Italian Adventures – We Bought a House in Italy!

January 2022

Given the length of the Rogito, and the fact that Desiree insisted we visit the final design studio following the signing, we were not able to toast and celebrate taking ownership of the house. It was VERY anticlimactic and disappointing but we were all exhausted and ready to be home. The design studio was less than impressive so we muddled through and headed back to the apartment. As we drove through Orvieto scalo, just before turning left to climb the hill up to the Duomo, we were stopped by the Polizia. SERIOUSLY?!!! What now?! They asked for all of our documents…drivers license, passport and green card / Vaccination record. Thank goodness we all had everything in our possession – it was a standard check so after a few minutes we were allowed to leave.

We had to be at Casale Gelsomino by 9am so it was a very short evening. In the morning we brought a bottle of prosecco with us to the house so we could toast it properly! And Federica was so sweet, she brought us a bottle of Ferrari Prosecco to celebrate the new home. Love her!

Now let’s enjoy our IKEA adventure…of not!

The IKEA is in Rome and their website shows that you can rent a Hertz truck or van from their location. They also show that they deliver but once I entered all of our items for purchase, only some of them were deliverable so we decided we would just go and pick them up ourselves. HOWEVER, the IKEA Hertz won’t rent to you unless you have an Italian driver’s license. (DON’T even ask for details leading up to this revelation!). Now how this makes any sense at all is beyond me, given I can rent a car, truck, van or whatever from any other rental place with my US drivers license, a passport and a credit card. So I did some research online (PLEASE NOTE: this is still the night of the rogito) and decided our best bet was to stop at the Hertz rental place in Orvieto scalo in the morning. This is when we met Rita and Tony, Rita’s adorable fluffy pup who was full of love and kisses, just what we needed! While I worked with Rita, Jess played and snuggled with Tony…so cute!

But first, to set the stage, I placed our order for 5 beds (2 twins, 2 full and 1 queen), 2 dressers, 2 nightstands and 4 book shelves online with the intent of picking up on Saturday once we had a truck…a VERY BIG truck! Now, back to Rita and Hertz….

Rita was AMAZING! She didn’t have what we needed, but once she understood, she called the Rome office to reserve us a truck. To pick up in Rome and return to Rome was 180 euro, but to pick up in Rome and return to Orvieto was 800 euro. No thank you! So the next morning, we got up early and headed to Rome. The Hertz rental office was in the center of Rome AND it just happened to be Market Day, which made navigating the streets VERY interesting and nerve racking. (I seriously wish I had a picture of this truck!!)

The guy at the Rome Hertz was great, just like Rita. He didn’t want this big ass truck back in Rome so he suggested we return it to Orvieto…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I said sure, what is the cost? And his system turned up 900 euros! He freaked but KNEW he did NOT want this giant truck back in his shop in Rome so we bargained. He gave me a cost of 500 euro total and I said “SOLD!!!”

GOD BLESS ANDREW!

The truck was like a full size U-Haul truck in the US and we were in the center of Rome…NARROW roads, double-parked cars, motorcycles zooming in and out of cars in traffic, etc. Andrew agreed to drive the truck and did an amazing job. As we headed out of Rome center to get to the autostrada towards Roma Porta, Andrew cautiously navigated the roads and traffic perfectly while I followed in our rental car. It took us a few passes to actually get to Ikea, however, which made the morning all the more interesting.

We missed the first exit to IKEA but easily exited a few km later and made our way to the commercial zone. As Andrew navigated the truck into the commercial zone, the truck hit the height barrier bar and set it off swinging like crazy. The woman in the car behind him refused to move forward until it stopped swinging. OYE!

As Andrew navigated his way towards IKEA he turned too early and ended up in the truck distribution and loading zone…not where we need to be. So off we went, following the circular road around the commercial zone, only to be forced to exit back onto the autostrada. OYE AGAIN! Andrew knew he shouldn’t have passed the height barrier earlier and refused to do it again, but I forcibly got him to agree to give it another try. We agreed, in advance to park the truck where there was ‘truck’ parking for the IKEA Hertz trucks. I parked the little rental car and we all headed into IKEA to figure out how to pick up our pre-ordered items.

We waited in the ‘take a ticket and HOPE to get in the right line’ line, and after two attempts, got connected with a young woman who told us to go to the Pack and Carry area in the garage. Another OYE!! So we walked down to the area, waited for our turn, and then found the delivery crew with several pallets of furniture with very wide eyes at seeing us without a car. We tried to get one of them to go with us to the Hertz truck to then navigate to the loading dock but no luck, his boss wouldn’t let him drive with us for liability reasons. Best of Andrew is now in motion.

As Jess & Andrew worked on loading the truck, I ran into IKEA to buy other essential items…bedding, pillows, lamps, glasses, etc. I felt like I was in a sprint, getting to the check out line in a full sweat. Blah Blah Blah…I checked out and threw it all into our Tiny little Panda, toweled off, and went to find Jess & Andrew in the monster truck.

Fast forward to Casale Gelsomino about 1.5 hours later, unload everything, then off to return the truck to poor Rita. Her crew was NOT happy to take possession of this giant truck but we were VERY happy to get rid of it! It’s funny because we saw that truck in the parking area across from the Hertz office for the rest of the week…would Rita ever be able to get rid of this thing? Again, poor lovely Rita. For us, it was back up the hill to the apartment, wine, food and off to bed!