Back from Italy

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I am back from Italy.

And I am starring at my blog and don't know what to write.

At least I want to write something interesting with some pictures.
But this is the problem.
The pictures.
I took hundreds of pictures, hundreds of landscape pictures, hundreds of family pictures and of course some pictures of the house.
My husband downloaded them to an external hard drive. And that's now not accessible. Not readable. Broken, or whatever.

I can't believe that all is gone. I still have hope that some magic IT guy will do some magic moves and *magic* all the pictures are back.

So in the meantime, I can give you a 'black & white' update:

I survived a month holiday with my Italian MIL. Actually, it was really nice. We have been a big Italian family - nine family members in peak times. And even more when friends were invited for dinner.

But you will ask, what about the palazzo?!
The house, the house... August is a holiday month, and so the workers left for holiday shortly after my arrival. They should be back today.

There was not that much progress in the past months. Two of the four workers had been working on another project (an Irish couple became new pizzitani, citizen of Pizzo, at least for the summer time).

However we met the architetto and met with the hydraulico and the electicista. The marmorista was also seen on site one day. The guy who is supposed to deliver the windows was on holiday as well, but we heard that the windows are ready. The doors are not finalized. Meaning that the wooden doors are not designed or decided. However the internal metal bodies of the doors were already mounted.

We made some decisions on the lighting of the seminterrato (basement). And I was measuring the six bathrooms to be able to make decisions on sinks and shower plates.

In the last days I was a regular visitor at Duravit & co (see my bath links on the blog roll). And I found out with my sister - while observing our kids playing in the sand box - that we have common interests in supergliss and softclose that can be ordered for Starck 3 toilets.

And some very pleasant news from Pizzo.
We met new neighbours!
They have been living in the same street for a year now and we met thanks to my blog. They bought a former furniture warehouse that was located in the seminterrato of a plazzo with same sea views from the same rock as ours. They used to work with another architect. And I was really impressed how they changed the dark warehouse space into a modern but cosy Mediterranean open space loft style apartment.

It was great and helpful to get some hints for our renovation. E.g. instead of terracotta tiles as flooring they use oak panels, everywhere, including the entrance, kitchen and bathrooms. And they painted walls with bold colours, in the kitchen and the bathrooms instead of using tiles.

That's enough for today. I will be back with more 'black&white' posts, or I will have to use some flickr pics for a change.

Daytrip to SCILLA

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Our Fiat was leading us up and down the mountains on curvy and narrow streets, on the old national road towards Scilla. This small pittoresque town is located on the Straits of Messina, just before Reggio Calabria, the toe tip of the Italian boot.

After Nicotera, above Palmi, on Monte Sant'Elia we made our first breath taking pitstop. From 600 meters above sea level you have 180 degree sea view with the Calabrian coast line underneath and Sicilly in the South. You can't tell where the sea ends and the sky starts. It feels like flying.

A few kilometers further South we finally reached Scilla.
To find a parking spot at an Italian sea side village in the middle of August is like winning the lottery. Especially because our Italian family has grown to a party of nine in two Fiats.

Having lost and found sight of half of the group and having solved the different priorities, like visiting the old town, having lunch or finding a beach, we visited the town by strolling down one small aley at the Marina to finally jump into the refreshing sea at a small beach near a small church.


It happened that we met a local gentile signore who not only gave us the same hint for the restaurant we got from another amico, but he also gave my son a collection of shells.

The recommended restaurant 'Glauco' was only 50 meters from our little beach and made us all happy. When we climed up the stairs to the restaurant, I was overwhelmed by the terrace 'sul mare' and its beautiful view of Scilla on the left and the coast on the right.


I immediately had to think of the movie 'The big Blue' where Enzo (Jean Reno) had to eat Mama's pasta on a similar terrace.

To top my impression, Dino, the owner of the restaurant, gave my son a few more shells.

I ordered spaghetti Glauco - they come with a sun dried tomato sauce and pine seeds - and had some white wine and was happy for the rest of the day. (photo left: linguine cozze e vongole)


(Maybe I should also mention, that the restaurant was all ours, as it was around 2.30 pm when we arrived from the beach.)

Back home, I realized that I had lost something to Scilla...
The red pants of my son, he jumped in the sea with, that are still drying on a fisherboat.

*******
RISTORANTE GLAUCO
via Annunziata 95, Chianalea
89058 Scilla (Reggio Calabria)
Tel./Fax +390965 754026

open from February to end of November

Antipasto Misto Mare 8,00 Euro
Spaghetti alla Glauco 12,00 Euro
Linguine Cozze e Vongole 12,00

The Renovation of the Facade goes on and on and on

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Some might wonder about the progress of the renovation work.
Is the house livable yet?
No!
We have not continued with the interior.
They are still working on the front facade - since a couple of months... on hourly rate... (please don't comment on this).

Here, part of the photo documentation sent via mail from Italy over the last couple of weeks:

Repair of the 'stones look'.

Renovation of the window frames including new window sills.

Balcony beam reconstruction (first, they were too short like shown here in the pic).

Water access (forgot why here)

New stone plates will be added.

* * *
I will be visiting the site tomorrow.
However, I will not have Internet access for a couple of days.
Happy holidays!
Until soon.

"Cool Travel Guide" about Calabria

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Remember the travel writer team that was looking for an accommodation in Calabria with Internet access? Lara and her partner Thierry have been travelling across Calabria end of May and early June to research, write and photograph this Southern Italian region for a new English guidebook.

Although the guidebook is not published yet, I have some of Lara's thoughts about Calabria ... because she is blogging about her travel writing at Cool Travel Guide.


She has "10 Reasons to travel to Calabria" to read in part I and part II.

Pizzo is one of them!
And other than in the usual travel guide books were everything is seen from the bright side, Lara writes in her travel blog also about the other side of the story.

Here Lara's description "Pizzo: with elegant palazzi perched precariously on steep cliffs overlooking the ocean and a charming old town that's a tiny tangle of pastel-painted houses, narrow lanes and steep stairs reminiscent of Positano. Unfortunately, tourists outnumber the locals at the gelateria tables on the main piazza, and one too many shops have given over to tacky souvenirs, however, wander the pretty backstreets where life goes on as ever and you'll smell the mouthwatering aromas of lunch being cooked and find women hanging out washing over their balconies."

Her comment about Pizzo make me remember, that Pizzo has some potential for improvements. Different from her comment (above). And I am looking forward to my next trip to Pizzo (soon!) to meet some old and new friends, some Pizzitani, who think alike. I will try to keep you posted!

During the weeks Lara and her partner have spent crisscrossing Calabria to research the new guidebook they were relieved to find the southern Italian region to be such terrific value. They consider Calabria: Europe's best value destination

And here is the link to all of her posts about Calabria

At the moment, Lara and Thierry are still in Italy, right now in Milano, to further research and write for a travel guide book about Northern Italy. She has posted some interesting observations about Italians as well, here and here!