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 Wow it's hard to get a thread started... I'll reply to my own title to get the message going... as below. Yet again we’ve had a spate of burglaries on our patch. The same thing happened last year for a while. Luckily someone has been caught and no doubt they will get a slapped wrist and carry on as before. What I’m wondering is whether large scale burglary is common across the country or are we having a bit of local bad luck. Maybe there are organised gangs that come to do an area and then move on when their truck is full of booty. Our particular lot had the same MO each time. The property was always on a proper road with easy escape routes… never down a white road. They worked at the dead of night and even when the owners and dogs were there. They seemed to like food and clothes and TV’s.

 We live in northern Tuscany, Lucca province and have virtually no Burglaries in this area. I have heard that (not wanting to be racist or xenophobic) most crimes of that sort are committed by migrants; Romanies, Eastern Europeans, and migrant workers. This increases when times get harder to find employment, as now. Most of it being oportunist; holiday homes, vacant properties and the like. I have never heard of burglaries where dogs are present though.

 here in the prov.of Ascoli...well away from the coast there is hardly any crime of this kind .there have been,over time however occasional small spates of house burglary and yes you're right usually more often at easily accessed properties close to or on main roads.Generally these have been attributed to gypsies,or eastrern european migrants.Since my neighbour threatened a group of gypsies in front of the carabinieri! with an automatic rifle! we actually have had no problems here at all ...having such a "bad name"..Generally,although with little satisfaction to those who have been burgaled,they do usually find who dun it..which brings such spates to an end.

  It's probably tempting fate to make the point but we have been extremely fortunate so far in, of all places, Sicily. I think it's something to do with our rural location. The only loss was that of the builders whose cement mixer was stolen last year. Their misfortune became ours when they decided that another contractor who was building a wall for us was responsible and went round to pay him a visit. This created an immense diplomatic mess which remains unresolved.

One of our neighbours was hit this weekend for the second time in a year. Last time they pulled out a window frame including bars. This time they broke a wooden shutter at the front and used a long pole to scoop up the front door key that was sat on a table in the middle of the room. Both times the dogs in the house opposite, which go crazy whenever I go to and from the car, never made a sound?I have heard the pole method is used a lot around here and I guess it makes sense, as most people will put down their keys as they get in the house.Mark