Category House Buying

Enjoying Changes – Our Move

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Moving… not an easy process as many of you have experienced. We do it for many reasons and I have to say that we are a bit tired and overwhelmed, but so very happy. As I have been on hiatus from this blog with the move to Tufillo and recent vacation, I am now focused and ready to share more about life for us here in Abruzzo and our new home.

I am still amazed that we’ve taken to a townhouse in the center of a small village. Both John and I have lived most of our adult lives out in the countryside and certainly, whether in the US or here in Abruzzo, we’ve lived the past 20 years with few or no neighbors. So, to make this move to an urban setting (yes, even if it’s in a stunning medieval village) and not to feel closed-in, just tells me that this is what was meant to be for us at this time in our lives. You can catch up on our preparation to our new place and its location from two of my most recent postings; A Change of Place and A Gift…finding Tufillo…and Giacomo

We’re in love with our house, with all its twist and turns from one level to the next, and as we slowly complete the interior and add our own touches, it is being transformed into our cherished home. We’re using the lower-level kitchenette as our working kitchen as John assembles the cabinets for the main kitchen and we await gas hookup. Once the main kitchen is completed, we will turn the lower one into our dining area. We’ve added a pellet stove in the living room to give us some heat on the main level and our plumber arrives soon to add our gas line, boiler and radiators.

Here are some comparisons from when we first saw the house back in November of 2021 and our progress up until today. Light fixtures still need to be installed, artwork to be hung, kitchen, master bath, etc. still in the works. But we so love our house (about 250-300 years old) with a very modern interior.


Living Room looking to front door. As there wasn’t any foyer or entry way, we added a bookcase to break the space, thus creating a place to hang up coats and kick off shoes.

The marble staircase is truly a work of art designed and installed by a local craftsman. Once having painted the stairwell walls and we’ve added light fixtures, we can hang artwork and a few of John’s guitars.

Our bedroom is so very peaceful, even after adding our plaid winter duvet. Most of the light fixtures have been purchased but John is busy with his kitchen cabinets right now.

An interesting yet very frustrating element that can occur when buying an old house here in Italy, is the determination of ownership of a cantina and/or a stalla (e.g. -storage room for wine and stall area for animal such as donkey.) These rooms were traded back and forth amongst families and neighbors throughout generations, and ownership could be by a handshake, word of mouth or who has the lock on the door. Storage space is at a premium in our downsized home and the need for additional storage and workshop space for John was important. We discovered two small cantinas under our house, and it took agreements, some exchange of money on our part, an architect involved as well as our notary. The outcome that everyone personally involved were handled fairly and the end result was satisfying ownership of the two cantinas beneath our kitchen and part of the actual structure were legally attached to our purchase.

During the move and adjusting to life here in Tufillo, we had a vacation planned well in advance, a cammino in the region of Puglia. We mentally needed the break as we had been going full tilt getting our house in Roccaspinalveti ready for sale as well as moving belongings to Tufillo. Also, during that time, John was actively involved in helping Giacomo (owner/contractor of our Tufillo house) with finishing the tile work and other projects there so we could move in. We were ready for some fun!

La Rotta Dei Due Mari

What a great week. 130 km on foot from the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. We’d been training for this one on an off during the past 4 or 5 months, but as this one didn’t have a lot of elevation changes like the cammino in the mountains last year, we put in a lot of road time. On this cammino, we will travel many miles on secondary roads, so we made certain our feet could handle the hard surfaces as we carried all we would need for the week in our backpacks.

This cammino consisted of 6 tappas (stages/days) with the last two days being the longest (20 & 16 miles respectively). We would start in Polignano a Mare and complete the trek in Taranto. I planned our week toward the end of October as the weather in Puglia is dry and pleasant… normally… during this time. Well, we lucked out with dry weather, but it was a lot hotter than expected. It did make the longer days a challenge, but such a great experience!

