Home > News > Dream of Italy Newsletters > Newsletter Archive > July 2013 Newsletter > Casa in Abruzzo
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Casa in Abruzzo
The sun was shining, the sky was blue – a classic Italian summer’s day. We were on our way to see a house we had agreed to buy some months ago ‘sight unseen’, in a small village in Abruzzo in Central Italy. Full of anticipation, and some trepidation, we drove up the hill towards the small hillside village of Prezza. As we arrived in the square we had pored over many times in photos and on Google Earth there was a slightly surreal if not emotional feeling. The people sitting in the tranquillity of the square were watching us as we got out of the car and went into the bar for a cappuccino while we took stock. So far, so beautiful.
We began the climb up the hill to our new Italian home. There was no driving to the front door or anywhere near it. Our street was built before wheeled vehicle access was included in street design.
We climbed several steps … then descended more steps to enter the house. The owners, who were the heirs of the house, had generously said we could move into it straight away if we wished, even though the legal process of actually buying the house could not happen immediately.
The two houses that we were to buy had not been occupied for over 30 years in one case and over 50 in the other. During that period, the inhabitants were primarily insects, who had built a considerable network of webs! Despite that, one of the two houses was decidedly habitable. It even had an old wire wove double bed – it did not smell and had no evidence of snake, rat or scorpion inhabitation. After some trepidation, Kathy laid on it and pronounced its hammock like status ‘good enough’. That was it, we would stay the night in our new abode.
Hmm.... Then the reality of the situation hit. In terms of a hierarchy of needs, the primary one for shelter
was adequately met, but some of the others were not. No water, no power, no cooking capability. This was true camping. However, despite these basic needs not being met, some other, loftier needs were …. we were loving this adventure and the hardships we faced somehow contributed to how deeply happy we felt!
Fellow New Zealanders (now friends) Gail and Wayne (who helped us to buy the property) came over and surveyed our situation. Wayne is very practical and a real “Kiwi ingenuity” specialist. He assessed the water situation and noted one water mains tap that had a ‘seal’ on it from the water company, but the other did not. Alan had already tried to turn the unsealed tap on, but it would not budge for him. Wayne applied some force and bingo, we had water from one tap! Alan felt like hugging him (but his Kiwi bloke thing took over and he didn’t). We only had cold water from one tap, but that single thing opened up huge possibilities for us. The water was ‘free’ for the time being!
Next, we needed to be able to heat this water and there was a ‘forno’ or gas cooker already in the kitchen. It was spotlessly clean still (even after 30 years without use) and after making some enquiries we found a Salumeria (grocery shop), just over 20m from our house, which sold ‘bombola’ or gas bottle refills. Within 20 minutes we had both water and means to heat it and cook! ‘Don’t worry’, said the owner of the Salumeria ‘just pay me when you’re ready’.
That left one basic need unmet – we had no electricity. Undeterred, we bought LED torches from the supermarket and quickly got used to going to bed at sunset (not a hardship when it gets dark around 10pm).
After a day or two, we were chatting with some guys who spoke English who were working on a bathroom in a neighbour’s house. When they found out we had no power, they were horrified and immediately offered to run a lead from a nearby property for us.
We mentioned that we had made application for power. They asked us about the wiring in the house and when we told them it was the very old surface wiring, they said, “Oh well, if the power company come on site to connect your power and see that, they will not connect until you rewire the entire house. I have seen that take up to 6 months”!!!!
It was time to talk to the power company. We felt like the protagonists in one of those ubiquitous TV programmes about foreigners buying homes in remote parts of Europe. We drove to the town where the power company office was and found it had closed with no notice. We asked at the information centre and the person there rolled her eyes – she had her own beef with the power company. ‘You must go there in person’, she said, ‘and the nearest office is now two hours’ drive away’. ‘Va bene’, this is life in Italy –bureaucracy and inefficiency are part of this life. We knew this before we arrived and had prepared for the worst.
What we weren’t prepared for though was the warmth of our welcome in Prezza.
The day after our arrival, we set out to look for something to eat for lunch. Prezza only has two ‘bars’ (where you can buy coffee and sweet things), two butchers and two grocery shops. We went to the second bar/grocery shop, and met the wonderful Stella. Her grocery shop was closed but when we said we were looking for something for lunch she turned the lights on and made us a wonderful panino each with prosciutto and mozzarella. As we devoured them, an old man with no teeth came in for his daily coffee. He was interested to meet the foreigners, and when we’d chatted a little he said ‘you belong here now, you are part of the Prezza family, one of us’.
Our adventure was just beginning….
We began the climb up the hill to our new Italian home. There was no driving to the front door or anywhere near it. Our street was built before wheeled vehicle access was included in street design.We climbed several steps … then descended more steps to enter the house. The owners, who were the heirs of the house, had generously said we could move into it straight away if we wished, even though the legal process of actually buying the house could not happen immediately.
The two houses that we were to buy had not been occupied for over 30 years in one case and over 50 in the other. During that period, the inhabitants were primarily insects, who had built a considerable network of webs! Despite that, one of the two houses was decidedly habitable. It even had an old wire wove double bed – it did not smell and had no evidence of snake, rat or scorpion inhabitation. After some trepidation, Kathy laid on it and pronounced its hammock like status ‘good enough’. That was it, we would stay the night in our new abode.
Hmm.... Then the reality of the situation hit. In terms of a hierarchy of needs, the primary one for shelter
was adequately met, but some of the others were not. No water, no power, no cooking capability. This was true camping. However, despite these basic needs not being met, some other, loftier needs were …. we were loving this adventure and the hardships we faced somehow contributed to how deeply happy we felt!Fellow New Zealanders (now friends) Gail and Wayne (who helped us to buy the property) came over and surveyed our situation. Wayne is very practical and a real “Kiwi ingenuity” specialist. He assessed the water situation and noted one water mains tap that had a ‘seal’ on it from the water company, but the other did not. Alan had already tried to turn the unsealed tap on, but it would not budge for him. Wayne applied some force and bingo, we had water from one tap! Alan felt like hugging him (but his Kiwi bloke thing took over and he didn’t). We only had cold water from one tap, but that single thing opened up huge possibilities for us. The water was ‘free’ for the time being!
Next, we needed to be able to heat this water and there was a ‘forno’ or gas cooker already in the kitchen. It was spotlessly clean still (even after 30 years without use) and after making some enquiries we found a Salumeria (grocery shop), just over 20m from our house, which sold ‘bombola’ or gas bottle refills. Within 20 minutes we had both water and means to heat it and cook! ‘Don’t worry’, said the owner of the Salumeria ‘just pay me when you’re ready’.
That left one basic need unmet – we had no electricity. Undeterred, we bought LED torches from the supermarket and quickly got used to going to bed at sunset (not a hardship when it gets dark around 10pm).After a day or two, we were chatting with some guys who spoke English who were working on a bathroom in a neighbour’s house. When they found out we had no power, they were horrified and immediately offered to run a lead from a nearby property for us.
We mentioned that we had made application for power. They asked us about the wiring in the house and when we told them it was the very old surface wiring, they said, “Oh well, if the power company come on site to connect your power and see that, they will not connect until you rewire the entire house. I have seen that take up to 6 months”!!!!
It was time to talk to the power company. We felt like the protagonists in one of those ubiquitous TV programmes about foreigners buying homes in remote parts of Europe. We drove to the town where the power company office was and found it had closed with no notice. We asked at the information centre and the person there rolled her eyes – she had her own beef with the power company. ‘You must go there in person’, she said, ‘and the nearest office is now two hours’ drive away’. ‘Va bene’, this is life in Italy –bureaucracy and inefficiency are part of this life. We knew this before we arrived and had prepared for the worst.
What we weren’t prepared for though was the warmth of our welcome in Prezza.
The day after our arrival, we set out to look for something to eat for lunch. Prezza only has two ‘bars’ (where you can buy coffee and sweet things), two butchers and two grocery shops. We went to the second bar/grocery shop, and met the wonderful Stella. Her grocery shop was closed but when we said we were looking for something for lunch she turned the lights on and made us a wonderful panino each with prosciutto and mozzarella. As we devoured them, an old man with no teeth came in for his daily coffee. He was interested to meet the foreigners, and when we’d chatted a little he said ‘you belong here now, you are part of the Prezza family, one of us’.
Our adventure was just beginning….
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