½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

So its Marche then????, Ancona, Pescara, Rimini, all within easy reach.Plus only 3 hrs from Rome and Bologna, no contest!

We live very differently in Italy than we did in the UK, and much more simply, comparison with prices is difficult, but as a general rule living expenses seem to  be on a par from my experience. Huge savings in the summer against large heating bills in the Winter, a consideration when buying property, vaulted ceilings may be charming , but are a huge expense to heat. Keeping chickens and growing produce is fun, but I am not sure that savings are made, especially if you buy locally and in season when there is a glut. But you have a huge head start by speaking ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, something that many of us still struggle with so good luck and do plenty of research. 

Thanks for your post, this is a fascinating subject, I hope that others are able to help, we live in Marche, which  already has members researching, and I know ½ûÂþÌìÌà families here who have a long memory of the people they helped during the war. and the children of UK servicemen still come and visit them after all this time. Good luck with your search.

Much more of a golden yolk and much, much better, Gilda has just produced another one, must be the basmati rice she had last night.

Misha stalked them all day yesterday Gala!, but they saw her off and now she has taken to pouncing on scorpions, no doubt she will grow up someday if she lives that long!. had the egg poached Pilchard, delicious.

I wonder if you have pine trees surrounding you?. This is the time of year that the pine tree caterpillars emerge from their winter nests high in the trees, and in procession march down the tree and across the land to burrow into the soil, to emerge later as moths and start the whole process over again. The nests look like large cobweb type structures and hold up to 300 caterpillars, the barbs of the caterpillars are extremly toxic, and can cause allergic reactions in humans and pets, they are especially dangerous for smaller animals especially if they are ingested. We had our nest removed last week by a local builder with his cherry picker as we were very worried about our 4 cats. Something to be aware of for the future.

Dont know what you are doing wrong, but you can buy a replacement sweet potato at Oasi, on the roundabout below Fermo and continue with your experiment!

  Postmac is right, this should have been sorted out by the pm system, it has no relevance to this forum.

  Fascinating stuff Anne, thanks for posting it. We have ½ûÂþÌìÌà friends in the next village who sheltered a soldier for 6months during the war, he was called George and has also died recently, his widow and son visited last year and there are still strong ties between the families. It is amazing to contemplate the courage of these people who risked certain death if it was ever discovered. There were public hangings in the village of Montepone a reminder of the fate they would suffer if found out. A

  lets hope more schools follow their lead,