Tappa 1

What an amazing 19+km/12+ miles! From Polignano a mare to Castellana Grotte. Ancient olive groves, fields of salad and many other vegetables, grapes, trulli, wonderful lunch with Maria (Trulli alla controra)..the list is long of all the wonderful experiences today. Compliments to Francesco Consoli and Elio Roma (and all those involved with the trail work)! And thank you for the best marked route we have experienced in Italy since moving here over 5 years ago. We are ready for tomorrow

Tappa 2

Castellana Grotte – Alberobello, 18+km/11+ miles. Today the landscape changed from yesterday’s field crops to more pastureland and dairy farms but still plenty of groves of olives and almonds and of course, the architecturally unique trulli. On a personal note, we are loving this cammino. Weather a bit hotter than expected, so we’re getting earlier starts to our day. Another great dinner planned for this evening to refuel and enjoy the local cuisine

Tappa 3

Alberobello – Locorotondo, 19.9 km/ 10.5 mi. The weather has been clear (thankfully) and hot😎 so spending most of the day on a lovely and well-shaded wooded trail was a blessing and a pleasure. Stopped for an abundant and delicious taster’s menu lunch at L’Arco Antico – Ristorante Pizzeria, just off the trail. Thank you, Pasquale for your passion with food! We finished up the day’s walk in the historic center of Locorotondo

tappa 4

Locorotondo – Martina Franca, 16+ km /10+ mi. We quickly exited the lovely city of Locorotondo to the countryside into a wooded trail. But first the signs took us through the State Agricultural Technical Institute and its large complex, which included historic gardens and the Masseria (farmhouse) Ferragnano. It was so heartening to see young adults getting gardening instruction as we walked past them early in the morning. Then on to bucolic country roads with stone fences, trulli old and new and cultivated fields and olive groves. Our day passed through quaint hamlets of whitewashed trulli.. a very picturesque day culminating in baroque adorned Martina Franca. We are happy pilgrims.

Tappa 5

Martina Franca – Crispiano, 30+ km/19 mi. Today was the longest day but beautifully set in forests. I think that the trees were talking a bit to each other. A very relaxing experience. When the trail left the woods for a moment, we saw large dairy farms and some more trulli. Us old folks are happy that we didn’t quit but that we enjoyed this wonderful day. I do have to say our feet are a tiny bit tired.

Tappa 6

Crispiano – Taranto, 24.5km/15.2m. We have arrived at our last stage … excited, tired but ready to see what today’s trails were like and to reach Taranto on the Ionian Sea. We were surprised at the diversity, open plains, rocky trails through scrub growth, wide grassy roads through groves of ancient olive trees. Just a very interesting and satisfying day to end our 6-day cammino. We arrived in Taranto midafternoon, got our final passport stamp and threw our travel stone into the sea at the Sailors’ Monument.

Quick note about lack of food pictures. This trip I just wanted to relax and completely enjoy my dining experience without using my phone. Good for me as well as for those dining near us, especially at some of the nicer restaurants. Our two favorites were Ristorante Antiche Mura in Polignano and Gaonas in Martina Franca. Both outstanding. And we are so very glad we stopped along the trail for our taster lunches on Tappa 1 & 3: Trulli all controro & L’arco Antico. We headed home by train, picked up our kitties that were sulking at the kennel and I’m already planning the cammino for next year! 😂 Huge complements to everyone involved with this cammino, working diligently to make this an outstanding experience!

And how are Pierre and Sofie now back from the kennel and acclimating to the new house?

I hope you enjoyed this posting and please let me know if you have any questions about how and why we do what we do here. Each expat/resident has different experiences, and I can only share what I know personally. I look forward to your comments and will return soon with more to share. Thank you!

Our everchanging view

A Gift…finding Tufillo…and Giacomo

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As I write to you today, I am sitting in the summer kitchen of our soon-to-be new home in the medieval village of Tufillo. John and Giacomo are on the upper level finishing some plastering and tomorrow they will continue on the tiling. How did we get from putting our house on the market in May to this point? We have found a house… but not just any house. We found Giacomo’s house.

Giacomo’s house

When I last posted, we had just listed our home in Roccaspinalveti . This was early May and we figured that maybe by mid July or so we would have some interest with serious buyers arriving in Abruzzo for the summer months. We completed our upgrade projects and our curb appeal was at its all-time high, with many of our flowers blooming, especially my roses. John finished painting the house and it glowed. We even buried a statue of St. Joseph in our front yard ;-). We were ready and Abruzzo Rural Property handled the rest. Who would have thought that within two weeks of listing, we would have an offer, and by early June a signed contract.

