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I've got to doubt Il Corriere - off to research this now. Doesn't make any sense at all - it's not as if it's a 730. (But thanks for the heads up just in time.)

Yeah, it's a bummer on this site that you cannot post pics. Tell me about it. It is great that you are not in a rush - Badger posted something that I'd never even thought about - take your time before installing a battiscopa. Very good advice. And then, you have the terminally 'green' advice from myabruzzohome, versus the more 'practical' solutions offered by Penny. Neither of them are 'wrong'. Clearly you are not a newbie to house restoration, and (aside from some legalistic overcomeable restrictions) it is basically the same the world over. Lime plaster in England equals lime plaster in Italy. Cement render - the same thing. BTW - rachel - you don't seem to be short of sq meterage, so have you taken on board my observation that you are not obliged to tart up all of your ground floor?

Yes, you could excavate an (external) intercapedine, and fling a bathroom or two within it, without increasing the volume of your building (for which you may be unable to obtain permission). The staircase would be bound to involve creating some extra volume - you couldn't fit a tall enough staircase in underground. In addition you'd need to make openings in the thick wall to get into the new underground spaces, and some engineer will come along and make this operation so costly that you'd work out it'd be cheaper to demolish the whole shebang! It's a hugely expensive option, and unless you are absolutely desperate for space it would rarely, in my opinion, be sensible. You can do an internal intercapedine, using a wall (built off the new dry floor) with a thickness of as little as 9cm, with a 10cm or so ventilated and drasined airspace between the thin wall and the old stone wall - this steals 20cm or so off the room size of course, but if you can afford to lose that space it's an economical and effective solution. (You could alternatively use some system which is even slimmer, generally involving non masonry products, but if damp is really a concern this could be a bit short lived). Your worry about exposing the 'foundations' is a real concern. To make the ground floor rooms habitable they have to be 2.7m high. If this means you have to lower the ground floor level then you may well undercut the base of the stone walls, and (depending on your engineer) this can get very expensive. At least you are aware of this possibility so it won't come as a shock. One thing which you might consider is whether you need to bring all of the ground floor up to habitable status - particularly with regard to ceiling heights. You can have bathrooms/utility rooms/boiler rooms/staircase wells/entrances which are lower, and you can have a cantina (place to keep gardening stuff, wood, garden furniture, be a workshop etc etc) which might even be acceptable a bit damp. Maybe some estate agents will tell you this won't add value because they won't be catastally square meterage - I'd disagree! Re getting plaster/cement render off. The earlier suggestions of a mechanical chisel are sensible - if you're doing it yourself consider a pneumatic tool: they are very cheap, much lighter to use, and the cost of a compressor to drive it isn't high.

I love planed floors, once cleaned and finished they are as easy to keep clean as polished marble, because effectively they don't have any joints. Posh floors were always planed - even very ordinary farmhouse floors done with cheap machine made hard clay tiles (or terazzo tiles) were planed up until the 1970s.  I have a whole selection of brick floors - the hall is done in tiles I reclaimed from the first floor, which had been planed probably 200 years ago. I didn't get them replaned, and some of them were worn, so they were not the same thickness at all edges, thus the floor isn't entirely flat, and they have narrow joints. It's polished up and greatly admired by all - almost nobody recognises the floor as other than entirely original. Then I have some floors done with E20/m² bricks, just laid and effectively unfinished. (Actually they are sealed with a Geal product called Protect, put on after the floor is finished, which is invisible. They also get an occasional polish with one of the easy to apply non buffables, Geal Woplus satinato is my choice.) They're fine, lots of people think they're wonderfully rustic and genuine looking, but I regard them as a bit second class - they are in unimportant rooms. (An aside, there is a sort of heirarchy of tiling pattern, herringbone with borders for the best rooms, catspaw for next class down, ladders for cantinas, etc!) Then I've got planed WOW brick floors on the main floor - throughout - totally flat, blindingly shiny (well, most of the time!) They need another hundred years really to look at their best - ½ûÂþÌìÌà visitors think they are to die for, Brits don't absolutely get it. It is essential to have extremely good lighting when the floor is being planed - despite the size and weight of the terrazzo machines it is basically a job done by eye, and tricky corners have to be hand finished with an angle grinder. What I haven't got, and I might try one day, is raw bricks sanded (rather than planed) - then finished with Geal stuff. There are people who do this sanding - it's a machine like a timber floor sander - rather less messy, cheaper and quicker than planing.  Re Badger's comment on new beams cracking - yes, they do that - they always have, it doesn't bother me. However, it is a good point to bear in mind when thinking of less than well seasoned chestnut flooring, where shrinkage might get aggravating.

