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Congratulations on being chosen as a godfather for your niece's child. It shows that the family loves and trusts you. A godfather, together with the godmother are the sponsors of the child during the ceremony and act on his/her behalf. They are also supposed to assist the parents in the child's Christian upbringing (although this seems not to be a priority nowadays). The godparents hold a position of prestige in the family and you may be consulted whenever decisions have to be made concerning the child. Here you have the Baptism liturgy in ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, your wife will be able to help you to understand the details: Regarding a suitable present, a gold chain and cross or medal, with the name of the child and the Christening date engraved is the traditional one.

Sound advice, Elliven!

It would be very difficult for anyone to ascertain whether it is a fair price or not without having a specification of the work to be carried out and what is included in that quote. The best thing would be to ask for quotes from 3 different companies. Then you can compare and make up your mind. Beware, the cheapest quote may not always be the best one.

Italy looses about 130 billion a year through tax evasion. It was about time for the authorities to get tough. They started about two years ago asking for the "scontrino" at bars, etc. Obviously, that was not enough.

It may depend on the Comune; however, we were advised by ours to always send them a copy of any payment we make. They said that it is better this way as sometimes they receive payments that they cannot properly identify. Anyway, I think that Alan is right. It would be better to check the contents of what you have received from the Comune.

We have a house in Tuscany and another one in the north of Spain, close to the French border. Although we use them as a base and spend most of the time there, just doing day trips to interesting areas, we also spend time in other cities and countries, mainly Spain, Italy, France and the West Coast of the USA.  If our stay is up to 3 nights, we generally go to a hotel or a B and B. For longer stays, we prefer to rent a self-catering apartment. If we go to Rome, as we did last year, we prefer an apartment near the centre of the city where we can walk a lot and use as little transport as possible. We prefer self-catering apartments because, although we enjoy going out for lunch or dinner, we try to combine this with home-cooked meals, as we are not getting younger and we have to watch our diets. We don't have large breakfasts and most of the food that is served is very yummy, but not very good for our health. Another important consideration when we choose where to go. Also, we always travel with our little dog and this limits the choice of places, although, fortunately, this has also changed in the past few years and many owners welcome dogs with certain restrictions. As our doggy is a world traveller and very quiet there is never a problem. The property you describe sounds great; however, it would be very difficult to ascertain whether it is a viable project. You will have to make lots of research locally. I would agree with Fillide in that its proximity to Rome does not guarantee a good flow of clients. Personally, we would rather try to find something downtown and we would not be interested by the pool. On the other hand, families with children may find it interesting. They could combine a holiday with time for cultural visits.... Now, are you prepared to cater for families with children? You also mentioned the possibility of organising weddings in a previous thread. I think that you should also explore that possibility, but then, combining the two activities may be a much bigger problem. Nothing is easy, starting a new business is difficult and risky, particularly in these times. Make sure that you have enough money not to entirely depend on the revenue from the business... at least for a considerable time. There are a lot of peoply trying to make a living out of this kind of activity and not everyone is successful. In any case, we wish you good luck!

Yesterday, I went to the very large Leroy Merlin shop in Bayonne (France) and they have the largest amount of products for all kinds of jobs around the house. I was buying a few things there to take ot Italy, but, at the same time I looked very carefully at the shelves that had everything to clean bricks and tiles trying to check whether they had something more ecological.... No way, although the shop has lots of ecological friendly products, to clean bricks and pavements more help is needed, so it is all chemical. Basically, they are a combination of solvents and acids. My advice would be to go to the nearest Leroy Merlin or BricoIo, or similar shop in your area and check there. Good luck!

Welcome, Bella. We are looking forward to hearing more from you. Sebastiano's advice is totally correct. It is most important to think very carefully before taking the plunge. In any case, creating a project is a great thing. Learn and think as much as you can about what you want to do. Play devil's advocate. All this will ensure your success. I wish you all the best.

She will not be pleased....

I saw this on the Internet: They specifically advise not to use muriatic acid on brick!!!!