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Lots of properties here in Liguria don't have mains water and they get round it by having huge storage tanks and having their water delivered. Not a cheap solution though...

... sorry, but at least this is a very good warning to others coming along to this site with a view to buying... Water is not a particular problem here, but not too far further from here it is, despite there being lots of recent heavy rain. The hot summer we had will hav  an effect for many a year yet I think... Sure you are already conserving water, but I suspect if another well is not possible, then buying water and conservation is the only solution. Do think your idea of surface rain collection is worth looking at. Our neighbour (old italian guy) has all of his down pipes going to his 20m concrete lined well (depsite having mains water, so obviously water is/has been a problem here in the past). Not too sure if he uses it for anything other than watering the veg mind... Unfortunately whatever needs doing will likely be quite costly - best of luck.

How far away is the mains supply? I know someone who had a very deep well drilled with no trace of water, but then had 1.5kms of new pipe laid from the mains to the house. Expensive, yes, but would solve the problem if you had now water in the middle of winter and a tanker could not reach you.

whilst,of course you can dig wells (with permission)and attempt storage of rainwater all of which are commendable and useful i don't really think that one can run a "modern" household without mains water whilst at the moment we do not have the extreme problems of the sabina here we are miles from anywhere and had mainswater put in.IF you are a permanent resident one pays a subsidised amount which whilst not cheap is not eye watering but if it's a holiday/second home etc it does get quite expensive  having said that it is or would be important for the value of the house when and if you ever wanted to sell it if it already had a mains connection....worth getting a quote from the water company anyway rather than relying on heresay of what is expensive

Bringing mains water to the house is not, unfortunately an option...but thanks to all for advice and encouragement.  Fingers crossed the "old" well starts working again!

Hope it does start up again Sabina. May be worth investigating putting in a pump to send it to a store when the water level improves. Do not know how much a storage tank would cost though, plus you must make sure that the water is filtered and boiled before using.

A 5,000 litre plastic drinking water tank costs around €400 if that helps. You can fit a UV treatment system for a couple of hundred euro.

Dig a deeper well Sabina , (ours is 130m ) and install rainwater recovery systems , we got 3 large concrete butts for free as they are unfashionable in our neck of the woods.

If the problem is widespread in your area, then you (and everybody else) should get together in an attempt to force your water authority (via the comune) to make some provision. If they can lay a main which will serve a village or two, and from there perhaps groups of outlying houses, the cost - though likely to be considerable - could come down to affordable. You must ask the right people - certainly the comune would be the place to start - and obviously the more requests the more likely would be any chance of suceeding. It might take a few years, but the right to potable water was recognised by the UN as a fundamental human right about ten years ago - and yes, it is going to cost Italy a lot to fulfil this promise, but that doesn't mean you should give up on the hope of them delivering it.

Sabina - I once did a model comparing usage vs. local rainfall patterns and found that for a family of 3 we'd need about 30,000 litres to store the roof production.... needless to say this does not go in the loft as it's about half a swimming pool. There is usually a local geologist to track down and ask about well siting and depth ... the guy who comes with the twigs is good for a laugh but seems to point to the place where it would be easiest to park the well digging truck.... try to keep a straight face when he swings the bob to show the depth.

To say that you cant run a modern hosue without mains water is rubbish.  There are millions of people in ITaly who do not have mains water, the important thing to remember that water is a resource and not some freeby that arrives down a tube for your swimming pool.  It is however, not cheap - if you ar starting from scratch the best thing is to install a cisterna when you do the bubild or restoration - these can be up to 50mc and will store rainwater and/or delivered water.  If that isnt possible, then large serbatoi can do the job - dig a hole and bung them in - at least 10.000 litres.    If you hvae no water then the comune has bowser supplies - obvioulsy you pay but it isnt that much more than metered water, and they deliver 10.000 litres a time into your underground tank.    You say your well is dry - I assume you mean its an old hand dug well - yes you would need a steel lining - depending where you are - you can also use pvc in alot of areas which costs alot less - that would allow you to deepen the well and go down as much as you need, assuming that the fallia still exists - 'Ripristinazione' of old wells doesnt need a difficult permission - and alot of people use this as a guise to dig down a bit further, but if you are going to sink a trivella (a drilled well) you will need a permission.   AS you pay per linear metre its difficult to work out how much it will cost you - for the drilling, the sleeve and then for the pump.   In your position I would sink a couple of big tanks  and see what happens with the well water - it may well be that you end up with water int he winter and spring and nothing in the summer - if so you'll just have to learn to get by, but loads of ��������s do just that