Villa Silvana

A summary of 2011 and Natale in Puglia

2012-02-09T17:40:00.018+01:00

Well another year has passed, if not a little fast here in Puglia, time just slips by, I still never have an idea what day it is,

Well I haven’t actually been here all year, as I managed to find a little work back in the fim industry, which gave me back a sense of normality, which admittedly can get lost, stuck here on the mountain with a small child and the wind blowing and nothing to see but olives and vineyards, I think I probably will need to make the effort to find a little more next year, if its at all possible, as life here is costly.

But things are slowly changing again now in our lives, as Isabella grows, She turned 3 in October and is a beautiful intelligent, if not (unfortunately) intensely opinionated and bossy child, with her mother’s personality already at such a young age, this is slightly scary as we can imagine what she will be like as a teenager. AHHHHHHHHHH

However it’s immensely enjoyable because she is so bright and does come out with the most hilarious statements. She had gone to playschool between 2 and 3 years old which helped her interact with others and increased her Italian language skills, even there, she seemed to have them all eating out of her hands and now from last September she’s started ‘Assilio’ which is junior school (there are four stages of school here in Italy, this is a small school near our village, with friendly teachers and a lot of very chatty mums, which is good for me) and she has quite a few boyfriends already, which is a worrying thing for Michael, ha ha, who is already preparing himself to deal with all these Italian naughty boys (monelli), they do love the blonds over here, we are so different to the norm, as apposed to the same as everyone else in England, its always nice to be appreciated.

Anyway we have enjoyed another pleasant year at Villa Silvana, with a lot of northern European guests, more so than others this year, of course they are the ones with money nowadays and we have found that the Germans, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish guests are some of the most pleasant polite, gentle and kind people on the planet and so incredibly tidy, in comparison to us Brits who tend to loose our heads on Holiday. For example we had two wonderful German guests that were both composers and every morning we would take our cappuccinos out to the balcony and listen to them playing under their pagodas, in the early morning, as the day was just warning up. What a delight.

We have continued to work on the villa, as much as we possibly can, adding and changing, painting and restoring. This winter we are planning more projects of creating a better work shop for ourselves and building a play area, in the land below the swimming pool, and renovating the pool, if and when time and money allows.

Obviously as you are aware Italy now stands in the same situation as Greece and although there have been no actual taxes added yet, the price of Living here is raising daily. When we originally came here we couldn’t believe how cheap the cost of living was, however the situation has changed dramatically. As a tourist, prices are still reasonable for restaurants and food but general living costs are scary and we have been told that the house tax (ici) will be reintroduced, as well as a number of other taxes, we shall see.

Luckily I got a few call outs this year to go to Malta and work on a Zombie film starring Brad Pitt and then I popped over to Berlin to Make up Hugh Grant, which was a wonderful opportunity for me to do a highly complex prosthetic aging makeup. Both of these films gave me back a sense of worth and kept me sane but without them we wouldn’t have survived this year and luckily now Bella is at school Michael can handle taking her, working and picking her up in the evening, without to much upset in her routine, however if its possible that others would like my help again, then we will probably except anything that’s going, as La Vita Bella is hard on the minimum wage.

Due to the fact that I have been a little freer, I have managed to paint quite a lot of large canvases for my show in early 2012. Our wonderful friend Maurizio has organised an Art show for me in the castle of Monopoli a near side town, in the hope that I will be able to, at least make some money from my paintings. He also approached two other galleries for me, that were interested in taking my paintings but he persuaded me to do my own show, gulp, as this way I will not have to pay a commission and because he knows everyone, he got me a room in the castle for free, cool but very nerve racking, I’ll let you know how it goes. Imagine its all very well and good trying to explain your art work in your own language let alone in another.!!! Ahhhhh Christmas just gone, we decided to stay at home and spent a different day with each of our group of friends over here, as going to England and Ireland would have been wonderful but too costly. However we have realise that we have chosen ‘La Dolce Vita’ but we are not surrounded by family in these Festive holidays and understand now how much the lifestyle is focused around the family, sometime more so than friends, which is still a little alien to us, however we enjoyed every minute of it with or without family and have had more dinners, lunches, invites and parties that we would have had at home in england/Ireland.

Also at Christmas, some how, I got roped in to singing for charity, with a group in our local Cathedral in Locorotondo, our local hilltop village. It was fairly entertaining and i thought about not telling anyone in case it could be intensely embarrassing but it was fun and i got to meet a new wonderful group of people, which i'm hoping will turn into a budding new friendship in this new year! Its never uneventful here that’s for sure.

Also in 2011 we finally had our first chance to participate in both the wine and the oil making. Two brothers that are friends of ours have land with both vineyards and olive groves on, nothing large just enough for family and friends for the year. Michael obviously did the majority of the work for our little family, as what with running around after little Miss Bella I didn’t have the opportunity to be stuck up a tree as much as he. After they had taken Giuseppe’s large truck and filled it to the brim with a Puglian white grape- Verdecca! They then transported it back to Nicola’s house and it was strained through a machine to get rid of the pips and pulverised and placed into large vats. I did offer my feet but they weren’t having it and insisted I stand there and watch and drink last year’s red-Necroamaro. Buona. che sacrificio! Later on after they’d covered up the vats, when the sediment had settled after some days we then came back and helped them transfer the purer liquid into Amphorae, even Isabella had a go at stirring the wine with a big stick and she cackled like a witch, funny little thing.

A few months later on the day of St Martino (the patron saint of new wines (good job) we had a whole day sacrificed to trying out our new wine, great, the bank holidays here are always for a good reason in my opinion.

So what with the strange way the economy is going and the hilltop Italian lifestyle we have chosen, things are not too bad really. It can be so quiet or completely hectic but both are pleasant as long as one or the other are not too overwhelming and we are praying to god that someone in the world will still have money and enthusiasm to come on holiday to Puglia next year (hopefully you)

La Vita Bella Versus la Vita Caotica?

2010-08-24T14:41:00.005+02:00

Life in Puglia seems like a whirlwind, which is ridiculous as we came here for the ‘La Vita Bella’ but in fact it seems to be ‘la Vita Caotica’, we seem to be victims of our own success, only in the sense of being constantly busy and on the go. Ironically Puglia is celebrated for its simple, relaxed way of life, warm personal relationships and time for others, lack of violent crime (excluding gang warfare and the fact that our friend Maurizio says every time we need advise’ Have you got A gun?’), good manners and spontaneity – Our friends are never slow to break into song or dance when the mood strikes them. For sheer vitality and passion for life, Italians have few equals and, whatever Italy can be accused of, it’s never plain or boring living here, just somewhat exhausting and some days the Villa is like Piccadilly Circus or Capo D’Anno Napolitano. Anyway this year Michael smashed the house to bits (again) to create our third apartment (Apartment Sogni Da Favola) and he also separated our house off, which took a few walls being hacked away and others being put up, hidden doors and new bathrooms and new kitchens not a small task and no mean feat but for super builder Michael just a weekends work, Not.