Our contract gave us a few months leeway to get packed to move… but we needed to find our new home. We knew that we wanted to be closer to my cousins in San Salvo, so we checked out some towns closer to the sea. They appeared too crowded for us with the summer influx of second homeowners and tourists. Also the summer temperatures ran hot and humid. We decided to stay in the mountains but still within 20 minutes of the beach. After visiting a number of different villages, we kept coming back to Tufillo, a small medieval village with so much character and the nicest folks! This town is at the edge of Abruzzo with Molise (the next region south of us) just across the Trigno River. It’s situated on the spine of a ridge, and just a few minutes out of town, there are lots of hiking trails and country roads to be discovered.

Tufillo is a lovely small village inhabited by such big hearted people with a characteristic historic center dating back to the 13th century. The narrow street through the medieval center just captured our hearts, with many stone houses and palaces along the way. The town boasts plenty of amenities; bakery, bar, pharmacy, post office, museum, grocery store, goat cheese maker, library, churches, doctors’ office, weekly market and travelling vendors. I am sure that we will discover more once we are there full-time.

So how did we find this gem of a house? I did the regular route of online sites of a few realtors as well as sites with listings by owners. We viewed a couple of prospective homes in Tufillo but they didn’t meet our criteria. We wanted the size to be about 1/2 of what we had in Rocca, move-in ready, a small garden would be nice, but most of all we wanted a view. I contacted the comune office in Tufillo and was put in contact with the deputy mayor. He was extremely helpful, giving me leads on other houses for sale by owners and answering all my questions. That is how we found Giacomo’s house. And Giacomo. And Giacomo’s family.. a triple blessing.

The house has been a restoration project that reflects the artistic talents and expertise of Giacomo Ottaviano (owner/contractor), but upmost the work is from his heart. And Giacomo has to be one of the nicest men we are blessed to call friend. Patient, understanding, meticulous artist who works his free weekends to finish this house for us, while working very hard at his full-time contractor job. This stone house belonged to his grandmother and he took ownership 10+ years ago. Its exact age of the structure is unknown, due to missing records, but an estimate puts it at 250-300 years old. Giacomo has restored the exterior stonework to its stunning original beauty, with some added modern touches. The inside is all modern, with new utilities and lots of marble and porcelain tiling. John and Giacomo are working diligently to finish all the tiling so we can move in early September. And always, kudos to my husband for his talents. He and Giacomo make a good team. And during all of this, Giacomo’s parents have opened their house and their arms to us, providing lunches for the men hard at work, as well as just some wonderful Sunday lunches for us all to relax, chat and build new friendships.

Leaving Roccaspinalveti isn’t an easy decision, but the pull of family and the sea are calling us. Over the past few years, we came to the realization that we were slowing down…just a little.. and to have a smaller home to care for was in our more immediate future. And as our older cousins are unable to travel to Rocca in their advancing years, it just made good sense for us to cut the drive time so we could visit them more often. We will miss the many wonderful folks of Rocca, but it is not a long drive back to visit. And I am certain we will also return to hike some of the mountain trails.

So we are preparing for this new adventure in Tufillo. It will be a ‘small’ adjustment as I haven’t lived without a garden and some land around me in almost 50 years, but I’m ready. I’ll bring many of my potted plants and flowers and I have lots of trails, fields and woods to hike in just a step away from the house. Our cats, Pierre and Sofie, will have few levels to run up and down as well as a new cat enclosure for the terrace. And once we get settled, travel is definitely in the works. We are already planning a 6 day cammino in Puglia this fall. So the packing of remaining household items continues. The movers will arrive at the end of this month to take our larger pieces of furniture…Oh.. and if you’re wondering, we are taking the statue of St. Joseph to our new house. 😉

Until next time, thank you always for stopping here at my blog to catch up on our adventures…hope you are having a great summer! Look…I got my view 🙂

The view from our new terrace – Region of Molise to left of Trigno River, mountains looking West towards the villages of Torrebruna and Celenza sul Trigno.

