Geordieborn

Behopes he is very wrong, there seems to be a lot of worry in the press about the dam at Campotosto.

Pica

YES It came back Wednesday afternoon at 5. A couple of houses near us still don't have power though; they've been lent emergency generators, poor things. We do have a generator, the problem was knowing we couldn't get down to Piane for benzina, hence being frugal.
Our road down to Piane is a total mess; trees broken, mudslides, more potholes than ever and there were plenty before all this! Neighbours have vowed to give up keeping livestock and have only hens from now on, his tractor is stuck under a second fallen barn.
As a group of 4 occupied houses we've made a joint decision that with the next forecast of prolonged snow we're all off to Havana or a hotel in a civilised place.

philat98

You have to watch out Pica. The men in our village go to Cuba to look for new wives.

Patty

So glad to hear Pica that things are getting back to normal (albeit slowly). You've had it really tough down there and you all deserve a break. (although Havana sounds good too )

carcajou

My wife is Italian (not from Abruzzo) but half her family is from there, her Grandmother is still near there. Her Grandmother has lived there for 50 or 60 years but is having trouble sleeping now because of all the tremors - not from them occurring but the anxiety of it. Not just the recent ones but dating back a while now. The towns around there are nervous more are to come.

Pica

Update: The snow has mostly gone apart from where the snowploughs piled it up-
but now - so has the road
There are 3 ways down from our hilltop. The one most used has collapsed its full width for a stretch of about 20 metres. The second one is flooded by a river bursting its banks.
The last and most circuitous is the final escape route. We tried it once and got lost but now have no choice.
People keep saying that Italy isn't a third world country but it's certainly medieval !

Geordieborn

Sorry to hear of your further woes Pica, thought with the snow almost gone and road repairs going on things would be looking up! If you are living where I think you are I suspect it’s always going to be a challenging place to live! We eventually got back from a UK prolonged stay (due to the snow) and found our two 100m drives both still piled with snow over a meter high in places. Took a week to clear it enough to get the car out. Still we missed the worst of it and the house despite the cold had suffered no damage and the car started first time after getting on for 3 month… If it’s the same Piane, we spotted one of the roads down was still blocked (again) by tons of mud, but at least the road just prior to that is being fixed. Not too sure how the will fix the little bridge just before Cesi, be hopes they will also make it a bit wider!

Pica

Ha! Wecome back to La Dolce Vita
It is indeed the same Piane and I guess it'll be another 18 months before they clear that slip road again-just before another winter. Good news for you that the car started fine and house still intact
San Giorgio is a lovely place really, we have the most generous, funny and caring neighbours. The bridge over to Cesi was only repaired in 2016!!! I really don't understand the mentality of patching badly. Also the road before the slip road as you come from Piane to Cesi was also repaired recently. It's like throwing money down the hillsides

Patty

Golly Pica - its never ending isn't it. I'm sorry to hear your troubles. I really hope something gets sorted for you soon. We drove up in the hills this weekend near Val Pellice (west of Turin), and we were quite shocked to see that there is still a lot of damage from the bad flooding we had in November. Things certainly don't happen overnight here do they

Pica

No things don't happen speedily OR properly, it's most disheartening.
Hope you're OK.

Patty

Ah but Pica - they probably had a lot of money to do the repairs 'properly' but then someone (shock horror) skims their bit off the top and what's left goes to the contractors doing the job - therefore job done .....but not brilliantly

Pica

Road repairs were supposed to happen last autumn. The notice said that almost half a million euros had been designated for the work. They built 2 gabions and chucked some gravel down-it's made no b****y difference

Geordieborn

If it's the road we last used just over 18 months ago on the way up to the Campo, then it was very bad then with what was almost just a gravel stretch, single track and drops either side. Not too sure how they ever could fix such roads safely! The road just before the slip roads is indeed being fixed yet again, but without mega support, that and the slip roads will forever be blocked/problems.. At least we've had some very nice sunshine since we got back, but the heavy rain at the moment is a big worry.

Geordieborn

Just wondering how things are going Pica? Last 2 days have seen a lot of rain here and the tiny little stream we never see in the valley has been a torrential river. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard it here, went out the door and although it’s getting on for 500m away, it was a roar as soon as you stepped out the house door. Going down through Piane to Cesi there were more mud slides as well as the new sign up to your place showing “strada interrotta”, which I assume is in respect of the road you said had went? Hopefully the current monthly forecast showing the next 2 weeks as rain free turns out to be correct.

Pica

Hi Geordieborn, You're correct, the SS81 is the road from Piane through to Cesi (do you frequent Todis?) where they're doing repairs. The strada interrotto sign does refer to our broken road-the SP32. There's a stream of effeci trucks carrying something to fix the road-they're using the Via Villadegna road to get from Piane to San Giorgio which is the one we now have to use to get to shops. These big, heavy trucks are therefore doing more damage to the roads!! Rumour has it that the SP32 has "gone" in 2 places and the great plan is to place 1 or maybe 2 temporary bridges to go over the breaks. I think we're very lucky that the rain wasn't too heavy.
Our white car is now a brown car. Also we now have mains electrical cable draped down a hill above us and through 2 trees in our garden in order to reach a telegraph pole to connect the house above us
How are you managing?