual. We asked his advice on the football incident and he explained that a while ago kids had gone up there to play when the house was empty and the neighbours had been pretty upset. Looks like we’ll have to let the boys down gently. We certainly don’t want to upset our new neighbours when things seem to be going well with them.

We also discussed the taps in the garden. Some are connected to the tank that gets filled from the stream at the edge of the garden. Others from the mains. It is generally frowned upon if you water your garden with the fresh water from the mains and it’s an absolute no no to use mains water to fill a swimming pool. Hence the tank and the taps it supplies. It also explains the popularity of the tap outside Francesco and Mariagrazia’s gate that we all water the front gardens from.

Apparently we need to discuss with Stefano where the pipes are that draw the water from the stream. Perhaps the same pipes feed the water supply to Stefano’s plot. In any case, that whole tank and irrigation system needs some investigation.

We told Domenico we wanted to get new shutters and windows so he drove me down to the carpenter to introduce us. The carpentry workshop is less than 5 minutes down the road, but Domenico insisted on driving me there and back.

He sweetly told us he was glad we had bought his family home and made it clear he’d like to visit again soon. He could become a friend.

In the afternoon we took delivery of a new bed and mattress from IKEA for Fenella’s room. Fenella’s current bed will go into the spare room ready for Rowan. It’s a slightly smaller double and the spare room is the smallest bedroom in the house.

Today we decided to do something about the shutters for the spare room. Opening them was not possible as one of the shutters was hanging off its hinge. This meant the room was rather dark and uninviting. With Rowan coming we wanted to make it more bright and airy.

We got the ladder out, propped it up against the side of the house from the ditch between us and our neighbours (Francesco and Mariagrazia) and I went up to take a look. Francesco popped out to see what we were up to and was soon getting involved in the proceedings. He told me I needed to oil the hinges and promptly went off to get some oil from his shed. When it became apparent that my screws weren’t up to the job of repairing the shutter he beetled off to get some better ones. He stayed and supervised my work till he was happy the shutter had been repaired properly. A delightful man and a lovely time bonding with a neighbour.

In the early evening the doorbell rang and I answered the door to three boys aged 10 or 11 on bikes. They knew we were English and had prepared a question with the help of Google translate. They had seen the marketing pictures for the house and knew there was a football pitch in the garden. They wanted to know if we would let them come and play football up there.

I took them up into the garden to show them just how high the grass was, but told them maybe in the future. They headed back out to the road and I closed the gates. When I got out to the street, there was a right old kerfuffle going on with our neighbour Stefano giving the boys a really hard time. It was not entirely clear to me whether he thought they had been cheeky to ask or whether he was unhappy with the idea of (these) local kids playing up there. Francesco’s wife Mariagrazia kept telling us to just say no.

It was all rather protracted and heated. When Lino rocked up to fill his watering cans at the standpipe the situation was explained to him and he quickly got very angry. I find it hard to understand what he’s saying, but there was definitely a “Porco Madonna” in there. He looked in danger of a stroke or heart attack. Anyway, I told them all that Domenico was coming the next day and we’d discuss it with him. This seemed to satisfy most. I told the kids to come back next week and I’d tell them what we had decided.

It was interesting that the neighbours told the boys that, whatever I’d said to them, it was for the Signora (Fenella) to decide.

We decided the living room downstairs is just about perfect for a pool table and we know Rowan and Jesse would love that. So we searched on Google and found a place about 30km away that we thought looked worth a visit so we could see and cost some options.

When we got there it was a very closed looking unit on a rather shabby industrial estate. Still, there were a couple of cars outside so we rang the bell. A woman popped her head out of a window and, when we told her what we were interested in, she opened up the gates and ushered us in. She took us into a large workshop where we could see a couple of tables at different stages of their construction. One was a table for playing Russian Pyramid and had a slate base 5cm thick.

It was pretty clear that this wasn’t the place we might buy a reasonably priced pool table, but we showed them a table on their website that we liked the look of and asked how much an 8 foot pool table would cost in that style. We agreed the measurements with the main man in the workshop. He showed us different woods and we chose ash. The two of them took us through all the details including the colour of the baize and pockets, the different sizes of cue, style of cue rack etc. For some of this they drove us to a second unit where we also saw the machines they use to cut and level the slate. The quote for our table came in at €15,000 which they then proceeded to whittle down to €10,000 providing we did not require an invoice.

They clearly make high quality billiards, snooker and pool tables for wealthy people round the world. They told us they were making 3 tables for President Macron (one for each of his houses) and showed us a crate for the Isle of Man that has been stuck there since Christmas due to BREXIT complications.

Obviously there’s no chance we’ll be buying from them, but they were delighted to show us round and we were fascinated to be shown.

Monday 26 July came around and we headed in to Lucca to complete the house purchase at the offices of the notary. So different from how things are done in the UK. Present were: the vendors (Domenico and Katerina Mei), the buyers (us), the estate agent (Martin Tschiderer), the geometra (Claudio Fulgeri), the notary (Ada Morelli), the notary’s husband (Pierandrea Losito – present because he was the notary at the compromesso) and the translator (Federica Vezzani). The contract was read out loud in both Italian and English and changes were made to it then and there. We then waited while they updated the contract in both languages and printed out the final version which most of those present then had to sign. A couple of witnesses popped in at the last minute and added their signatures (having witnessed nothing really). The whole thing took about an hour and 45 minutes.

After the rogito we went out in Lucca for a drink, a short walk and a meal with a bottle of fizz to celebrate.

Our return to our new home as owners.