Our house in Abruzzo

 Every time I think about it, which might be several times in a day I feel a warm glow inside. We are still probably not sure how it happened but here is what we can make out about the decision to buy a house in Abruzzo, Italy. The first point is that we like to go on holiday. Being complicated about these things we like some beach, some ‘culture’ lots of tradition and easily found good food. Also we never felt that we had lots of extra money so ‘good value’ was often high on the list too.

We were lucky to be invited to Corsica to spend a couple of weeks with friends a few years ago. The following  year we returned to the same general area but Sardinia this time – our friends joined us again. Sardinia was lovely and with direct flights from East Midlands (our local) airport it seemed like a good place to return to. In the end we thought we might like to see Rome the next year, though with two school age children we probably needed beach time too. So that time we flew to Rome, spent a couple of days there and then drove across the ‘boot’ to Abruzzo. We stayed in a small beach town in Chieti and it worked very well for us. We drove to Lanciano some evenings and enjoyed the summer festivals. The following year it seemed logical to return to the same spot, because we knew our way around a bit - and that is when the idea really took hold.

Both busy with full time jobs and active boys a holiday was often part adventure, trying new places and restaurants and part relaxation. Sometimes we thought, it would be nice to just do the relaxation and save the adventure for other occasions. Having looked at property in Italy Abruzzo seemed like an extremely good deal. As we dreamed and contacted estate agents online we were impressed at how promptly Monia at Abruzzo Rural Property would answer our enquiries, with plain and simple answers. This went on for a while and we were unable to find the limit of her patience with our speculative enquiries. Some things changed in our lives and it became evident that if we were to stop dreaming and become serious then we might be able to afford something small, even if it was a tiny shack in the middle of a small olive grove.

So then we began to be serious. We informed Monia that we would fly out to view some properties and the story began. We flew out last winter and spent two days with Monia and her outstanding English language skills, viewing properties. As patient as her emails, she took us to see all the places we had listed - spotted around different towns and villages in Chieti province. The second day of viewings was bright and sunny and that is when we saw ‘our house’.

A stone house with a dozen olive trees, in a small hilltop village. The view from the back of the house is jaw dropping yet serene, everything else is all we wanted and more. All four of us decided then and there that this one was it. Monia then spent the next few weeks helping us to negotiate a price, get all our paperwork organised, a bank account, a notary, a geometra and probably a hundred other vital things we didn’t even properly realise. Then on a balmy July evening this summer the deed was finalised in the notary’s office with the seller and her (it seemed) entire extended family present. It was a complicated contract where many of the family members had claims to bits of the land and house. The assembly of all the various people was a mammoth task to get right for the day and we didn’t have to lift a finger. The entire process could not have been smoother and Monia was astounding in her ability to get things done, yet always allow us to take our time with decisions and to clarify each part of the process until we were sure.

So now we are having some adjustments done to the house to make it fully ours and still Monia is by our side, helping to smooth the process and compensate for our lack of Italian language skills. Without Monia we would never have felt confident in buying in Italy. It was totally painless – in fact I think I can say it was really fun. Now we have a place to go to relax. We won’t get out there as much as we’d like - but in between we can always travel there in our imaginations.