A Change of Place

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Preparing for the Next Adventure

My husband comes with many talents and home renovation is definitely high on that list.  Recently, his skills in painting and tiling have factored into the updating of our master bathroom, entrance hall and kitchen. We discussed our ideas for the new look and he is was full steam ahead. Yes, Tim Allen (The Tool Man) is one of his heroes.

We’ve been pushing hard on updates, as we have decided to sell our home here in Roccaspinalveti and move closer to the Adriatic Sea, in turn being closer to my San Salvo cousins. It’s been a tough decision but one we knew would eventually come, just not so soon. Four years ago, when we were looking for a house to buy in Abruzzo, our intention was to downsize from our chalet-style home in Virginia and find a country house primarily for just the two of us with one or two guest rooms. Finding this home here in the Frentani Mountains of Abruzzo, didn’t actually scream ‘downsize’. It was much larger than we needed and it came with two apartments and a large backyard. But the deal was too good to pass up, the views outstanding and the house was move-in ready. The lower apartment, we successfully rented out short term through Airbnb and Booking.com. During this time, I found out that I had cousins from my mother’s family living in San Salvo. What a wonderful discovery. The desire to move closer to them naturally evolved and it has certainly intensified these past two years with COVID restrictions. Now the goals for updating our home here in Rocca are a sweet response to us finding family!

As the house is about 45 years old, there was some cosmetic updating to be done along with a few major additions, such as adding a new boiler and double-glazed windows to our living space. After we stripped the old wallpaper and gave all the walls fresh paint, John was ready for some major tiling work.

To give the house more flow from one room to the next, we decided to over-tile the kitchen, entrance hall all the way into the bathroom. As original tile had been placed into concrete, there was no easy way to remove it. We opted to tile over the old, which is a very common method here. Our go-to source for tile at a reasonable price delivered was Edilizia Del Gesso srl in nearby Gissi, a great family-run builders supply company. John was able to get not only the tile off the lot, but the proper primer, adhesive and grout to insure a successful installation.

Before – We actually loved our original kitchen tile, but it was way too soft to stand up to heavy traffic. As you can see, each space had a different tile as do all the rooms on this main floor. We felt that the kitchen space, hallways and eventually the master bathroom should all flow with one tile.

Work in progress and completion – John primed the old tile in order to prepare for the new tile to adhere. The edges of the new tiles were beveled where they met rooms with original tiles.

Once John completed the hall & kitchen tiling project, he was ready to renovate our master bathroom. This bathroom was originally all pink, a color very popular years ago. We decided a more tranquil color scheme would work for us and future owners. Pink toilet and bidet were replaced with a white toilet and bidet wand. We purchased special epoxy tile paint (online from Leroy Merlin supplies) to cover the pink & brown flowered tiles with a cream color, while other original tiles where covered with a stunning faux stone porcelain purchased from same building supply in Gissi. Floor tiles would be a continuation of the hall project. The two cabinets were spray painted a cream color very similar to the painted tile and plaster walls were painted a calming sand/mocha color.

The bathroom consists of two rooms joined by a very narrow opening. The front room features the sink, medicine cabinet and toilet, with the second room containing a small accordion-style shower. This I wanted to replace with a deep soaking bathtub and shower combo. We were able to buy the perfect tub online from Manomano as well as the duel-head shower system. John opened up the narrow doorway between these two rooms with an archway for an elegant look. You’ll see in the pictures below where he added a step for us to enter the deeper style tub/shower combo. An old window that connected a hallway to the bathroom had to be removed and the opening blocked in and tiled over. John finished the renovation with a glass enclosure (Amazon.it), towel warmer and floor tile. I am very spoiled with my own personal Tool Man!

As this was John’s last major project inside, he went to tackle the outside house painting. He is fearless on long ladders, both when he built our home in Virginia as well as painting here. I did give a huge sigh of relief when his ladder work was finished.

House is now freshly painted, flowers are happily blooming with all the recent rain and we are out hiking again. The house is on the market with the wonderful agency out of San Salvo – Abruzzo Rural Property. Our dear friend and agent Monia di Guilmi helped us find our home here in Roccaspinalveti and now she will be showing it to perspective buyers and handling its sale. The listing is lovely with great pictures! Take a peek😀

We will keep you posted as things progress with our next exciting adventure. Roccaspinalveti has been an amazing place to live. It has truly been our home for these past 4 years and we will miss so much about it; friends made, mountains hiked, enjoying the views from our home, and just the pure essence of living in this mountain town in Abruzzo. We will be certain to return for many a visit!

