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Hi Sorcha and welcome. Enjoy the Community. We all look forward to hearing more from you. 

Hi and welcome to the Comunity, Antonietta. We are in Northern Tuscany (Bagni di Lucca), but Piemonte is a beautiful region as well. Hard to find a place that is not great in Italy. Best wishes with all your plans. 

 i haven't seen it as yet. I will have to wait until September..... But it should look great as it has always been beautiful. Besides, the pools are filled with Bagni's thermal waters, which makes the complex more of a spa....Welcome to the group, Il volpe.

 Sorry, Maria, I missed your previous question. Look at the right hand side of the screen and you will find a list of groups available. Both Northern Tuscany and Gardening are open for anyone to join in.

 It is difficult to ascertain the validity of your passport without looking at it, but that statement is a bit strange. Normally, passports are valid to travel worldwide. Anyway, have a look at these instructions from the US Embassy in Italy:

 Hi VeniceLaura, sorry to hear about your predicament. Let's try to turn all the negative into positive.Your choice of professional appeared to be right at the time you made the decision. You knew him, he spoke English, he was locally available. He looked ideal. Unfortunately, a university degree does not guarantee that the professional is going to perform in a satisfactory way. Lack of experience, lack of self-assurance... they all seem to be complicating this case. This is something that you cannot change and there is no point in lamenting your decision.Regarding his fees, it is difficult to ascertain the situation. Do you have a written contract? What does it specify? Didn't you have a retention clause by which some monies were held until the completion of the works? Again, perhaps it is too late to look into all this.As for the fees owed, try to find out whether those are the architect's or the ones requested by the Comune to complete all necessary certificates and which would not have been included in the professional contract as they are ancillary.Licensed electricians and gas fitters have to complete their own certificates. This is the reason why they are licensed. If you employed someone who was not licensed, you are going to need that certification. You should have been told, though, before engaging a foreign tradesman who could not furnish you the appropriate paperwork.As for compliance with energy certification, your architect has to sort this out. Granted that in Italy, some things are more difficult than in other countries; however, he has a professional duty to fulfil.Basically, you need to have a talk with him and clarify these issues. He has to clearly explain to you what has to be done in order to finish the works and have all the relevant paperwork.  Best wishes,

I agree, Angie, pollution levels due to vehicles which do not comply with standards is becoming a real problem. And we are breathing that air..... 

Most interesting, Brian. Thanks for the info. 

 Helen, I'm really glad to hear that I am not the only one making those mistakes, but it is true, it is very difficult to identify seedlings. And sometimes weeds do look very pretty..... Perhaps we should grow more weeds and less valuable plants. It will be less trouble.

 Hi lindyp and welcome! Five times a year is not bad! We only go three times, but we drive from Spain and we stay for longer periods. Airlines have reduced the number of flights in general due to the current economic crisis, but let's hope that it will not last eternally!