Find me a House!

“Find me an Umbrian house that will attract my children to come and visit – always!” It has to be in a village and budget is limited. A straight question from Signora P and conditions understood. Get going!


Trying to find reasons for your children to love their parents’ second home, this is what I would suggest to you, Signora:

Let us make an inventory of the borghi, easily accessed from Rome. I am sure your children would love you for saving an antique town house


and make you company on your daily “cobbled walks” into the pastoral countryside.

I can see you hesitating, Signora. Don’t worry, we’ll find you a house with a sound structure. The roof is missing! Yes, but the old tiles, coppi, have been saved. And look at the beautiful cotto floors. Good craftsmenship will do the rest.

How about a walled-in garden for your al fresco meals together,

privacy and sweeping views,

vaulted high ceilings,

original fireplaces (photo estate agent),

perhaps an old vasca to be turned into

an open-air bath? Once renvated you will have a country home with plenty of atmosphere, enough to attract anyone, Signora. (foto Casatica)

And, furthermore. I’m sure your children will appreciate your choice of a sustainable house. Recycled doors, beams and shutters

in perfect harmony with modern techniques and all modern cons. What do say, Signora? Ready for a house tour?

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are. Tante belle cose! I will be busy.

Cambiamento

End of October. Beginning of November. Sunny. Still mild and pleasant. And yet…

There is a slight change, cambiamento. Mornings crisp. Mist. Olive groves in sepia.


Swallows gone. The non-migratory birds “hibernating”.


Domestic friends indoors.

Homeless clochards taking refuge.

Al fresco dining having to wait for spring temperatures.

Plants preparing for the cold season.

Darkness falling already late afternoon. Villages illuminated.

Retreat. Cocooning. Coccolarsi.

Stacks of fire wood filled to the brim. Come what may... we are all prepared.

You too, enjoy your end-of-October weekend and festa di Ognissanti, All Saints’ day!

Turn Left at the Madonnina

Hovering above Fiumicino and the Leonardo da Vinci airport on my way home from Stockholm I visualized


my Italian dream. It was all a dream, before my inner voice told me to stop at the cross-roads, make up my mind and, hopefully, strike out new paths.

Until then literature fed my dream. Everything Italian. Hardcover, paperback, magazines. About people who had dared jump before me. House renovations, lifestyle, cultural encounters, the "do's and dont's", the secrets, the hardship and the joy. From the innumerable novels and short stories, a phrase engraved on my memory “Turn left at the madonnina” (miniature madonna).

Looking for the Italian “anima” I imagined myself “turning left or right at the madonnina”, and there it was…

My village, the house to call my new home, my next door neighbours, everyday life, new experiences, influences, outlooks, shortcomings, challenges. To satisfy my curiosity and stimulate my creativity.

Now that I have long settled down, I have learned that the madonnina is not only visionary. She is literally a signpost (apart from being a roadside shrine to the Virgin, of course). Often when you ask for an unknown village address, you are adviced to go past or turn right or left at the madonnina.

Consequently… When you come to visit, turn left at the madonnina. Uphill and there you are…

You cannot miss it!

On my Way, and Short Interval

I'm off in my undecked aircraft. Stockholm, here I come! Back next week. Until then... buon lavoro e buon fine settimana!

Water Accents

Slightly overgrown. Perfectly OK. Overdone, overcrowded, overdressed, overelaborate. Overload, overkill… No. My ideal garden has just a few accents. Water I could not live without though. The sound of water. Like rippling laughters. The taste of water. Lifeblood.


No doubt water was always vital in this country. Water and stone. Stone basins and cisterns are often pieces of great art. Here is my collection of antique garden reservoirs for your inspiration.


Some of my favourites. Shell-shaped marble basins. (Photo, CasaAntica)

Water chestnut for crystal-clear water. (Photo, Hans Martensson)

Ornate marble. (Photo, Taschen Verlag)

A concave block of lava stone. From Sardinia.

And chiseled limestone outside an Umbrian abbey.

The limestone water pipe of my garden pool.

Troughs. With or without water. (Photo from estate agent)

(Photo, CasaAntica)

A spacious courtyard. Troughs in a row. That’s all. Magic!

Water Arrangements

a lane in the centro storico of Terni ,

a backyard in Siena,

a private home near Chiusi,

a piazzetta in Spoleto…

What about your ideal garden accents? Any could-not-live-withouts? I would love to know.

Enjoy your weekend! Wherever! Buon divertimento!

Working Week and Worth While

Where is everyone? You knock on doors at this time of the year, and there is no answer.

If you are lucky, there is a sign, leading you further. If not, you just have to find out.

Follow your nose. Fermentation.

Into the backyard.

Follow your eyes. Sediment, ready for destillation. You guessed right. It is vendemmia, grape harvesting. The Grappa I can do without. Good wines. No way.

My idea of growing grapes and vinification was of the romantic kind. Before coming to live in Italy. Now I know. Viniculture is toil and moil. A lengthy “manicure” procedure. In the hope of good quality. Working long days in the fields. Weather permitting!

Having to wait for the result!

We are right now enjoying the 2006 production of the Colle Amerini wines, our local favourite fattoria. See my post last year on their Roman-Etruscan grapes.

The art of vinification takes me back to Sardinia and the cork oak trees. The importance of the cork quality. The cork, tappo, made to measure the neck of the bottle for optimal maturing conditions. Ingenious!

Driving through the vine-hills the other day on my way back, house hunting. A sign post at the Frantoio Gaudenzi made me pull up short. “Il Primo Olio Nuovo”. Came home with a litre of their first pressing of extra vergine, nonfiltrato (see my post from last year).

Bread on the grill. The non-filtered extra vergine on a plate. Thick, green. An explosion of intense aromas. The unmistakably peppery “bite”. Fruttato! The Italians know how to reward themselves after a hard day’s work. Thanks for sharing, amici! And thank goodness, some products are “instant stimulants”.

Have a rewarding week, you too, cari amici!

Tiling and Maioliche Antiche

Moving into our house years ago, I found a pile of antique tiles, maiolche antiche, in the grottoes. Some were cracked, some I could save. It would be a shame to leave them piled. What to do with them? Turning the matter over in my mind.

You can still find antique tiles in Italy. The originals, of course, rather espensive. Replicas are an alternative. But why tile your kitchen or bathroom top-down? Just a few will add a finishing touch. And it does not matter, if some are chipped. Patina, my friends!
(The two photos from VilleGiardini and Taschen Verlag)

Resin, cement, plastering. Currently very trendy solutions in renovation projects. Although a confirmed minimalist, I find the result too uniform. Even tedious. Instead…
(The two photos from Kerakoll Design and Umbrian estate agent)

Why not a solitaire? An exclamation mark.

A tapestry of antique findings. Different patterns of blue. Charming.

I am not a friend of backsplash tiling myself. My kitchen was originally tiled. Even the countertop was tiled. Years of cooking had left the tiles stained and crackled, seams dirty brown. I decided on carrara blocks made to measure. For harmony and homogeneity. A wonderful material, by the way.

Renovating an old house, there are more possibilities for the backsplash than tiles. I quite like the solution of hand-made terracotta (flooring), provided there is enough light.

For inspiration. Have to include this wall from the inside of the Terni amphitheatre. Beautiful, ingenious stone fitting!

Found this irresistible majolica floor in our albergo, Sardinia.

Again, if you have a limited collection of antique ceramic tiles, why not a square or a rectangle with resin flooring? Imagine, walking on “historic ground” every time you enter your kitchen or bathroom! (Photo VilleGiardini)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone! Buon divertimento!