Casa Serre

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To Rent Our Holiday Apartment…or not

A little over three years ago, we purchased our lovely home here in Roccaspinalveti, but in actuality it took us 4 years prior to our purchase to actually find it.

While we were in the process of retiring from out careers in Virginia, selling our chalet home in the mountains with thoughts of downsizing in Abruzzo, I had been already cruising some excellent home sites and creating our top 20 home list. A few houses kept coming up on that list over time and a few I should have crossed off as way too big for just two old retired folks! .

So we moved to Abruzzo, rented a farmhouse and started to look at houses with a few realtors and ended up, happily, here in Roccaspinalveti with a house of two complete apartments! What can I say… we couldn’t resist the view, great condition of this more modern house (built in mid’70s), the price (which I had followed for three years as it slowly came into our budget), good size yard, private parking area, etc. We were hooked. Now what should we do with the apartment below us?

Certainly, family and friends would come to visit us here in wild Abruzzo! They could stay with us and have their own apartment with privacy and the dynamite view. Good thought but it didn’t look like a lot of takers from the get-go. Friends dream but reality of a busy life in the US prevented them from coming over. We planned to visit the US and family planned to come to see us but then COVID hit and plans were crushed. As we are very avid promoters of this area, we then decided to offer the apartment on Airbnb & Booking.com. And we did! And it was a grand success! Why?

John and I both have strong hospitality backgrounds, with John as a professional chef and I had worked at a B&B as well as Customer Service/Tour guide at Virginia Distillery. Both of us have OC tendencies so offering a sparkling clean accommodation with numerous amenities was just something we fell into naturally. We gave the apartment a name: Case Serre Holiday Apartment; Serre being the neighborhood that we lived in. It offers its own private entrance and parking area, long balcony looking out over the mountains and hills of southern Abruzzo… our backyard. Here are a few pictures of the apartment and view.

The perks were many: meeting wonderful folks, promoting the area and artists, offering a relaxing and comfortable accommodation where only one B&B existed in town, and having extra income to help with our upgrades in our home. Most of our bookings were from the US, UK and Italy, with a few other countries mixed in. We had guests who came to relax and hardly leave the property. Others went hiking, headed to the beach for the day, went house hunting, and others came to work in the area. The list was varied with such lasting experiences they enjoyed as well as for us, meeting and hosting them.

John and I divided the labor. I did all the social media & website, handled the bookings, laundry, making up beds, restocking. John did all the refurbishing, maintenance, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, vacuumed. We realized, after the first season, we had to set a minimum of 2 nights for a booking. It just took too long to clean, and then turn the apartment around to be rebooked after just one night. We had space to accommodate 6 guests, but changed the setup to only allow up to 4 guests the following season. Again, a lot of work with not much return when you consider that I was doing all the laundry.

Even during COVID, we stayed open. We added self-checkin with a lockbox for the keys. Guests had instructions sent to them prior to arrival and also instructions in the apartment. We’d greet our guests across the courtyard, but we all maintained our distance. So we had three great years, with exceptional ratings by Airbnb & Booking.com. Our guests couldn’t have been kinder with their reviews!

So, why did we close after just three years if things were going so great? Apart from the stringent COVID cleaning regulations, which most days left me exhausted, there was the lack of privacy. As the apartment was part of our home, we felt it essential to maintain a level of quietness on our part in order to ensure our guests were not disturbed. Also, our immediate backyard was basically off limits to us as it was part of the package for our guests. Outside management may be worth considering for those thinking of doing this type of rental. It takes the pressure off of you and you have your freedom to travel. We just couldn’t work that into our pricing during COVID, but it is definitely one way to manage a holiday apartment.

Then there were the minor damages, breakage, staining, and theft. The majorities of these were never brought to our attention and only found after the guests checked out. Did we use our insurance to cover? Not worth it was it because it was never large enough but certainly annoying enough. I think if we had done this fulltime while we were younger, it may not have been so taxing. But at our age… retirement…we just didn’t need the hassle. Now these guests were not the norm and we had many wonderful guests, but it was just time for us to move on to another adventure. I have to proudly say that we did this rental well. We had many positive reviews and high scores with both Booking.com and Airbnb. So we felt it was time to close on a high note and we are very grateful and thankful to the wonderful guests we were able to host.