On forums generally I agree with a lot of Ram's post, and the answers from established forum members which annoy me most are those which say 'we have been through this before, use the search facility'. Either the search facility is pretty gruesome, or the specific query isn't covered, and I think it's only courteous to reply personally, even if only providing a link to a relevant thread. As far as this forum is concerned, the lack of vibrancy has, I believe, two causes. Fundamentally the crisis has meant a huge reduction in the number of queries about house buying or renovating, or even utility bills or holidays, in comparison with five years ago. This has made it a bore for many really expert 'older hands', although hat tips to Badger, sagraisolar and Ram for retaining an interest. Additionally, the format of this forum is clearly extremely difficult for newcomers to handle (not that it is easy for those familiar with it!) Add to that the tortuous process of 'registering' (unless this has changed, this isn't one of those forums where you hang onto the page while the e-mail appears in your inbox.) I think this results in a minuscule growth rate of users.

For some of the stuff you mention - cotto flooring, chestnut beams - in my opinion you buy new. It's how you treat the floor/beams which determines how it looks, not the age of the clay or the wood. If you want a glorious genuine brick palazzo floor you buy the handmade 35mm thick bricks locally (should run at about E20/m²), get them laid and grouted (another E20 ish)  get a specialist in to plane them perfectly flat with a terrazzo machine (another E10-15/m²) and then finish with a lot of wax (DIY or E12 or so). Max spend under E70/m². You can easily pay this for fake gres look alike tiles, and more for ímported hand made cotto from some magazine advert - which still depends on your finishing it appropriately. You should be able to find a timber merchant locally who will be able to do chestnut beams (up to about 25cm² section) reasonably: they get a bit pricier for larger sections. Chestnut flooring may be more of a problem, but worth getting a local quote. Again, it's the finishing which makes the difference. (Has the building got timber floors at present?) Bricks are not so easy, (because wysiwig rather than finishable)  although there are a lot available second hand. Get an idea of prices from the sites which robbiemarche mentions, or try and track down the big s/h materials place on the main road near Sorano del Cimino (?spelling) near UnoPiu.  Stuff which is probably worth buying as 'repro' is ironmongery - there are quite a few firms eg.  which may make bits you like at affordable prices.

"Surely until the ½ûÂþÌìÌà tax system sets in stone what value to base this tax on it can't be implemented?" No, it is still a work in progress, whatever they decide before (about) 19 Dec 2012 will be implemented. This is Italy! As far as your query about UK council tax being deductible, AFAIK IF the ½ûÂþÌìÌà resident him/herself pays the UK council tax on the UK owned property then there is no question that it IS deductible from the IVIE due. This ½ûÂþÌìÌà tax (like most ½ûÂþÌìÌà taxes) is a PERSONAL tax - so if the same person pays the UK tax (council tax) it is deductible. If a tenant pays the council tax it isn't deductible. (But don't trust me - I have no more iinfo than the average commercialista!)

Not much in the way of parking on the Fiesole side of Florence I fear - Parterre is usually full!

I think you are maybe being a tad confused (understandable!) because it seems to me that you are looking at the IMU for Classe C buildings (which cover garages and other outbuildings). Now if these (this)  are (is)  'pertinent to your principal residence' (which inevitably will be Classe A) you only have to pay the rate of .4% on these outbuildings. (Now that isn't entirely precise as far as I have discovered, since you can only have one 'pertinent' garage which qualifies for the .4% rate, but if you only have one garage or other outbuilding you are okay to consider it as pertinent. If you have a garage and another outbuilding, dunno!) Ram is more solid than me, (since I imbecilically included offices in an earlier reply) so maybe he has an alternative notion on this.

I'd give it a bit longer, with the pot in the hottest possible spot (the ones for sale in the markets are forced in heated greenhouses), new compost and kept moist. I know I can't overwinter mandevillas: but I had a palm like plant that 'died' in 2010, produced one miserable leaf in 2011 (which died) , so when proposing to chuck it out this year I was surprised that the roots and bulb-like bit looked solid and healthy, so I gave it another chance in some fresh compost. It has managed six healthy looking fronds this year - so never say die if the roots look healthy!