½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Why insure your house (structure) at all? Unless you have been unwise enough to buy something which might get flooded, there is little which can get disastrous on an ½ûÂþÌìÌà house apart from land movements.  Whether caused by subsidence or landslip or earthquake is irrelevant, any of these events carry quite a large 'excess' and almost never cover things like pools, terraces or outhouses. So unless you get a massive frana or a really big earthquake it is likely to have cost you more in premiums than it would cost if you bore the repair work costs yourself! The construction of an ½ûÂþÌìÌà house means it is virtually fire-proof, and unless you fill it up with non traditional features such as carpets and curtains it would take a serious arsonist to burn it. My calculations (over a lifetime) show that insuring contents is equally futile 'economically'. I've been robbed fairly seriously about three times at ten year intervals - and the claims almost always equated to the premiums paid in the decade before,  so why do it? The insurance company just wants your money to gamble with - so why encourage them? Third party cover is useful - but your bank or the post office will cover you for a tile falling off or your dog biting a child for less than €100 a year.

The confirmation of this chap's elevation to 'Senator for Life' was greeted with absurd delight by the radio station IlSole24h - not a Berlusconi puppet. It made me a bit happy, I must say, because just possibly (given that Napolitano the President of Italy was shouting at the newswires that Berlusconi had irrevocably resigned) Italy may, within a couple of days, be ruled by a techincal government. Actually, I doubt it will make any difference to the rottweilers who trade ½ûÂþÌìÌà govt bonds, but if it does - well, hey - Monti is a banker! So that's maybe a good thing for the bond markets, and which democrat is going to say it's a bad thing for Italy? Worse, the only (very small) 'political party' in Italy which appears to have a brain cell (Italia dei valore) has said it won't work with Monti. So back to cats in a sack ½ûÂþÌìÌà politics.

Far more worrying than his "media monopoly" is the political "monopoly of corruption" and nepotism, and clientelism, which is ½ûÂþÌìÌà politics. Completely agree with SirTK that the media insistence that the bond markets would all be wonderful again if only Berlusconi, and Papandreou, bit the bullet! Well, that didn't happen, did it. Time for study of the political bit towards the end of this very funny animation. Anybody got any ideas on the SBK to spread on those roots?

So - the EZ big honchos have got it in for him - I don't say they are wrong. but he is simply a figurehead for a deiinquent government. Finally, today, the Italain treasury hes effectively put its money where its mouth is, and 'pulled' a bond auction. Now, unless the 'markets' are truly feral and crazy they SHOULD understand this move as massively significant. What is 'says' is that Itlay is truly solvent, and the 'attacks' (which I believe them to be) are opportunistic. So - do we need your overpriced money? - I don't thnk so - this is the bluff which the  treasury is calling. I do hope that this intelligent move might just avoid european armageddon. The Greeks lying down and getting their tummy tickled - well -does not cut it with me.

If you can get onto the enel website using your relatives' codice fiscale and their 'customer number' you'll find a possibility of sending ENEL an e-mail. If you write it in English they'll find someone who can understand it! Maybe you don't even need to register - try the 'contattarci' link if you can find one. ENEL are one of the least difficult companies to deal with, IMO. The phone is best, if you speak good ½ûÂþÌìÌà (and can stand pop music while you are waiting to be connected!) Otherwise it's a nothing little task to delegate to a notaio's office or a geometra, or an estate agent or a neighbour.

Huge amount of rain and rivers overflowing their banks, quite a few confirmed deaths today in Genova. The talk is about once in ten year weather events now becoming three or four per year. As always, some impressive video on the site. Dreadfuly sad.

I'm not at all certain of the 'letter of the law' on this one, but usually the assumption is that you will have a 'ventilated' ground floor. The modern way of doing this in your situation is to dig out the ground floor to about 250mm below finished floor level, lay some 'iglu' on the clay or rock revealed, throw 100mm of reinforced conc over the top and then tile it. These 'iglu' are plastic crab like structures (also known as granchi) which simply isolate the concrete slab from the substrate and form a passage (ventilated) for any rising groundwater from springs etc. It's an okay system if you don't have the depth to do a proper 'suspended' ground floor. The old UK solution of using a membrane can work - except (depending on your geology) it can also mean that around the edges of your 'waterproofed slab' you might get some lovely fountains! The 'big issue' as alanh has alluded to is about undermining your existing walls. This is why the least deep solution is chosen - but if you have to dig down even the minimum of 250mm you still might face this difficulty.

'tis all Greek to me too alanh! But I do love my 'internet radio' which I have a notion is a very early life form of what these guys are taliking about! I waver between thinking 'let the PC/Mac do it all' and then thinking 'independent devices' are maybe the way to go! (Coming to you from a so called adsl router currently running on a SIM data card because my landline is down...brain hurt)

I moved from vanilla Enel to Enel Energia (which apparently is a different company!) My deal wouldn't suit everyone, because it gives me ridiculously cheap electricity from 7pm until 7am, and on wekends and festas, but gets relatively expensive in peak hours. Anyway, my bills for two months used to be about €45, and now they are about €60 for three months. - so a small but not insignificant saving (though my mode of living meant I didn't have to make any variatons to majorly use my electrical supply at night, and I can see this would be difficult for some). I have other friends who are happy with Edison: they pay a flat rate 24/7, and they report greater saviings than I've seen.

This is the whole point of the 'resident' tariff - it is designed to assist those users who are (maybe need to be) a bit parsimonious with their electricity usage, and is based on the idea that 3.3Kw is absolutely enough on which to run a small household. Regard it as a state subsidy for 'pensioners', and don't get pissed off when you find that your (presumed) requirement for 6.6kW doesn't cut you into the discount scheme.