Roccaspinalveti now has a couple more rentals and B&Bs and we are happy to see this trend in our town. There is just so much to see and experience and we hope folks will continue to make their way to this part of Abruzzo.

The winter is now upon us and we are working on a few more upgrade projects in our home. We’ll keep you posted of our next adventure here. Until then have a blessed Christmas and Holiday Season!

House Hunting can be fun & also a bit crazy…well, it’s Italy..

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Decisions can be carried out or not… by acquiring more information, you can change your decisions. Such is our case in regards to a home purchase. When John and I were planning our move from the US to Italy, we talked about renting for a few years, then possibly buying or remaining as renters permanently. We considered renting in one region for a few years, pick up and try another and another every few years, thus experiencing all of Italy.

But reality of our nature awakened us. We really don’t want to be vagabonds or feel like we are on one perpetual vacation. We want to feel a part of a community and build lasting friendships nearby. And there is also the practical side. Finding a house to rent in another area, packing up and move all our stuff, finding new veterinarians for our dogs, registering in a new comune, and so on. Not a happy thought. And another consideration, did we really want to pay monthly rent where our money is never invested? For us, a big NO. We are the type of folks that like to have a home we can make our own and do all our travels from that one navigational point, a beacon to guide us out and back.

So we started our house hunting this winter, with the hope of finding that house that speaks to us…. We’ve had a few stops along the way. We had put a short hold on the viewing as we work through our plan on the financial side. Once that was determined, we set out again on our quest.

buying a house

We came up with a list of requirements: region of Abruzzo closer to the sea rather than the mountains (only because of climate), certain budget, size of house & land, condition of house, etc. John could do some work on the house (mostly cosmetic), but we wanted to move in within a few months and enjoy Italy, with a few small projects in the works. Our price range… well, it’s going to take a lot of tire kicking. Another way to put it, I have to kiss a lot of frogs before I find my prince. There are a lot of homes on the market in Italy, anywhere from ruins to be torn down, complete restorations, habitable townhouses, independent country houses, villas and beyond. We are definitely on the economical side of this spectrum, which then opens up a number of possibilities related to buying low, doing a lot of work, or buying a bit higher in the hopes we will do less work….Do we want to get caught up in a project that gets out of hand, and not spend our time enjoying Italy?

Interesting and downright bizarre story during this house hunting process…We located a house a few weeks back in southern Abruzzo that fit all our criteria and we put an offer on it. The owner had just recently lowered the price, because he wanted to get it sold sooner than not. What transpires next transported us into a soap opera or perhaps an episode of the Sopranos. Lots of hand ringing, crying, anger, non-communication, nonsensical demands all on their side. Well a bit of frustration and anger on our side, but a lot of WHAT JUST HAPPENED! The offer was refused and it looks like the owner is taking the house off the market for now. I’m not going to go into greater detail, but what came back to us was that it wasn’t to the owner’s best financial interest, at the immediate time our offer was made, to sell to anyone. Interesting…disappointing for us, but we’ve moved on. And now a bit wiser and more alert. 😉

Our friend (and property manager), Luigi, took us around today to show us a few properties of interest in our area of Treciminiere. All had wonderful views of sea and mountains, but pricing is very sea-proximity related here.  With that in mind, we will continue to search judiciously in this area as well as in the more economical southern part of this region. I’ll keep you posted when I kiss that prince.

Not only does Spring make for good house hunting weather, it also gets us outdoors to enjoy the countryside. Time to shake off that winter sluggishness and those heat-insulating kilos I’ve put on! We’ve taken to trekking the farm roads again (fields still too muddy) as well as cycling. We’re exploring the bike path up and down the coastline, as we get back into shape. To see the Adriatic and the Gran Sasso mountains to either side of us, as we cycle, NEVER gets old. Beach debris is being raked up and lido owners are preparing their beach facilities for opening next month. I’m sure the beaches will be packed this summer, so we’ll enjoy the bike path now without the crowds.

