We bring our visit to an end mid July. 3 weeks on this visit, the most we’ve spent so far. The demolition completed while we were here. Great to see some actual activity, as opposed to the talking and paper shuffling. Sadly we did not get to the signature for the purchase. We are now hanging hopes on next visit in September, but like all things Italian, it depends. Dipende!!

Summer Heat

Europe heatwave: 23 Italian cities on red heat alert as temperature reach records high

This was a warm one. 36 Celsius, 96.8 Fahrenheit. 43 in southern Italy, puleeze. June weather was pretty normal, with some unexpected rain. July roared in with upper 90’s. This heat activates everything from Martins (our favorite acrobatic birds) to wasps in the pool. None are really bothersome, you behave and so will they. We haven’t mastered Celsius yet, so constantly converting so we can equate the feeling of heat to what we know. No A/C, so we run fans. The early morning is the coolest. We are still learning the Italian way, you open windows in early morning to let heat out and cool in. As temp rises, you close all windows and shutters to block out the sun. The walls of the house are near 2 feet thick so the temps stays fairly reasonable and consistent if you follow the method above. The lower you go in the house the cooler it gets. Its’ 83.8 F as I write this but its moving up, pool is the only real savior. This will be an adjustment during this time of year, we may need to find an AC solution for the worst of the heat so at least we can sleep. We still manage to get out and about in the car A/C and occasionally the temp is lower than forecast so we make the best of things.

Property Purchase

To our surprise they were able to complete the demolition of the pig stables while we were here. Amazing work by a small crew and they were done within a few days including hauling everything away. See before and after photos. Of course this just means we move on the next of many steps but we are very pleased to see real progress. Next steps are approval by the comune of the demolition and then approval for the sanatoria, then getting underway with repairs of the wagon wheel room and the septic tank. Both will take a bit of time. We did get to meet the Architect on this project Luca. Couldn’t have been more charming and worked so hard to speak English for us, we learned so much from him in terms of where we are, what specifically needs to be done and the forecast. The immediate challenge is the comune responsiveness. Until the comune blesses the demolition, the Architect cannot hire the teams to complete the other work. If you don’t book them in advance, it moves the project out. Since August everything is shutdown in Italy for summer vacation, we will pick back up in September. So we think November is the new purchase date.

Immigration

No major updates. Waiting for background check activities and some follow up on requirements, all before we can submit paperwork and schedule consulate visit. We must do Federal and State backgrounds for some ridiculous reason. Fortunately the State process runs thru local businesses, we use UPS and it couldn’t have gone easier. As opposed to the USPS Federal version. I can’t recall if I shared the current steps, but now that George and I are married, we’re submitting him first as the primary and I’ll follow as the spouse. We understand this workflow to be simpler, if you can imagine that being true. We expect all this to coincide with our plans for the end of this year.

Shopping

On this trip we decided to start looking at home furnishings. We have interest in new beds, kitchen and bath fixtures and so on. Not because we are ready to buy, but more curious about where Italians shop and what is easily available. There are sort of industrialized areas of Italy where all the stores and big box shopping can be had. We visit some specialized fixture stores and some kitchen design stores. It feels very much like you’d see in the US in terms of presentation, however, its hard to find unique things. Modern Italian style is not our thing. Every store feels just like the other. We also visited a few home goods stores, packed with goods and also familiar. The bed review was interesting. The names, the way they market is a little different. Of course we hand pressure test them and lay on a few to zero in on our taste. One of our preferred of course is called the American something or other. Not sure what that says about us. We had mixed reviews on what was available in these stores, but a good exposure to how it works. Felt like a good investment of our time. Based on what we saw in the stores (and experienced with the existing beds in the house), Italians generally prefer very firm mattresses. Not sure our aging frames can handle it much longer.

Drive to Spoleto

As we investigate Italy’s tax scheme that allows you to lower your tax % by having a home in a specific area of Italy (I’ll explain later) we decide to take a drive to one of these towns to have a look. We worry they are run down or otherwise uninhabitable, and need to see for ourselves.

Spoleto is about 1.5 hour drive from Orvieto. Most of which is travelled off main highway. The drive is great and not too far away from Orvieto so we could go between locations in an easy drive.

We are surprised by how nice the town is. They are very organized, in that you park at the city lower entrance and take very nice air conditioned escalators up into the city. We had to get oriented first but then it was easy to make our way. Spoleto looks like an Arts town. Even their Duomo has expansive seating to enjoy the music festivities that go on here. We will need to come back when it’s cooler. Anyhow, totally worth the drive and we would definitely consider this an option for part time living to save on taxes. Here’s a nice article on the city: READ ARTICLE

Italy’s volcano problem

Stromboli hissing and rumbling, Etna erupts in Sicily. There has been much chatter about volcanos on this visit. With Italy’s history and number of major volcanoes in and around, you feel a short lived sense of concern when they start rumbling.

Fortunately nothing of major concern, though is seems Sicily’s Catania airport was closed for a bit.

Here’s a good article on current state and predictions of the future: Italy is a hotbed of volcanic activity

Tax Incentives

Italy has several programs they have available to encourage investment in property, economy, energy and so on. They refer to these as schemes, which of course in America sounds under handed. The schemes that allow you to improve things is referred to as Superbonus. There are some bonuses in which you could get 110% of your investment and it goes down from there. Anyhow, another scheme is a 7% tax rate for moving to a community that is suffering from attrition or maybe had an earthquake in the past and hasn’t fully recovered. If you move to one of these locations, you could lower your tax rate to 7% each year for 10 years, which is huge. Given the high rate of Italian tax, this could be a sweet deal. It gets more complicated from there, but you could have your home in one city but have an apartment in one of these 7% towns and get the tax deal. Spoleto may be one of these towns. Here’s a great article covering all the ways you could benefit from the Superbonus Read Article; and here’s another talking about the 7% scheme Read Article

Tax Support

It would be no surprise that the taxation setup in Italy can be complicated not only due to language, but the agreements between US and Italy that allow you to offset so you don’t pay taxes twice on the same income. We’ve been working to secure a tax consultant who can assist us with smart decision making as we forecast the next few years. The tax year begins with the calendar year, so we’d be tax residents starting January of 2025. For these complicated topics, having someone who speaks reasonable English is a huge benefit. As we meet with a couple of tax consultants, we bend towards English but struggle a bit in that we worry that only an Italian would truly know the ins and outs. Stay tuned.

Florence overnight July 4th

We decided to break things up a bit by taking the train to Florence. It’s been a bit hot so finding activities to keep us out of the heat has been the goal. We took the train leaving from the Orvieto station, it only makes a few stops so took just over two hours. Comfortable train, no issues encountered. Upon arrival at the station, we found it difficult to get a taxi. George was able to find an Uber and it arrived fairly quickly. We got to our room and relaxed a bit, then headed out into the heat for a little excursion. Having gotten used to spending all our time in smaller towns, the traffic and tourist crowds of Florence were a bit of a shock. Didn’t take long to feel the weight of the heat, so we found a cafe in a piazza and sat for a drink and to people watch. It’s fascinating to watch visitors from all over the world collide like this. Different cultures bring their expectations with them from their home country. Italians can be flexible, but only up to a limit. One example was a table where they were grabbing chairs from other tables so they could all sit together. This didn’t go well with the server who was pretty verbal about it not being acceptable. Seems he would have preferred they get a larger table that could serve them all, rather than messing with other tables/chairs. Got a little heated, but settled down quickly and they left.

George was able to find us a dinner reservation at Il Parione Restaurant for 9pm, the soonest we could get in. We do notice the longer we spend here, eating dinner tends to get later and later. We’ll see what the scale has to say about eating so late. We had an excellent server, great energy. The food and wine were spectacular. Couple sitting next to us were also American. We try to engage, while friendly, didn’t seem open to chatting so we moved on. Heading back to the hotel, we pause to see fireworks display over the river. We assume its a celebration of July 4th in our honor, but honestly we aren’t sure. Returned to the room, it has cooled a bit at this hour. Slept really well of course, in a real bed. In the morning made our way to a local shop for pastry and cappuccino, then went for a short walk. We determined the trains running back were either at 10am or 5pm for the faster one, so out of concern for comfort given the heat we decided to leave at 10. Ride back was equally as comfortable and so easy since you simply leave your car at the station. We are learning which trains work well for us in terms of comfort, ease and schedules. We’ll come back to Florence when the weather cools a bit.

Dining experiences

On this trip of course we visit our favorites and they don’t disappoint (See list now under Restaurants in People Places Things link above). We ask Oxana for a list of her favorites and she’s so generous with several. On this trip we visit Trattoria del Conte. It’s off a small road and not much to look at from the outside or inside for that matter. We are seated at a table outside, (the weather on this day is wonderful) and handed a menu. It’s all hand written in Italian, which sounds lovely, right? Since it’s hand written of course our iPhone translator isn’t much help. Fortunately George is doing so well with his Italian, he’s able to walk thru roughly so we can make a decision. We shared an order of Umbrichelli and tomato “pomodoro” and a platter of meats. Mouth watering still from the experience. Oxana shared that its a favorite of those in Orvieto. We agree and will return. They were charming and semi friendly. It was a little quiet on our arrival, but within a half hour was fairly busy as the tables began to fill. Oxana’s offered some additional recommendations that we’ll add to our list: Trattoria la Palomba, Trattoria da Giggetto. With one tourist trap exception, we have yet to have a single complaint about food and drink in Italy.

We returned a couple of times to our favorites: Charlie with their award winning pizzas, wonderful friendly staff, and lovely, romantic outdoor courtyard; and Mamma Angela with their amazing pastas and bruschetta (one of us is addicted to their Pistachio Umbrichelli dish).

Italian bank account

Several of the silos we are tackling recommend an Italian bank account. Italy and really Europe in general are trying to clamp down on financial fraud (money laundering) and so having an account in Italy can simplify things. This is only true AFTER you have been thru the ringer to get the actual account. I think we spent a total of 4 hours in the bank, we had Oxana help at first visit. We then brought a real interpreter for the second visit. At least the banker was pleasant, originally from the same town in Sicily as our interpreter, and had recently returned from his honeymoon in the States, including time in Los Angeles. I showed him a few pictures of our home in Hollywood and he smiled and commented on how much they had enjoyed their time visiting. We also found common ground on the current state of politics, both in the US and in Italy. Crazy times! Can you imagine taking 4 hours in the US to get a basic checking account? Sure, we are more complicated in that we are not Italian citizens. You just don’t imagine how complicated things can be and how inefficient things are until you are swimming in the Italian soup of bureaucracy!

Orvieto from a distance photo

On a previous trip during a drive there were some spectacular views of Orvieto. On this trip we remembered and made some time to pull over to capture what a hill town looks like from a distance. The Colonnetta house is about 20 minute drive into Orvieto. From this angle you get a real sense of the town on the hill and the rolling green that surrounds it.

Colonnetta di Prodo

We had been wondering what our town’s name meant, assuming it was someone’s name, or a military hero, and was somehow related to the tiny nearby hamlet called Prodo. It turns out that Prodo is a type of stone (marble) and a small column was placed as a marker at the fork in the road between two state routes in our town. So, the name simply means “small column of marble.”

That’s a good overview of July. We go back to Italy mid September, so spending our time now readying the US house for sale.