During April and May we all worked like Trojans Or Romans, I suppose would be more appropriate, (definitely not Puglian’s) and with the help off all our local friends, (who are among the most convivial, generous and hospitable in the world but constantly told us how to do everything every five minutes. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) We are surrounded by undisciplined, tardy, temperamental, independent but colourful, passionate and spontaneous friends who are plumbers, builders, plasterers, stone masons, electricians, tilers, gardeners, cleaners and the most important for me, Isabella’s young Nanni, Silvia. But we never expected them as workmen to arrive on time (or at all) – when they did finally turn up, they mainly didn’t have the right tools or spares anyway – or jobs to be finished on schedule, ho-hum. Still at least there wages were always negotiable, particularly if you argue loud and long enough,

With the help off these irritating, charming, aggressive, self-important but generous local friends, we have created a lovely new larger apartment and downsized our house, which actually was simply to massive anyway, it was just to much work to clean all the time, (well not that I actually cleaned it, I’m kind of allergic to that type of wifely work, it brings me out in a nasty rash, however I had to lift my hand to my wallet enough times and that was reasonably exhausting I can tell you. Well we hadn’t really stopped until recently, now we only need to maintain things, thank goodness, particularly as Michael works non stop all week with two Italian colleagues who are constantly screaming and yelling at each other every five minutes, there’s more hand signals, than a scuba diver whose just seen a great white, least I’m proficient enough to be able to yell back, as you’ve really got to give as good as you get, otherwise not only do you not get heard over the general volume, but you seem to get more respect if you speak to them in the same way. No British stiff upper lip and politeness here.

However the fact that we allow Michael’s two partners to run a percentage of our business, is our own fault, as Italians are generally totally disorganized (summed up by the word ‘Casino’, which roughly translates as a shambles but also means a brothel!) and the only predictable thing about them is their unpredictability. They seldom plan anything (if they do, the plans will be changed or abandoned at the last moment), as one of the unwritten ‘rules’ of Italian life is spontaneity, So this can lead to even more yelling and hand signaling, Marvelous!, Never a dull day.

Luckily Michaels business is fairly steady and his two partners like him a lot, everything is geared toward ‘The Man’ though, they think they are god’s gift and being an English woman I find this Superiority incredibly patronizing and they think they have a reputation as great lovers, which is why they’re constantly swooning and drooling all over you, yuk and all our female friends are beautiful (at least until they marry), although what they see in greasy, crooning, smooth-talking, mummy’s boys, who only come up to their knees is anyone’s guess.

So Michael just works and works and Then on the weekend he works some more on his own private jobs (which normally involves no Italian clients and doesn’t’ involve shouting screaming and arm waving.

But that Means some weeks we don’t see him at all, only a few hours in the evening before Isabella goes to bed and even then he’s normally running around fixing something at the villa, as this seems to be a year where Everything breaks, I’m not exaggerating by saying that every gadget or machine, that we own, has gone wrong or broken in someway, troppo Costosa!

Its ever so difficult not to whine because 1, I’m a woman and 2 its my specialty and 3 I enjoy it and 4 and most Importantly, it just comes sooooooo naturally and because we are cut off from the world that amplifies the problems.

Some times we’d kill for a good English chat and that Marvelous sense of humour and possibly a bit of Common Decency and politeness wouldn’t go a miss.I don’t think I’ll ever be able to deal with every person I meet telling me how to run my life and how to do the washing, cooking, cleaning. Blah blah blah, I still have serious problems with little village mentality, not sure I will get around that, Also the hilarious way they are Jealous has been brought to our attention recently, I always joked with Michael that I wanted a cute pool boy. Well we’ve been searching for a new gardener recently and my friend Rosanna recommended a local chap, and when he arrived I exclaimed to Michael Che Bello! Boy did I get a telling off from all the women at just saying another man was good looking. Anyway we have been invited out, included and gone to many Festa’s this year, our friends, like all Italians, have a passion for food, which consists largely of pasta, pasta and pasta, with lashings of Pizza and then more Pasta. They’re committed carnivores and eat anything that walks, runs, crawls, swims or flies, (um need I remind you of Maurizio catch Phrase ‘Have you got a Gun”) we’ve tried a few things like Horse but we had to say ‘No’ to Dog, the other day, when we were offered it, Michael is quite happy to swill down Offal and other horrible things but I always insist that I am full, well who wouldn’t be after 8 courses, Our Friends Family celebrations routinely last from dawn to dusk, with a constant stream of food and wine – if eating was an Olympic event, the rest of the world needn’t even bother to turn up! Italians also know a thing or two about drinking, washing down their food with prodigious amounts of wine, and Nicole, Michaels good Mate, makes a nasty Liquor from our local Nut tree, that he always try to force down our necks.

Well despite everything, we are enjoying one of the best lifestyles and quality of life. The foundation of our local society is the family (particularly the mother (oh that’s me) and community; its very obvious to us their close family ties and we’re very privileged to be included in so many families here, their love of children is so obvious with Isabella, who is just treated like a princess everywhere we go and in fact is now starting to act like one too. Ohuh, she is a bonny baby and learning both Languages naturally, we talk in English when were alone and when we’re with company, which is most of the time, we talk in Italian.

Obviously her language is jumping in leaps and bounds with the Nanny who is with us every day; I couldn’t run all these businesses without her and my gang of Donna’s, however bossy they might be.

FESTIVALS AND FIRES SUMMER 2009

2010-02-20T15:21:00.007+01:00

With regards to Villa Silvana, luckily we have managed to get bookings all season again, even though the recession is in full swing(or so they say) so that’s brilliant and the clients continue to be lovely and appreciative which is always so nice to hear and the company and the conversation keeps us entertained, Apart from us trying to acclimatize to the Italian way of life, it really is still beautiful here and we do love it and remark every day how lucky we are, I’m starting to feel better and of course little Isabella is adorable, they go mad over her and she really does get compliments every time we go anywhere, the women coo and even the men go gag gag and come up to us to play with her, Oh imagine when she’s grown up, uh oh daddy’s already worrying about her future Italian boyfriends.She’s now eating solids and feeding herself and is crawling and adventuring all over the house, “Danger will Robinson!” So we’ve tried to prevent any future upsets with buying her a comedy crawling helmet, which we tried not to laugh about, and she does look ultra cute, but its essential with our hard tiled floors.We’ve found a local baby sitter,which helps here language learning skills, who comes around to play with her, to keep her entertained, as it always just mummy otherwise and we also have found her a little friend in our village Georgia, who is exactly the same age and its lovely when they play together, as I didn’t think I would meet any other mothers stuck out here on the Mountain, so that’s lovely company for her and you never know maybe one day Michael and I might go out for the night for dinner but its difficult to fit that in anytime soon.

