Italian Adventures – We Bought a House in Italy!

The Months Leading up to April 5, 2022 Arrival

In February 2022, back in Seattle, I finalized selection of the new kitchen and two new bathrooms and put down my deposits. I also hired Marco and his team to do all of the work, including working with the Geometra to obtain permesso from the Comune (sounds like cōmmoonay) to open the wall between the living room and the new kitchen. Federica, who is only about an hour away in Terni, would supervise, coordinate, and visit the house periodically throughout the process.

The bathrooms would require all new plumbing and pipes. Sure, you could save a bunch of money by not doing this but in the long run, this is the better option and an investment in the house. As they began removing the wall tiles in what would be the new kitchen, they discovered that the wiring was a hot mess so they rewired everything, creating two distinct circuits – one for the major appliance and one for everything else. They raised outlets to countertop height, removed the old flooring and resurfaced the walls. Seeing the progress in photos was fascinating and invigorating…I couldn’t wait to see the finished work.

I have heard many nightmare stories where Italian contractors simply don’t show up, are unreliable, and many other negative things, but Marco was the exact opposite. He showed up when he said he would, his crew worked efficiently and long hours, and he accepted my seemingly never-ending list of tasks to be completed. I half joked with Federica and Desiree, asking if I can keep him forever! (By the way, contractors being flakey is not an Italian thing. If you have ever worked with them in the US, you know they often say they will be there on a certain date, only to never arrive and be hard to reach)

When I arrived on April 5th, nothing was finished. Due to supply chain issues and delivery delays by Leroy Merlin, I had no working kitchen nor did I have a working bathroom. In fact, the only place in the entire house you could get hot water was in the newly plumbed bidet in Jessica’s bathroom. No problema, I can make this work – I own a house in Italy after all, what more did I need?!

On the day of my arrival, I had a list of things I needed to get done: buy a small refridgerator, go to the ENEL office and pay my electric and gas bills, go to the Electronics store and look into WiFi, and get groceries. I have read many times that if you have a list of 5 things to get done in Italy, you should be happy if you accomplish one of them in a day so I was prepared.

Stefania at the Enel office was extremely helpful and took my payments happily. She didn’t speak any English but she had just come back from lunch with a friend who did speak a little English, so she gladly helped out. I was trying to get assistance in setting up my online account so I could pay once I was back home but this proved beyond our communication skills so I would ask Desiree for help. First task complete!

I then went around the corner in Fabro Scalo to the electronics store where a very nice many named Francesco helped me. He would need to do a little research on the best WiFi options given where my house is and asked if I could come back in an hour. Naturally, he didn’t speak English either so when he said Vai Via, I understood that he was telling me to go away. I also figured out that he was asking for me to come back in an hour or two, but given my list of tasks, I asked if I could come in the morning. Si Si! He opens at 9am, va bene!

Off to Orvieto to the Mercantino to buy a small fridge. I remember seeing them there in January and their prices were much better than the Electronix store where we bought the washing machine, so off I went. Again, not a word of English but I found what I needed, went to the front to pay and the nonna, store owner with her husband, proceeded to wheel out a large box on a dolly from the back room. She walked me over to the store model, opened it, showed my the temperature knob and repeated “Due e mezzo! Niente!” She was very clear on what the temperature needed to be in the fridge.

Now the cashier was a healthy young man of say, 30, and the woman’s husband was in the store, but looked quite a bit more frail than her, so I was a little surprised to see her grab that dolly and wheel it out to my car. I loved her take charge attitude. I loved her even more once I saw her tug on the little strap on the back of the rear seats to fold them down. BRAVO, the seats in the Twingo DO fold down! We both lifted and shoved that 4 ft fridge into the Twingo and off I went…time for groceries!

All in all it was a VERY productive day!!! I paid my bills, bought a fridge, bought groceries, and was well on my way to getting WiFi…this might be an all time Italian record!!!