 

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I hope you enjoyed the pics today and ciao for now….

gran sasso march

The Gran Sasso in spring

A Gentle Winter

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Whether we’re in the car, on bike or foot, we are enjoying the quieter times of winter. We laugh when I get a message on my phone saying the traffic is heavier than usual on the local provincial road.  That means there may be two cars nearby instead of one. We realize, with the beach to our east and Atri to our west, that road will become busier this summer. The beaches here are gorgeous and pull many tourists during the hot summer months. Atri, a stunning hill town is just up the road from the beaches, much cooler there with a well-preserved medieval center, breathtaking in-your-face views of the Gran Sasso Mountains & the Adriatic Sea, and lovely bars to relax and people watch. We’re gauging that there may be an increase in traffic. But until then, we are cocooned here in the valley, venturing out when the need or desire arises.

Lately, with the house hunting, we’ve done a bit of driving around some spots in Abruzzo. We’re looking for a house with a price tag that means a little bit of fixing up will be required and John is already rubbing his hands together for a few small projects.  We’re ok with a bit of work, but at our age, we are not going to get caught up in a major restoration project. We’d rather spend more time enjoying Italy. I have to say, all the views, whether mountains, rivers, sea,  quaint villages, have been eye candy for us. If you stick to the countryside away from the industrialized larger cities, you just can’t find a bad view. Here are a few from our house hunting …

south abruzzo maj

La Majella, Chieti Provence  with the Gran Sasso to the far north ( your right)

southern abruzzo views

Mountains of Southern Abruzzo

maj west

La Majella

s abruzzo sea village view

Southern Abruzzo village with a sea view

If you shoot a straight ‘as the crow flies’ line south to a town we just visited, it’s only 41 miles (about 66 km), but it takes 2 hours from our valley to drive there. Sure there’s the Autostrade, but once you get off it, the roads wind, narrow, and climb. We love the adventure and John is happiest behind the wheel being way too much like an Italian driver!

Now house hunting can, for the most part, be lots of fun, but thinking about the financial side, here in Italy, is a bit of a brain drain. Back in the States, we’d just go into our bank of many years, check out the current rates, apply and, in most cases, get a loan. Here, not so… For one, they don’t know us. We do not have a banking history with an Italian bank. And we are finding out that some banks are not user-friendly for American citizens. Even though it will be easier to buy a house as an Italian citizen, all our investments and  our Social Security checks (what they call here ‘our pension’) are from the USA. Our current bank will not give us a loan because our pension is not Italian. Not a question we even thought to ask when we applied for an account with them. So we’re checking out a few other banks that are a bit more forward thinking, and will make a switch here shortly. I did preface a remark in an early posting, saying our paperwork was over with for now. Well we just got past ‘now’. 😉

Also this winter, we purchased some mountain bikes, mostly for perusing farm roads as well as the never-ending bike path along the Adriatic. If you Google Adriatic cycle paths, you will find many sections available to cycle on both the west and east coastlines of the sea. We’re blessed to be near the Abruzzo Adriatic Cycle Path (Ciclovia adriatica). It begins in the beach town of Martinsicuro north of here close to the Marche region line. It heads south to San Salvo Marina, a distance of 134 km. I’d say the northern half is designated bike path, but the southern part is provincial roads along the coast. We’re going to stick to the actual bike path…for now.

Here is a short section of the path in the town of Pineto, with its majestic sentinel pine trees shading the path. We enjoyed a few hours on a very chilly, foggy day with our new friend, Christina. I met Christina on a closed FB page for those applying or already with Italian/American dual citizenship. She rents an apartment miraculously about 30 minutes from us! When she returns to Wisconsin in April, she hopes a letter awaits her confirming her Italian citizenship. 🙂 We feel blessed to have met her and look forward to some treks and more bike rides with her. And to Sandra M. S, Sandra S., Julie A.  & Rose M., Facebook does help to make our world smaller in a wonderful way!

bike pineto

Pineto Pines

Torre di Cerrano

Getting our cycle legs back, after a number of years of not riding, has been a ‘lovely’ eye opener. We definitely are challenged to get back into shape and to relearn the joys of rocky roads!

farm road

But we are not discouraged, only determined to get over these new little challenges. What are a few little bumps on this adventurous and breathtaking road called ‘Italia’!