Our one year wedding anniversary was recently, 14 years later, and we had a very exciting pizza takeaway, which I’m sure must sound terribly pathetic but we haven’t even managed to have a pizza since her birth as I always take her to bed by 8.30 and of course nothing opens here until late. We can’t believe a year has past since the wedding, let alone the fact that in 2 months she’ll be a year, how time fly’s.

Well lets hope there’s no more dramas and illness this year, although in my soul I know with children comes sickness, can’t avoid the inevitable I suppose, although yesterday just to finally top of our ‘what ever will happen next lifestyle’, the mountain caught fire. Hah

I’d just put the washing out and was wondering who was having a bonfire in 45° heat and looked outside at flames as high as houses eating their way up the mountain, quite frightening I can tell you, it only takes a lazy **** with a fag butt in this weather, so we called the fire brigade, while contemplating whether or not to leave the house and if it would arrive on to our land before the vigili di fuoco would arrive but it didn’t Gracie Dio but it took sometime for them to put it out, and it burnt half the hill, and the sky was black for hours, we were only grateful we were on a change over day and had no guests around to deal with.

Well we’re off to our local village festival tonight, after our change around, the mad tidy up the house, apartments, pool and land hours and after our guests arrive and are settled. we always enjoy this little festa as there’s food, wine, dancing, games and singing and we now know half the village, so we can go up there and sit with them all and enjoy ourselves.

LIGHTENING STORMS AND ILLNESS SUMMER 2009

2010-02-20T14:59:00.011+01:00

Finally I have an opportunity to sit down and write and my excuse is not because I have a baby or two businesses but because Yet again, a big storm hit us, because The Villa is on the side of the mountain, we are in a prime spot to be hit by Lightening, ('Egors' would love this house) So we have no computer, I’m still using a friends one. Ours blew up in one of our typical (all or nothing) storms. The weather normally as you know is always awesome here but as the saying goes, when it rains it pours, like you wouldn’t believe.

Now you would have thought we’d have learn’t our lesson about unplugging phone lines etc, when these storms come in, as we can normally see them on the horizon over the sea and if you recall this has happened to us another 3 times before, when the lightening has blown the computer and phones but just the modem blew those times. This time it came out of the blue and struck the house and we didn’t even have enough time to dive for the plugs, in fact they actually jumped out of their sockets in a terrifying way and the computer went bang, as loud as the thunder clap. Ah gawd What drama, another thing to fix.

So we're really in difficulty without one, trying to run Villa Silvana and Michael’s property maintenance work by going to internet cafes and using friends computers around there houses, trying desperately to concentrate on replying correctly to the right clients, about the correct dates and bookings and enquiries for Michaels availability, while having friends blabbing on in Italian to you with the baby howling. Assolutamente Troppo stress
Its only really starting to sink in now, how different our lives are, not drastically, unpleasantly different but I didn’t really realize how set in my ways and selfish, I suppose, I was. Only now can I appreciate how spontaneous I was, how relaxed and free everything was and how all of that has changed.You see, even being unwell seems to be a big deal now, before the bubba I could just sleep anything off or take loads of medicine and fight it off but I still can’t take anything as I’m continuing to breastfeed.
Anyway the various specialist’s and tests have finally found out that I have hypothyroidism and now I’m going to see another specialist for that, and I hope he can sort me out, you know what its like it takes so long for anything to happen here. For me, despite the fact that my symptoms were caused by my thyroid

Well I’ve just had to leave a lot of things because i've been so ill and therefore we’ve lost some bookings and everything has been a real mess but at least things are kind of getting more organize ever day. Jez! Grande culo as they say over here- when you feel the weight of the work load is to much (which translates as heavy arse)

During this time of sickness and stress, (boring), I have however, found myself some fabulous friends and people to help us out(Grazie Dio) and we’re really getting a great close nit bunch around us now, I don’t know how much we fit in as I think we’ll always be the foreigners, ‘The British’, but we do have friends and they do seem to like us (who knows what they say behind our backs, as they do talk, we know) in fact they’re really big on the gossip, I remember that from filming Pinocchio and I’m sure we’re a great source of amusement and typically they are constantly telling us how to do everything, and I can’t overstate that enough, in fact I’m sure they’d tell us how to scratch our arses if they could.I need to find this delightful Italian trait amusing, which is hard because I don’t.

Oh dear how appropriate that film lost in translation is, its not that we can’t make ourselves understood, its just that however we would respond, no matter how tactful, would come out rude probably, even though a few harsh words wouldn’t probably be a bad thing.

Strong personalities is an understatement for the italians, I thought actors were bad enough.

Also we still seem to have lots of local friends who pop around nearly every day, so that helps keep me sane, some days we can have around 20 people arrive over one day, amazing how friendly they are, they really would do anything for us, they are so generous in so many ways.

So Apart from us trying to acclimatize to the Italian way of life, it really is still beautiful here and we do love it and remark every day how lucky we are, I’m starting to feel better and of course little Isabella is adorable, they go mad over her and she really does get compliments every time we go anywhere, the women coo and even the men go gag gag and come up to us to play with her, Oh imagine when she’s grown up, uh oh daddy’s already worrying about her future Italian boyfriends.

She’s now eating solids and feeding herself and is crawling and adventuring all over the house, “Danger will Robinson!” we also have found her a little friend in our village Georgia, who is exactly the same age and its lovely when they play together, as I didn’t think I would meet any other mothers stuck out here on the mountain, so that’s lovely company for her and you never know maybe one day Michael and I might go out for the night for dinner.

ENGLISH HOLIDAYS BUT PREFERENTIAL PUGLIA SPRING 2009

2010-02-20T14:37:00.004+01:00

What a lovely holiday we had an England, it was so nice to have a break over there and we really tried to squeeze in as much as possible, although inevitably we did feel that we didn’t get to see as many people as we would have liked, we still managed to fit in a good few friends and family, even though it was only very brief, there's never enough time and certainly never enough money, England is still pricy in compariom to here.

