House One and House Two

You may recall my mentioning an opportunity to occupy a larger, more modern house next to our cute stone cottage. Here’s the whole story of our houses.

About a year and a half ago Mike and I decided that we’d like to move to Italy. But we had no idea how to do that. Then I found out about an organization called Smart Move Italy run by Samantha Wilson, a Canadian expat living in Tuscany. I think I found it on Facebook. Mike and I first took her boot camp class, then her “How to Move to Italy” class. She is a wealth of information and has a dynamic network of professionals to help folks like us understand the requirements and assess our readiness to make such a move. Ultimately, we decided it was what we wanted to do, and we hired her to help us work through the quagmire of documents we needed. We also hired her to help us find a house that would meet the requirements for an Elective Residency Visa and still fall under Italy’s 7 per cent tax scheme for retirees.

Samantha did find a few houses and apartments that might have worked for us. But one day I saw on Facebook Marketplace a cute little stone cottage in Abruzzo for rent. So I asked Samantha what she thought. She called the owner and immediately afterward called us to say that we needed to take a closer look at it. We held a virtual walk-through of the house with the owner, Pamela Viner. After several discussions with Pamela and Samantha, we came to an agreement. It was a good deal for everyone. I think the best part for us is that Pamela was leaving her car for us to use. We couldn’t wait to get to Italy.

That was last September (2021). Our appointment with the Chicago consulate was September 30. We had hoped to move November 1. But Mike had a heart attack on December 11. And still no word from the consulate. So we knew that our move would be months away. We finally got our visas on December 27. Because Mike was in Cardio Rehab (and needed a second stent), we continued to pay rent on the house. We finally moved on March 29.

Pamela had moved back to England, and the stone cottage had been left vacant for about five months. Five cold months. We’re told that the stone houses maintain heat really well, but this house had not had any heat for months. So it was very cold when we arrived. It is such a cute, charming, very Italian house. We really like it. Except for the cold. We bought a couple of electric heaters, which helped. Mike became expert at building fires in the fireplace. I did my usual “nesting” to make it our home. We moved furniture around, took some out to the storage shed to make more room in the living area, and bought a number of new household items. We were convinced that we could make it our home for the next few years.

The house is set at the top of a hill along with four other houses. Next to us is a house owned by a British couple Maria and Robert. They are very generous and welcoming people. So helpful to us. On the other side is a house owned by another British couple, Paul and Justina. Paul is renovating the house and Justina is still working in the UK. We will get to meet her next week when she comes for vacation. On the other side of Paul is a delightful Italian couple Angela and Giuseppe. Behind our stone cottage is another house owned by Julia and Varlerij who live in Berlin. They bought the house four years ago with plans to retire here, although retirement for them is still years away. They are able to come twice a year for a week or two. I really can’t say enough good things about our neighbors. They have all been so nice and helpful to us as we adjust to life here.

Now, here comes the story of House Two. Julia and Varlerij love, love their house. And they hate having to leave it vacant for so many months every year. When they came for their vacation in April, we made friends with them right away. Before they returned home, they made us an offer we could not refuse. The end result is that we now have two houses. One charming, stone Italian cottage, and one large, updated modern Italian house. House two has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, Mitsubishi room heating and cooling, and a modern Ikea kitchen. Plus, a big patio that overlooks the hillside with 100 olive trees. So we have plenty of room for guests to come visit (hint, hint).

Of course, there are downsides to maintaining two houses. Neither Mike nor I know much about gardening. Pamela’s poor garden is suffering. Mike does the mowing and I’ve done some weeding and trimming. Giuseppe takes care of the olive trees, so we do not have to worry about them. I’ve hired a woman to come clean house twice a month. We are settling in.

To see photos of the houses, click here