Hello all

.. if all was well otherwise?

At the moment I’m not sure, we have a serious problem with something in Abruzzo that needs sorting before my frustration with the place goes away. As ever when you move to a different country and things are not done the way you are used to you have to find your way around, which we did in lots of ways and I have to say we enjoyed most of it. But I suppose one of the worst aspects there for me is the bureaucracy, its bad enough here in England and getting worse all the time, but in Italy? Don’t get me started. If we do get things sorted then I would not rule out returning, amongst lots of other things both Pauline and I enjoyed the people and pace of life there and for us Abruzzo has a lot to offer over living in England, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

a lovely place to live with lovely people, shame about the rest. Hope you sort things out and return soon.

Thanks a lot, yes we hope so too

Hi Bellante,What part of Abruzzo were you living.We have a house nearly finished restoration but not moved out permanantly in Atessa.Sorry to hear of your problem.Maybe if you are able to give good advice for future bureaucracy.

Our farmhouse is just outside Bellante, 15 minutes from the beach at Giulianova and 30 kilometres north of Pescara. At times watching paint dry could be described as exiting by comparison to �� bureaucracy, but then at other times it can be fun. We towed a caravan here to live in whilst I restored the house and I was waiting for my �� residency to come through. Only about 18 months later I had to go through the last stages of paperwork concerning the residency at the comune. We went there with a good friend of ours who lived in the village and as we went through the forms with the “official” there she asked where we lived, not the address but the type of accommodation, “A caravan” our friend replied. She looked at this demented idiot and then her arms flew up “No that is absolutely not acceptable, a caravan is not a permanent dwelling it is temporary you must have a permanent dwelling, no” was her dismissive reply as she walked away to talk to someone in uniform who was clearly more important. Our friend thought about it for a few minutes and managed to interrupt their conversation about the weather and asked “What about if we took the wheels off the caravan and put in on bricks?”. She gave us a long grim official stair and replied “Va bene” and stamped the form. Next day another friend the local vigili who also kept the bar in the village donned his uniform, strapped on his berretta and came and had a glass of wine with us in our new “permanent dwelling”. Solo in Italia.