We did however have a ridiculous debicle with British airways (where we were stranded on the run way, in terminals and coached half way around Italy for what should have been a simple 2 hour flight) we did loose a day, however they did give us a big voucher towards our next flight, which we thought was great so we’ll be using that on our next trip which hopefully will be for Xmas, after all the holidays makers have gone and we have done our usual off season building work, my god does the work ever stop, do the repairs ever finish and do our plans for expansion and change ever decrease, No. How exhausting the tourist business has turned out to be but there again who’s isn’t, besides just look at these new photos off our beaches, when these are so near who cares about the rest.
Also I’ve now got into the awful habit of treating ourselves to what our equivalent of takeaways are, over here, we have restaurants bars and cafes, that do something called “Tavola Caldo”– hot food cooked by the local mammas, which is a god send and makes life very easy and very delicious, its more than a little treat though but not hugely expensive and just means some days we can fit more D.I.Y because I’m not having to cook oops cheating, oh well

CHILLED AND COSY WINTER 2009

2010-02-20T14:14:00.010+01:00

Life here hasn't really changed much, we were really quite chilled and don't really go out much anyway, so things aren't that different, no wailing from a distraught mum here, I have insomnia anyway, so lack of sleep is just something you deal with, michael would sleep through a tornado and if he doesn’t he’s not really the type to be ratty or moody, lucky me, he's been awesome and is an amazing dad, probably would be VERY different, with everything, if we lived in the uk though but because life on the side of a mountain is so quiet, almost soporific, then there's not too many things to get upset about, apart from the never ending problem of money, which I’m sure would be the same any where.
We continue to be visited by our local friends, not too many just the right amount as doing the big social scene is probably still a bit exhausting for all off us, we’re just not that used to it any more, strange as it sounds, although some days do still remain manic, with people popping in, Michaels clients arriving or asking about the work he’s doing for them, with local plumbers, electricians, security men arriving and of course the never ending questions and enquires coming in for villa Silvana
Still it has been enjoyable times just us three. Isabella is so adorable and such a good girl, don't want to say its easy as that's just asking for trouble but it all seems natural and obvious, (of course until something goes wrong)
However i can imagine having more than one child is an absolute nightmare, as when she does sleep, i do rush around trying to get things done and Michael's obviously not getting as much work done as he should do, as we're awfully distracting.
I heard the premier of the last film i did- Young Victoria was very sucessful and my friends are all starting a big epic shortly which I would have adored to be working on, however things have changed, I have many other commitments now, maybe when Isabella's a little bigger but I can’t leave michael in the middle of a tourist season with a baby and his jobs as well, could only ever think about a film if it was in winter really, not sure whether I’m pleased, relived or a little disappointed.

BABY'S ARRIVAL AND FANTASTIC ITALIAN NHS. WINTER 2008

2010-02-20T14:00:00.008+01:00

Firstly we would like to thank everyone for their kind words and best wishes and apologise if our communication has been a bit off track, this is because I have been travelling to the hospital every day for the last seven days, 2 times a day and it’s a good hour away, so therefore have found it difficult to do anything but visiting.
However I would finally like to announce the long awaited arrival (3 weeks late) of Baby Isabella Rosa Foley, On Friday 17th at 9.15 pm.
We have been very impressed with the Italian hospital, its staff and the way we have been treated and sue has made quite a few friends since she has been in Hospital, as she already knew a few of the other ladies because we had been visiting the hospital every other day for the last two weeks previously, to have the baby monitored as she was quite overdue.
So after quite a few days in hospital before the birth, with countless tests and 3 days of induction treatmenta, finally a decision was made for a caesarean section as nothing seemed to be working, this was just as well as Bella weighed in at 3.8 kilos
Anyway I am pleased to tell you that both mummy and baby are very well and sue is recovering quickly after her surgery. Isabella so far has the Foley genes and temperament and seems to be the best behaved baby on the ward, and because she’s that much bigger, has constant complements from all those who meet her.

Well the relatives, neighbors and friends have come and gone.
They have told us what we already know, our baby has the biggest eyes, roundest head, daintiest hands, and perfectly formed feet and she is far more beautiful than all the others and that she is more alert, smarter and better natured than any other child, ever! Hilarious! and the advice, don’t even get me started on that, do this, don’t do that.
I mean I know that sounds harsh but you should hear the rubbish coming out of their mouths, people can’t help themselves, it is entertaining but ...
Anyway at least we can now settle back and peacefully enjoy this truly exceptional infant, This perfect infant that spends all her time crying, no actually she’s a quiet, patient little thing who eats, sleeps and is awake at all the right times, thank goodness, we are lucky.
However, as we marvel over this creature we have been occasionally thinking “This child is so small, so fragile, so helpless. There is so much that can go wrong. Will we be able to do the right thing?” and inevitably we also wonder if we are going to get through the next few minutes, or even the next few hours and want to know, “Do all newborns look this way? cry for no reason? stare into space? Projectile vomit? Why do they get hiccups, squirm and fuss?” This mainly happens when we are awake with the baby in the middle of the night, naturally.
However sue's still convinced she had less sleep when filming, due to stress, long hours, crappy schedules, dodgy hotels, noisy neighbors and to much booze.
Still although these thoughts run through our heads. We know that we are experiencing what most normal parents go through during their first few weeks with a newborn. It’s a crazy schedule, obviously we’re sleeping very little, I’m hardly getting anything done and Life centers on a small, delightful but demanding infant and although we had limited experience with newborns, we can see she’s quite advanced for her age already doing things beyond her time, which is great and rewarding, all this is probably because she stayed in sue's belly for so much longer and she’s so different to the Italian babies, everyone remarks on this because obviously she looks so much more northern European in comparison to these tiny black haired little ones. Exciting times

WEDDING BELLS JULY 2008

2010-02-20T13:31:00.008+01:00

Hello there, me again with my monthly update, my four mile essay which I hope you enjoy and don’t get bored reading.
Well the wedding was lovely, it was a very entertaining day, if not a little manic which I’m sure all of these events are.
I have to admit being very pleased that we didn’t go big and expensive, as it all seemed to be over in a flash. Typically just like baking a cake, all preparation and then eaten in seconds, and I have to admit I am a specialist on the subject of cake scoffing, it seems to be the one and only food fetish I have in pregnancy, at first I was blaming it on the fact that the carbs were stopping me feeling sick but obviously now that I’m past the morning sickness stage I have no excuse.
Michael says that I have the whole thing eaten normally before he even has a chance to get back from work, Um yummy, I’m sure babies first words will be Torte!
Anyway it actually worked out that not a single one of our friends could make it over in time for the big day, due to our excessively bad planning and short notice, how unbelievable.
We will definitely have another celebration in England (with baby)
I never imagine that with all my film industry pals that I would have wound up without a set director, photographer, designer, dressmaker, and card and invite designer, camera man, makeup artist and hairstylist!
There was me blurting on all of these years, saying I would always have the wedding covered with all my mates! Ha that showed me.
Oh my god so of course we had to find a local parrucchiere (hairdresser) and you will just die when you see the photos of what she did to my hair, I looked like an incredibly fat old Shirley Temple and because of course I was helping everyone else get ready, I didn’t have enough time to change it, as I actually only had ten minutes to get ready and put my dress on, (which by the way, was a Susan Howard sewing master piece!!! Not)
Wow we really are like one of those TV programs, we now make everything due to extreme change of lifestyle and lack of money, still I rather we leave meagrely and be happy, than be rich and miserable. ( well kind of)
Anyway so back to the wedding, which you can see on Picasso on the internet and can have a good laugh at my 7 months preggie belly and little baby curls, good grief, which I’m sure you’ll find interesting as you know how hideously unphotogenic I am.
Well Michaels family and most of mine managed to come at least, which is great as none of his family and not all of mine have been able to visit before and they all loved Puglia, obviously because it was of course up in the 40’s and a complete comparison to the rain they’d just left.
It was hilarious in the airport as we went to meet all 30 of them and I hadn’t seen most of Michaels family for ten years and a lot of the babies that I’d held in my arms, were now grown up children
As always there was an accident on the motorway and so we had to do a 6 car convoy into the interior to avoid it and it took 3 hours to get home rather than the usual 40 minutes. Ugh.
Of course the drama didn’t stop there, I was incredibly nervous about the alcohol consuming relatives, considering we’ve been stuck on this mountain side so long that we’ve forgotten how to party heavily and life here is insanely quiet.
Anyway we’d bribed our holiday guests with a very fruitful luxury hamper, they didn’t mind our entire families descending on the house and taking over the place, we’ve never had so many people in the pool before but it was great fun and everyone was totally blown away by the place, which was lovely to hear as you can imagine michael and I had been doing our usual house makeover job for a week(eat your heart out Laurence Llewellyn Bowen) before everyone had arrived, so the heat rose and the bubbly flowed and all was good and I was even more impressed when everyone left at a reasonable hour allowing the bump and me to put our feet up and not worry if we were ruining our guests holiday.
So both mum and dad and Michaels mum and dad were staying with us and on the day of the celebration the house was a delightful tranquil haven, we lounged and swam and got ready steadily, well we had to as it was 40+ degrees on the day of the wedding the hairdresser was lovely and soooooooooo cheap,(hence the hairstyle, only joking) and we all got a lovely Mercedes down to the beach club that Maurizio and Chiara had arranged for us.
Of course like all things in Italy it was organised in a very relaxed way and things took a long time to kick off and didn’t happen for quite a few hours after when they should have but everyone was more than content to sit on the luxurious white sofas that sat on the rocks looking out on to the sea.
Eventually when we did sit down to eat my mum and dad did us proud with a 10 course dinner consisting of (check this out)
1. Cocktails and nibbles
2. Antipasti: inc Carpaccio of tuna, Salmon, Swordfish, Parma ham, Octopus, Muscles, mixed sea food, Fried fish and lots of vegetables and little Crostini and Bruccheta
3. Tagliolini with lobster
4. Strozzapreti with Porcini mushrooms and truffles
5. Raw vegetable selection to cleanse the palette
6 Local Spigola (whole fish) meditterean style
7 Sorbet
8 Fillet of Beef, with oven baked potatoes and salad
9 A fruit buffet
10 My gigantic Cake (check out those pictures- well I had to have a big cake to make me look less fat)
And coffee and champagne- Poof, stuffed and delighted.
Funnily enough because I was being dragged left, right and centre and because I had more photos taken than Victoria Beckham on a bad hair day, I didn’t eat everything and therefore didn’t feel stuffed beyond extreme, also michael and i have got this large dining experience down to a ‘T’ by now, with our regular Sunday 6 courses and invites to various friends homes who seem to eat like this ever day, its incredible I just don’t know where they put it, they’re all as skinny as rakes(obviously apart from the big fat ones)
So to conclude it was a very enjoyable evening, although I can’t express how glad I am that its all over and we are now back into our snail paced tranquil lifestyle.
Also I've Got the baby room finished now at least, shame it wasn’t finished when everyone came, although you probably don’t find it that interesting, it makes me happy to get all these presents out that we’ve been given and play with them, what a big girls blouse I am.
Actually i think it hit home, particularly with michael, that we're actually going to have a little baby, once I got all these things out, neither of us have really registered it, as we’ve been so busy (obviously apart from my huge size and grumbling which is more than noticeable, we’ve been kind of ignoring it)
But as the big day approaches were trying not to over think it to much, as it’s our first, like all people I’m sure one can over panic.We shall see.

PREGNANCY, WEDDING PLANS AND RED TAPE SUMMER 2008

2010-02-20T13:07:00.012+01:00

Our phone lines and internet have been down for ten days now with neither line working, which is hellish, just when we're in peak season and when we're trying to organise a wedding

But you can be sure I've gone past annoyed and stressed and out the other side and am now in a strange calm, where i go to a different town most days in my constant search to find a dress (which i might add is not easy- they simply don't cater for anyone a little bit large or pregnant in my case) and then inevitably i find an Internet cafe to check our mail, so this is a non stressful way of handling the situation, with a piccolo amount of shopping thrown in for good measure.
Obviously the only problem is that i can't ring anyone still, and we are still getting frustrated messages from people who can't get hold off us and don't understand the laws, rules and ways of a slightly slow (barking mad) country and are more than a little bit irratated with us but what can i do about this, nothing, so as upset as they are, i' can't be any more, its dangerous for the bumb, slow response by email is our only option right now.
Apart from this gargantuan problem, life in puglia remains hot and sunny and still lovely, Micheal is working lots and I'm continuing to take out clients and getting free lunches in lovely trattorias, trying not to put any more weight on is not easy but I'm not eating pasta and solo Una poccisimo di pizza.
I am slightly worried at how large I'm getting but everyone keeps telling me I'm small for my size,Eh! however i think they forget how little i was before.
We've had a lot of lovely appreciative guests as of late, the last ones said it was the best holiday they've ever had aaah and we are getting on well with all our friends who've come to our aid over the last few trying weeks to help us organise a wedding on a budget and deal with friends and family who can't get hold off us.
The saga continues for the struggle to attempt to get married on the same day as the celebration and at one point i almost thought we might be able to achieve it, how silly of me, what was i thinking! trying to out race Italian bureaucracy, had i gone mad (well in fact i nearly did) I am kind of relieved that we now have missed the time frame to achieve: collecting the documents, it was becoming so stressful that i was hardly sleeping- It was this manic rush to get the New computerised birth certificates sent over from England in time to get down to the British embassy in Bari to make a declaration, to then send that of to Napoli, and to then send it to Roma to then send it back to the Bari embassy and for us to the go back in collect it and make another declaration and then to Rush it to our own Commune to make the appointment with the major for the ceremony and of course we were told the the commune didn't work on a Sunday D'oh, DIO MIO.
However i saw the light at the end of the tunnel at one point, when i stupidly thought the documents would arrive quickly for England, ha HA HA, and that we would make the 21 day time frame and when we remembered a friend of ours had just been voted in as the majors first assistant and we'd asked him, to ask the major if he'd marry us on a weekend and the major had agreed, wow, as long as we had the documents Ha! another plan foiled as the birth certs still haven't arrived from england, so much for paying all that money for express delivery.

Oh well i can't say I'm not relieved,it was all becoming to much, we'll do the ceremony another time when the paperwork comes in its natural course of time , hopefully sometime this millennium, we're just doing it all the wrong way around but what can you do, when you have 5 weeks to arrange a wedding, are VERY pregnant, trying to run two business's, dealing with clients and guests and keep getting your phones and electric cut off. Celebration only marvellous, has anyone ever done it that way round before?
I'm not doing to bad considering.I've still got half my mind??? Who said planning a wedding in a foreign country was difficult, ha ha ha.
Inevitably this lack of planning or short notice or what ever you want to call it, has affected the turn out and I'm not all together sure if even 1/8th of my friends will be able to come, Che sara sara.

However I've got the invites designed in-Italian obviously, ordered the fabulous cake, well if i can't have 'the wedding', buy 'THE dress', afford photographers, gifts-bombonara,etc I'm gonna damn well have a massive Cake and the location is Fabuloso, Maurizio is compiling a gorgeous menu and we have decided to start at 6 when it is a Little fresher because the club is on the beach, it would be packed on a Sunday in the day and also be troppo caldo, its 40 degrees now Exciting, even if it is just me and michael
I have had grandad and grandmas rings melted down to make new ones for us and am flicking through the wine list right now as the sun sets, if only i could have a nice margarita to top it off, but i don't think the bump would like it, maybe Michael will make me a non alcohol one, he's getting quite strict with me, its funny.
Anyway these are the days of our lives, the weather is good, the food is delicious, what more can a girl want (apart from some kind of cheap wedding dress for a Large pregnant Lady?.)

WEDDINGS AND ITALIAN BUREAUCRACY SPRING 2008

2010-02-07T16:55:00.006+01:00

So the wedding that we have talked about, thought about and mulled over for the last 8 years, ever since Michael proposed on that moonlit night, on a deserted beach, in the Caribbean, which now seems years and years ago. (8 to be exact)
Our lives have turned full circle since then, when we used to desperately grab intimate moments between juggling hectic careers and lives, to now spending every minute of every day together in our little piece of heaven in Puglia.
If you know us well by now, then you know all the things we've been through to get to where we are, from where we've been. We've achieved so much, over a long period of time, sweat, tears and exasperation has seen us through the tricky times of fighting to set up both business's in Puglia and to sell our old house and buy our new and to leave behind countries that we'd grown up in, and to find a new life and integrate as well as we possibly could.
We can't tell you that any of the things we've done have been easy but we have managed to laugh along the way and now with a little baby girl ( ITS OFFICAL, we've been told) on the way, michael has finally decided to make a good woman of me before the little one arrives, which should be sometime in September.
It won't be a large lavish affair, our lives are now so simple, that we don't want flashy invitations, menu planners, wedding photographers and all of the things expected of a normal wedding, this will be a simple affair, with our close friends and family, in what we think is one of the most beautiful places on this earth, but we hope we can guarantee it will be a celebration to remember.
As usual with all things Italian, achieving this has been a mere miracle, like all of the paperwork, bureaucracy and red tape that we have had to go through on a regular basis, trying to get married is not an easy feat. We have had to apply for a lot of certificates and are still in the process of making declarations, so we can achieve this on time but if we don't set a date and try to arrange it, when there are still flights and hotels available, for those who need them, then it may never happen.
So we are going out on a limb for 13th July, the wedding celebration will be on 13th, which is lucky for us as michael was born on this day and we met on this date 13 years ago, the celebration will be organised by our best friend Maurizio, who's name no doubt you've heard a million times, we are for ever in his debt and yet he is still doing things to help us.
Hospitality is Maurizio's forte and we shall be treated to the finest of Puglian wine, and a traditional Italian wedding menu, where we will have the pleasure of Music by the finest of Puglia's deejays-Antonio and you can sip your Bellini's and watch the sunset.

PRETTY VILLAGES AND DELICIOUS FOOD 2007

2007-08-21T13:37:00.011+02:00

Everyday Leo, Michaels assistant arrives at 8.30 and then he and michael go down on to the land and spend the whole day down there making terraces to support the large amount of earth that holds the swimming pool, that we imported in from local farm land.
Most days it is lovely and sunny here around 35 degrees, rarely it rains but then it just chucks it down non stop and we fill up our water reservoirs, so we don’t mind the rain as it doesn’t come frequently and we always have plenty of work to do inside, when it does.
We are so continually in Awe at the abundance of delightful towns that are near our house and when we have a day off we adventure out to a different place that we haven’t seen before and wander around the charming old centers that date back thousands of years.
We always feel like we are in a movie on these days of adventure, as the architecture is so unusual, almost magical, and the light shines in such a way that you can almost become hypnotized by the beauty of it all.
Of course after we have meandered around in glorious sunlight and stopped for numerous amounts of coffee in authentic Italian coffee houses and drooled in the window at the Italians beautifully made clothes, then we take a long leisurely lunches where the wine flows, the food just keeps coming and the bill is surprisingly cheap, from one of the always surprising and never disappointing restaurants, trattorias, osterias, pizzerias in what ever town we happen to be in at the time, we did all this last Sunday, after meandering around Bari city Centro storico and walking along the promenade in fabulous sunshine, we then found a fantastic restaurant which was Ala Carte and had a fabulous 3 course meal which was beautifully presented and it only cost £25 for two. bargain. it’s so reasonable here.
In a minute we are going over to a village selva di fasano which is on the next mountain to us, and we are going to meet a couple who want michael to do there kitchens and bathrooms, and then on Sunday we are going to meet our friend Maurizio who wants michael to make the bar for his new nightclub.
we have plenty of things to keep us busy here, its difficult to fit it all in, we only have two pairs of hands and so many hours in the day.
Still although we are busy, it is not stressful and the evenings are spent on the veranda reading a book, listening to music or watching a movie, it is a very quiet relaxing existence and we still love it intensely.Our language is coming on slowly, we practice every day, mainly local friends, michael seems to becoming along a lot quicker with it now that he is spending 8 hours a day with his little Italian buddy and when I go out, I practice in the shops and with friends.
Anyway my struggle with Italian legislation continues, I have been trying to change our driving licenses over, for the last few weeks and really am hitting a brick wall, with what should be such a simple procedure. Hah
First of all I didn’t have enough documents, believe me I had a lot, so I had to go and queue up and fill out more forms in the commune, which took hours.
Then they needed a translation of our licenses which we had done, then they said this had to be done by a professional translator, when I asked where I would find such a person, they said they didn’t know, Great how brilliant, so we made a lot of enquires and came up with zip!
Luckily, finally they found someone after a few more weeks but when I finally returned to get it done, they said they had a problem with Michael’s license.
All of his 6 Italian big identity docs say, michael john Foley, and his passport but his driving license just say michael Foley,so they said it wasn’t possible to change it at all, what???
We tried to explain the unimportance of a middle name in England but they weren’t having any of it.
So I phoned the dvla and asked if it was possible for a name change, and they said because we weren’t living in England any more, that the license was void because of a lack of address!
So I then went on line and did an address change and filled in everything with Michael john Foley and when the new one came back it had, guess what, Michael Foley on it.
So, I’m going round in circles here. Michaels had no license for a month while we sent it off and then he got pulled over by the police, who, Of course, asked to see his documents. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
Luckily he pulled the ‘I’m a thick Irishman thing’ and pretended he couldn’t understand a word and they got so irritated with him, that they sent him on his way. Phew
So were back to stage one. What to do now!
All this is driving me crazy literally, so just to infuriate myself more, I tried to sign in with the National health society (nhs) so we could get a doctor etc.. Yikes what a polava that turned out to be:
I went with my friend Antonetta, to a crumbly smelly old building in Fasano, a great example of the cleanliness and pleasant service that we are about to have the pleasure of using (typical nhs is the same in every country it seems), Not so fast you might say, I can never walk in any where and simply fill in a few forms.
Yep as always, there was a woman behind the desk, that looked like the service clerk from ‘Monsters Ink’, she took one look at me and it got her racist back up straight away, and Oh yes the further we delve into the system, the more we're coming up against some serious racist issues here, they’re not used to anyone sharing there little piece of Puglia which is a shame, as I don’t want it to ruin my rose tinted view of Sunny Puglia.
Anyway we didn’t have half enough documents and more importantly, we didn’t have proof of income which was vital. Oh
Oh a change of note, at least I have been entertained, as I had some friends arrive last week that have a house in the next village- friends in the film industry, who were giving me the low down on whats happening, sounds depressingly messy, but kept me entertained at least over a few lunches, and it was nice to speak English for a while.
Not that my Italian is amazing, hardly! It’s slow but I’m now on to past and present subjunctive verbs, Yee gods what ever that is.
The weather has been gorgeous at least, I’ve been outside reading most days, lovely and were starting to get quite a few bookings now for next year.