I leave you with a vista shot of the Gran Sasso emerging from the fog. Living close to the sea, as we do, inevitably brings in fog, especially in the winter months. I captured this shot, did a little adjusting…enjoy and ciao for now..

fog

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Time of the Year

navabruzzo 5 Comments

No matter where I have lived, I have never been a big fan of winter. Not enough sunlight hours, temps that make me shiver even with 5 or 6 layers on, house never seeming warm enough unless I’m directly in front of a fire, and so on. There are many of us out there that just make it through the Christmas season and are ready for spring, forget January, February & March. So I’m getting my grumbling out of the way and how can I possibly have room to grumble! I’m living a dream here in Italy.

So it’s our first winter here and this one is actually a mild one. Been averaging around mid 50’s when back on the east coast of the US it’s been bitter cold. I’m sure we’ll get some winter in the next few weeks. I’m able to get some treks in around the farm but I’m keeping to the roads as the fields are gummy with the mud. Taking the dogs out of the courtyard is a guaranteed hosing down upon returning. Notwithstanding, the views are stellar of fields  greening up with winter wheat and the snow-covered Gran Sasso mountains are formidable with 4 meters of snow to-date.

A shepherd just moved his sheep onto a large pasture across the way from us. We’re not sure where he came from with his flock but we are thrilled. Maybe a neighboring farm or perhaps he has moved his flock up the valley from the east. John and I are like children, with the excitement of sampling something pure and simple of life here. We can see their collective form change fluidity as the dogs work, like a large white amoeba on the green hillside….. John was a sport and got up at sunrise today to head over to the ridge-line to see the flock and the working dogs. The sheep had arrived at sundown yesterday and stayed the night grouped together in temporary fencing. This morning, when John arrived, there were 4 men milking right there in the middle of the flock with another working the sheep into place. After each ewe was milked, she was allowed into a large fenced area, while the head shepherd and his German Shepherd moved the next batch up to the milkers. As John approached, two guardian dogs (Cane da pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese) made it very clear to him to keep his distance from their flock. Once the milk was all collected, it was transported away in a van with the milkers. The cheese, that will be made from this milk, (most often Pecorino) is amazing and all four of us have gotten hooked. Romeo and Orso suck down any pieces we’re willing to dole out.

When I got up this morning, the flock was still there with the milkers most likely to return before moving the sheep on to their next pasture.

The Girls
Everyone Working
Milk for Cheese
The Milkers
Lead Shepherd
Guardians
The Herder
Finishing up
Those milked & those waiting
Now Time to Graze

Photos by John R. Dodge

Winter, I’ve decided, is also a good time to look for a house to buy. Yes, we need to make that decision eventually, as houses here in Italy aren’t usually rented indefinitely. They tend to go up for sale or to a family member in need. Such is the case with the house we’re renting now. The owner hopes to put it on the market in about a year. We are loving it here, but even though it is home now and it’s in such a stunning location, is a true bear to heat in the winter. So we’re going to look for something a bit smaller and take our time before we jump to buy. It may take us a year or so until we find what will work for us. I figure winter is a good time to look as you can see a house at its worst and then decide if you can live in it through the cold winter months. Does it make us feel warm and cozy, do we want to take a trek out into the weather, or just be at peace in our own place. So off we go this week to start looking. And where? We’d like to stay in the Abruzzo region within 45 minutes of the Adriatic. Maybe find a cottage in walking distance of a village with a bit of land for the dogs. Be situated in the hills between the sea and the mountains. The amazing thing about Abruzzo is that you can be swimming in the sea as you gaze at the mountains, they are that close.  I’ll update you down the road how the house hunting is going.

Something new that you will find on this site is the page,  John’s recipes.  Folks on Facebook have been asking for his recipes as I post the yummy soups he has been making for us this winter. As I add more recipes to the page, I may end up categorizing them as we go along. Enjoy and if you have any questions about them, leave a comment on the recipe page and John will get back to you.

As always, I’ll leave you with today’s view of the Gran Sasso at dawn. Ciao for now.

gran sasso dawn