Lorna at Vicenza

shite --------- I need to catch mouse twins then !

On the subject of eyebrows I horribly but jokingly asked Chloe if i could tweeze a few of her long, dark stray ones. She rightly said no but then I caught her in the bathroom having a little go.

That poor child will end up spending all her teenage pocket money on waxing !

Patty

Yes sorry - back to the thread !!!
Here we also have beautiful views of the Alps and hills. We have lakes not too far (Lake Avigliana, a small lake and Lake Garda which is one of the big 3 and then my absolute favourite Lake Orta)

The winters are very very cold - here near Turin we usually go under by about 8 to 10 degrees. However its usually sunny - even when its freezing. Just have to remember to put the car in the garage at night otherwise the locks get frozen We have ski-ing/sledging about 30mins away too and we are about 1 and a half hours form the ligurian coast.

Ed Foley

I can really recommend Abruzzo. I am not sure I explain where to start but I can tell you our approach. I don't claim it was logical or even sensible and we made lots of mistakes. When I retired our criteria were:
- near the sea
- within 30 minutes of an airport
- Reasonable countryside around
- easy walking distance to shops etc
- no renovation needed
- not living in a place that became jammed with traffic/tourists every summer
- not too far north because we didn't want to be surrounded by industry
- not too isolated because we planned on getting old here
- low maintenance, i.e. no olive grove or falling in love with an ancient palazzo

We started by looking through the two or three, monthly Italian property magazines available in all good bookshops. ( Or the one chain that is left in the UK ) and went to the exhibitions "La Dolce Vita " etc. We quickly ruled out Liguria, Tuscany and Amalfi on grounds of price. We never considered Sardinia or Sicily because we felt that we couldn't easily tour around the rest of the penisular. We ruled out Le Marche because of the threat of earthquakes ( I said our approach wasn't necessarily sensible.) Then we started arranging viewing trips with Estate Agents to the regions that were left.

Calabria was first. It didn't suit us because most of the off plan development were huge estates of small holiday homes which were being marketed heavily to Brits and Germans. I don't have anything against Brits or Germans; some of my best friends etc. etc. but there didn't seem to be a lot of point moving to Italy to live with them.

Puglia next. Mainly small holiday villas that were owned by Italian families that lived nearby. Puglia appeared very hot and dry. Most of the villas we saw were pretty isolated and had huge gardens, olive groves, orange and lemon orchards etc.

Then we found Abruzzo and our current home. Large new built apartment in a small village of 4000 people. Local shops within walking distance, two hypermarkets within 6 kilometres. Airport with direct flights to Stansted about 30 minutes away (and we can get to Rome and the airports there if we need to in 2 -3 hours) The sea is about 15 minutes away and the mountains and ski resorts about 30-40 minutes away. Four national parks within easy driving distance. Animals in the parks include bears, lynx and wolves. OK the main beaches get crowded in the summer but there are a lot of small coves only the locals know about which are great. And the local food and rstaurants are unbelievablely good. Nothing like Italian food in the UK. We never did visit Lazio or Molise

As to the climate. Well, it is not, the all year round sunshine I fantasized about. We get fog occasionally and last year it did snow in our village. But we are 1800 ft up. Down on the coast they assure me it never snows. In August temperatures topped 38 so air-conditioning is pretty important and in the winter temperatures do drop although somehow it never seems damp and depressing like the UK. Cold days also seem interspersed with warm days. A week or so ago it was cold for a few days but this week it has been around 22-23. Pretty good for late October. I would never have thought of asking for a log fire but I am really glad we have one because it is very cheering in winter.

Not sure if this was what you were looking for but I hope it helps. Feel free to come back with any questions

Lorna at Vicenza

good comments.

johnnyj

many thanks for your information. i had not considered abruzzo - yet.
what is the mix of nationalities in your village like?

Ed Foley

Mix of nationalities is probably a strange concept in Abruzzo. As far as I know there is us, there is a Canadian family with a couple of kids, one mexican lady, one polish lady, ,the local butcher's wife is Zimbabwean and I met a South African women in the bakery the other day. Apart from that I think everybody else are direct descendant of the Frentani who were here before the romans. I once saw a muslim lady working in the market and yesterday the beggars were back at the traffic lights and the locals assure me they are Rumanian.

However I go to a language school in a nearby city and there seem to be quite a fews Brits, Germans, Canadians and Japanese around. Tens not hundreds (Japanese because there is a Honda factory somewhere to the south)

I live in a very quiet village (apart fom the church bells and the frequent firework parties)iwith mainly older people but my perception may be distorted because most of the young ones are at work when we pensioners are wandering around the shops or the market. If you are looking for a younger and more vibrant crowd and nightclubs etc I think you would have to look at the bigger cities such as Pescara. Our village is the sort of place where you see cars parked in the main street with the windows open and keys left in the ignition and kids play in the streets all afternoon and evenings.

wildwalker

Hi, people I've spoke to say that the amphitheatre type area between Atri and Chieti including Penne, has it's own climate, and although has winter has a special quality.

bobbob

you could try putting the name of the town followed by property into Google. e.g tropea property. There are some English websites, and this is how we found our apartment.

ellybelly

I must say you all made me laugh, especially about the 20 layers of clothing.After a while you do feel the cold and I agree about the damp.Even with good central heating the houses are not so warm as in GB; the rooms are too big and usually very high.Naples is very damp and I don't know anyone over 40 without aches and pains.This winter has been AWFUL, it has been raining since November and not very warm either.My daughter lives in Milan and last year they went to Alto Adige to see snow; they didn't have to do that this year!One thing I have never seen in Naples;frost.I saw plenty of that in England.We usually have lots of sunny days here even in January but again, not this year

Kenny and Moe

Ellybelly,
I am way over 40 and have lots of aches and pains but it is one of the reasons I am staying here, for the sunshine that we do get nearly 9 months of the year. I think you were back in UK when we had frost at Christmas, my lawn was covered in it and I watched the Italian neighbour scraping it off her car, so we have it in the last few weeks. You are right about the rain though with more to come later this week
Regards Kenny

sheilamarsco

hi there i can agree with all that's been said about abruzzo came here from the isle of skye so i was used to beautiful scenery but this is just as beautiful and the summers are so much better without the midges!! as a pensioner i came for the sunshine to get away from the increasing arthritis and it seems to have worked although today is a bit of a shock instead of sitting out in the sunshsine of last week it's snowing!!! hope you find your little bit of heaven.