BACK FROM FILMING TO SUNNY PUGLIA 2005

2007-08-17T10:01:00.007+02:00

Well I have absolutely no excuse for not posting a blog apart from being intensely lazy and when you imagine this, don’t under estimate the laziness! I’ve not long finished filming and every time I do I’m exhausted
Oh my god I just don’t know what came over me, from the minute I set foot on Puglian soil, my whole being slumped and I could barely force my arm to pick up the remote control for some weeks, it was all quite exhausting.
Having passed through my big fat b***H on the couch time, I’m now riding the wave of D.I.Y like before; I think it was “THE LIST” of D.I.Y that put me on the couch in the first place, (It was my way of protesting, in some way after just finishing the film, where I kept receiving THE LOOK from Michael every time he rushed by in a hurry to do more work)
No really, he’s been wonderful as always, he doesn’t stop and things are really progressing nicely, and there were only a few comments like “get your lazy arse off that couch and pick up a paint brush”
Anyway I only feel like I’ve adjusted now after 6 weeks, ridiculous as that sounds, my brain always finds it hard to switch from a life style of hotels, bright lights and big cities to being on the side of a mountain.
Luckily we have a wonderful new log burning stove (stuffa) that's been keeping us toasty and we keep the wood burning all day long, the wood from the garden is all free although, obviously its taken Michael and his Italian work gang more than a few weeks to do the usual massive garden pruning for winter (or more so hacking in their case) and they’ve cut it all up into nice neat piles for the wood, so I simply have to stoke the fires every half an hour or so and this is enough to circulate the heat through out the whole house, which we never imagined would work so well, particularly with the high ceilings and marble staircase.
Anyway life in Puglia is great as always, slow, gentle and mellow. I've even started painting again, god I'm rusty, meanwhile Michael is working away like a trooper still with Leo,(our gardener)
They're a little gang now, we also have two cleaners and a plumber for the new business, its good for Michael as Leo is good fun and he's teaching him Italian, VERY SLOWLY. Their conversations are, on the floor hilarious but he’s got the patience of a saint and because of him were both learning a lot more, faster.
We’re interacting with a lot of different people now, any time we need any help or have any problems there’s a lot more people to ask, poor Maurizio is getting a break from our constant demands.
Talking of which he’s opening a new club soon (we will be expecting VIP treatment like always) and is plying all his time into this new venture, so we haven’t seen him as much as we’d like but we still speak regularly.
Michael's new property maintenance company is doing well as there are a lot of British clients who all seem very pleased to finally have found someone willing to do the work on their homes.
Obviously we are still working away on Villa Silvana. I hope by the start of the season everything will be finished, it’s mainly the land that is taking all the time.
We still have a lot of terraces to put in and a hell of a lot of gardening and we’ve even started decorating our own home, which we have left, due to the fact that the apartments were priority, as they are our bread and butter.
So were really pleased with the progress were making with our language, the villa, the business and Michael's new maintenance company, for sure none of this has happened over night but we’re certainly settled now.
The friends we’ve made are also soooo nice. The Italians do anything to help you, we’re VERY different and that is obvious by our views and opinions but we continually have to remind ourselves that we're living in the country now, so our extreme city opinions, general knowledge and lack of religion is still very different, but it doesn’t seem to matter as life here is JUST SIMPLE. how wonderful is that!
The World moves on and we are completely unaware of what happens outside Villa Silvana and Puglia, Still we like being blissfully ignorant, which probably sound utterly ridiculous but most days we don’t know what day of the week it is, let alone the date, it doesn’t matter, we're not controlled by time and have a different kind of stress (mainly overpowering lists of D.I.Y and new clients who keep changing their minds about kitchen and bathroom designs)
Wow, how our lives have changed, Michael's taken to it all like a duck out of water but it seems to take me longer and longer to adjust again, every time I go away and do a movie and live in that fantasy world. I’m sure the time is nearing to stop!We'll have to see what happens the next time the phone rings for the next Hollywood adventure

LIVING AT VILLA SILVANA 2004

2007-08-16T11:32:00.009+02:00

Well undoubtedly there is no possible way that we can regret the Move, leaving behind the grey miserable skies and being overworked in my mundane job as site manger for a huge London company, now i am freeeeeeeeeeee to do what i want when i want, to live by the sun rising and setting and not need a watch.
Susan continues to work as a makeup artist in the film industry to provide us with enough money for us to continue to do the renovations on the Masseria (now Villa) and i can enjoy every moment watching the sunrise over the sea and stuffing myself with this delicious Puglian Diet and finally being able to spend the time on creating Apartments at Villa Silvana so we can provide Luxury to our guests for a reasonable price.
Sue is not long returned home after being away for almost 5 months on yet another epic film, Can’t believe how times fly’s, when you're off gallivanting around the world with celebs!
Things are always very busy preparing for our guests, we we're under the illusion that this would be a restful life change but it's on our own terms
We do wonder if we will ever achieve that calming, gentleness of life, that blissfully flows along or will it always be this manicness of trying to achieve some thing, in such a ridiculously short space of time, but one doesn't want to be bored
Anyway we wake each morning and take coffee out to the balcony and looked at the sea and stand in the warm early morning sun and think AAAAH. Perfecto
So much had happened since Sue’s been away and the pool is really taking shape now and they have just finished installing the new Hemof tank, which of course is essential as we're on the side of the mountain and we do not have mains sewerage, gas, water etc..
However they did smash open the old septic tank, which was an absolute delight with the heat of the day, um such lovely odors nearly suffocated our senses, personally, draining it first before destroying it, might have been the way to go, but you know what builders are like, got to do it there way. Yuk
Talking of which, the excavator hasn’t got that much to do now, thank god, so we went to buy the pool slabs, which we found in a local stone masons, beautiful pale stone completely irregular and uneven, it will be like doing a jigsaw puzzle but as a team we are good at mosaics. I of course left sue to sort out the financing, being rather cunning, knowing full well the mentality of the average Italian male leaving sue surrounded by builders, so she could bat her eyelids and get a rather large discount. Marvelous.
Still, i’m managing to communicate okish and Sue’s language is coming on in leaps and bounds.
It easy to think that you forget the language skills but actually I’m doing well enough and have even manage a bit of polite chit chat and banter, never sure whether my humour comes across but I normally manage to make them laugh, however that’s more so- at me rather than with me.
Sue went to our big garden center yesterday, she was a bit nervous as she had A LOT of plants and soil to buy, (We have to dress out our huge garden for the guests which we seem to do every year, its not easy to maintain serious flowers in Puglia’s sweltering heat, so we find ourselves doing a lot of replacing every season) but she did really well and as always the Italians were really sweet and helpful and she was ecstatic when she managed to buy beautiful birds of paradise plants for the apartments gardens, I never imagined that they would have them in Puglia but of course –the tropical plants love it here in the heat.
Speaking of which, the weather has been truly glorious here, almost every day it’s been in the 30s, clear blue skies, so lovely, however the evenings are still really cold but we always have a roaring fire to keep us toasty.
We still have a hell of a lot to do, mainly with the land, as both apartments are done, but I really feel like we are on the edge of turning things around.
Every day we work hard, long hours but it’s not unpleasurable and we are our own bosses, there is no stress or anxiety and the peace and tranquility remains constant.
We watch life go at a different pace, with the pleasure of getting up when we like, staying up late to watch movies and not having to worry about getting up at an insane time in the morning for work.
So that sums up my last few weeks really, its busy there is a lot to do but at the moment things are not a chore, I just hope it continues that way.

PUGLIA AND PIRELLI REAL ESTATE COMPANY 2003

2007-08-13T01:14:00.010+02:00

We have always been great fans of Italy travelling here for work and pleasure over the years, but many reasons led us to Puglia. Originally we were drawn to the Heel of the boot, because of the lure of adventure and to explore its undiscovered secrets. So it was not a shock to our family, back home, when we announced that we wanted to live there for good and that England no longer felt like home.
It’s so hard to explain to other’s why you feel so passionate about another land, maybe it is the fact that Puglia feels like the rest of Italy did 50 years ago or somewhere you can escape the stress of life nowadays or is it Puglia’s seductive wildness, clear blue sea and unspoilt coastline.
Luckily after a lot of house hunting problems with various agents, we were introduced to Maurizio Carolillo of pirelli (based in Monopoly)
We were so lucky to have met him because he actually listened and it was a help that we were sure of the area that we were interested in but hadn't yet been shown any properties with the WOW factor.
Maurizio is one of the few English speaking agents in this area, with such a genuine, caring nature and with the help of his side kick Alberto, has a real ability to hunt out completely unique properties.
So we relaxed as we knew we were in good hands. The generosity and patience of Maurizio and his company was incredible and we would have never found this amazing property without him. He's helped us in so many ways that we do not know how to even start to express our gratitude and is now one of the most important people in our lives and one of our best Friends. Still we watch with fascination as his work continues to bring him to great places and he continues to give his clients 110% and makes great bonds with all of them. What a wonderful man.
We just want to share with others the warmth, consideration and help that we were given, every step of the way and are happy to say to all lovers of Puglia, that buying a house with Maurizio and Pirelli made the whole process simple, easy and enjoyable, because lets face it, its daunting enough buying abroad let alone if you don't have a good grasp of the language which is 100% important over here, so its always important to go with a recommendation, and we are happy to say that many Friends and clients have found great homes with him.

THE START OF OUR JOURNEY INTO PUGLIA 2002

2007-08-11T23:37:00.007+02:00

Um the start of the journey that was a while ago now some time after 2000.
It was a cold wet rainy day in England and we were flicking through the Sunday papers when this great article shone out on Apulia, the land that time forgot, we were hooked.
So anyway we started to read up on Puglia (in the heal of the boot) and went there on holiday, as much as possible, there is something infectious about the area and the people and we started to feel very disappointed every time we left.
We decided to look for a holiday home, we'd really managed to pin point the area that we wanted to live in after travelling the length and breath of the region, on lots more holidays, (we don't stint on the research).
So finally after a lot of house hunting we fell in love with a renovated Trulli, (the wonderful dome shaped dwellings that the area is so famous for, which most people tend to gravitate towards when they come to this region.)
It was on a hill top surrounded by forest and with olive groves and vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking and we were ecstatic. We put in an offer that was excepted and things went smoothly, until we found out that there were many owners who didn't want to sell their part, so it would have meant knocking down walls and not having much land or even getting assess to the place. We were mortified and eventually had to pull out.
However we found out later that the trulli was built on an ancient burial site and were glad that we pulled out when we did, not only was it very very remote, who knows what might have happened in the dead of night!
Again over to Puglia we went in search of our dream property. We looked and looked and finally found an amazing farm house surrounded by Trulli -Casale. We argued with the owner over the price for 8 months it was so exhausting and stressful. To cut a long story short he was a terrible gambler and had to sell his families house from under them, as he was in so much debt but it was heart wrenching for him and he obviously didn't want to sell it, we did not see the obvious warning signs, so basically after tears and arguments we had to pull out again because it was a disaster waiting to happen. We were so distraught this had now gone on for two years and we still hadn't found any where.
However we had come to realise our love of the country and its people and new now that we wanted to move there permanently and decided to put our house on the market (that we had only just finished doing the d.i.y on after 7 years of non stop building work) However that bought up a selection of non stop problems in England and over the last year and a half we had over 100 viewing and two sales full through. Again more anxiety and stress, its almost like someone was telling us something.
But there was a happy ending we finally found a house after almost giving up hope and coming to puglia searching many many times, It is beautiful, not as old and rustic as we'd wanted but that is because we were lucky that the previous owner had renovated it a little before us, now we are glad that we didn't have to renovate the Masseria from scratch like some of our friends have done.
The house has breathtaking panoramic views of the sea and valley and the possibility to make apartments we could now do the 'no going back' thing.
So now that the house was bought (and that part was wonderfully easy and so much less hassle than the English system, there is no gazumping and once you sign the Compromesso you're tyed in, quick easy and officiant. So next was the big move!