From Iceland to Abruzzo: Why I bought a house in Colledimezzo?

 Our real estate agent Monia asked us if she could blog about us and the house on the hill in the little fairy village of Colledimezzo.

Of course it is our pleasure to share with everyone our experience of how it is to have one foot in Italy and one in Iceland. In our opinion Abruzzo is "a slice of heaven", we just love it!

We love the wonderful villages and the breathtaking views, the friendly people and their healthy attitude to life. The fresh and tasty food, its absurdly good. The lovely clean beaches that are not to crowded plus of course that which is most important for us Icelanders the good weather.

The first word you learn in Italy is "con calma" or slow down, in the beginning that was very difficult for two over stressed Icelanders!

We probably looked like mental patients to the villagers when we run up and down all the infinitely many steps from the house up to the bar many times a day even during the hottest hours of the day when no one was outside, to check out our e-mail and facebook status (the only internet connection is at the bar). In between painting doors, windows, walls and of course all the endless cleaning.

It's a good thing that I can speak Italian so that our dear neighbors, could tell us often enough to calm down, for us to actually learn to relax more and enjoy the moment.

When we first started looking for a summer house in Italy, I was very negative to search for a house in Abruzzo, the only thing I wanted to view was Toscana and preferably Florence. I accepted to go to Central Italy and see the villages just to please my husband.

I am very glad that I did !!

The first time we came to Colledimezzo it was raging rain through the whole time. Monia showed us the house that was going to be our summer house.

I strongly disliked it, I told my husband I will never go back to this house! I just don’t like it... luckily he did not listened to me, and took lots of photographs for me to view when we got home. Needless to say I fell completely in love with the house and the village.

Here below some photos of the house before, during and after the restoration works: