½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Or the beginning of the end?....

You are right, Phillide, coffee drinking at the bar is part of social interacting in Italy and it would be a tragedy if this custom disappears. You can still drink coffee at 80c a cup in many ½ûÂþÌìÌà bars; however, in others, prices are going up. Coffee has increased its price in world markets and I would say that it is all due to world speculation. I also doubt very much that any part of these increases will end up in the pockets of coffee farmers in Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya or New Guinea...

We do not think that building costs have been reduced; however, it is easier to find builders or tradesmen available to work, even at short notice.

I have to agree with Fillide concerning the first part of his statement: QUOTE   I agree with you - but to be interesting and generate traffic you do need to have enough 'new' - ideally 'off the wall' queries to keep a forum alive; those queries will get answered - maybe with many different opinions and even heated arguments. This (historically and usefully UK based) forum has two problems: firstly that Brits aren't buying houses in anything like the volume that they did at the peak of the bubble, and they are not even choosing Italy as a holiday destination. (Euro Sterling rate majorly to blame) thus an inevitable decline in visits. UNQUOTE I do not like blaming anyone specifically for the slowing down of the site. A Forum (or Community) is the result of what its members put into it. Also, life circumstances do change. In my own case, I know that I do not spend as much time as before here... On the positive side, there is not the unpleasantness that many of us feared in the past. I wish that many members had refrained and moderated their input in the old forum.

The translation is correct.

Thanks, Sprostoni. I should add that my dear husband bought some coffee at Sant' Eustachio and tried really hard to copy the one we had there... the result was not very satisfactory. I think it is very difficult to duplicate. It smells good, though.....

Definitely, we will have to find another coffee shop in Lucca, Flip. De Simo used to serve an excellent one, only a year ago. Yes, there were tourists, but the place also had a special atmosphere which is also gone. A great pity!

It is difficult to generalise. Some foreigners have purchased property in Spain without checking on the legality of the building. Others have made additions to existing properties without the necessary permits. Others have received verbal agreements from greedy politicians or public servants who only wanted some financial gain. For very many years there has not been proper control over properties in Spain; however, things are changing. I do not think that there is any resentment against foreigners in Spain; however, some of them make no effort to integrate or interact and those are the foreigners who are not liked at all. As it has been said, some people go to Spain, particularly to the Costas to have cheap drinks and sun.... They make no effort to learn even some basic Spanish, they go to foreign-owned bars, they do not even appreciate local customs, food and history. In general terms, I believe that people who come to Italy are better educated.... and, again, I am generalising. 

I agree with everything already said. Age group and personal finances also will influence choices. In our case, after checking several potential locations, we realised that we had fallen in love with Bagni di Lucca. Feelings have a lot to do with choices.

A postcard to the USA costs me 1.60 Euro from Italy. Just ridiculous!