Buongiorno di Pizzo

We are here, in Bella Pizzo, already in our second week, and I have not posted anything here on the blog yet. It is more a technical issue. First I could not connect to the Internet. And even with my mobile phone I constantly lost network in our house with many one meter thick walls.

Until one sunny afternoon, when the Irish gentleman, who is Pizzitano since many years and chances to meet him in one of the bars in the piazza are good, told me that almost every bar in the piazza has wifi, and he knows all the different passwords from "franco62" to "iloveicecream".

Maybe I should sit in the piazza and write a post on the iPad... But what about photos? For me a post needs at least one nice photo. May I invite you to check our pics and posts on FB at www.facebook.com/PalazzoPizzo instead.

But what's up in Pizzo? Or our house?

Not sure where to start. For the insiders who spent here last summer, I would say, the pizzeria La Ruota, after 8 month of closure, has reopened at the Marina and Sasa La Divina is singing again in piazza every Wednesday night. (I still wonder if she is a twin sister or brother of our electrician.)

Since La Ruota was closed on the piazza, because the whole palazzo is under renovation (will we see another nice hotel?), the restaurant at the corner, Le Castelane, started offering pizza too, and is doing well.

Next to the gelateria and Bar Ercole, a prodotti tipici shop has opened. Le Chicche di Calabria has a few cute tables on the piazza where you can eat different (cold) specialities of Calabria, salami, cheese, sweets and of course taste wine.... Last night the triple grappa was too much for me...

Angelo still comes every morning to our house. First he fixed a window, then he lent me his Bosch sander. When he does not appear until 10am I already worry he might have felt off his Vespa... Yesterday, he bought new material to fix again part of the vaulted stone ceiling in our residence. Today he repainted a bathroom wall. We have some walls where the paint comes off again. In some areas it seems humidity with unknown source, in other areas it seems just a material problem.

My first days here, I was occupied with vacuum cleaning, grinding garden chairs, and painting those. While vacuum cleaning, I discovered a lake of water below one sofa. I thought of a broken tube... But it was condense water "only"! We thought of acquiring a "deumificatore".

My garden chair project took several days, because I only could work on the balcony as long as there was shadow - I've got a sunburn after my first visit to the beach. I thought I could sunbath like the Italians, and additionally did NOT use my 50+ suncream...

Now, my tiny chair project is accomplished, my skin feels better and I can go to the beach again.

Another big project however, is on hold: Pizzo harbor. The wind blows fine dust on our balconies and through the windows from the deserted sandy dessert around the unfinished harbor basin below the house. The new major wants to continue the project, but people say the commune has no money left.

Finding: La Torta Belvedere tastes differently this summer. Maybe my gustatory sense has changed, maybe the recipe - unfortunately. Although, it makes the decision easier: tartuffo!

Recently, our neighbour has painted a wall connecting our houses in the same color, almost same color, as our facade. And I did not notice!

Sunday evening, I was invited to celebrate my neighbour's (another neighbour, and friend) birthday with a BBQ on the beach at the Marinella. Beside a few Italians, some originally from the North, I met an interesting international group of English, Irish, Dutch and American - all very nice people, and all in love with Pizzo.

Today, the tapissiere passed by to have a look at our chairs and sofa. We explained what we want and he gave us a price. Since he is busy and we expect friends, we decided to only let him work on the upholstery after our holiday.

After lunch, when we were thinking of a pisolino, two window makers arrived with a zanzariera, a moskito net frame for one of our windows.

Tonight, we plan to have dinner with my inlaws and a friend from Rome at San Domenico restaurant. It was our favorite last year. Looking forward! :-)





Gianluca Callipo is the new mayor of Pizzo

Two weeks ago, Pizzo has elected its new sindaco, mayor Gianluca Callipo. This young man, who turns 30 next month, and his team  achieved an impressive victory with over 56% of all votes. - Congratulations!!!

With his campaign "tocca a te" ("it's your turn"), and a "play button" icon symbolizing it's now time to push forward unfinished projects, he was able to win most Pizzitani.

After studying his program and website, I discovered the beautiful little trailer of  "mettiamoci al lavoro" (let's start the work), an artwork itself. Francesca Procopio, a photographer from Pizzo, walks like a fairy through the old town and along its beaches, making drawings, photographs and notes. I wonder why the abandoned movie house Cinema Mela was featured? Is Gianluca having a dream? A revival plan like in "Cinema Paradiso", the award winning nostalgic movie that is one of his favorites, according to his facebook profile?


> watch the beautiful trailer for the Gianluca Sindaco campaign

You should know, in Pizzo, some good projects are blocked, paused, unfinished - unfortunately, as it seems so typical for the South of Italy.

I took these pictures from Gianluca's program to visualize just three of his subjects:

Pizzo is tired to wait - let's restart: the famous paused ascensore, elevator 

It is on hold since 20? or 30 years! The elevator is supposed to connect the upper historic center with the lower marina and its sea side promenade. It is ready to open, but never did. 

Pizzo does not want anymore uncompleted projects - see original harbor project plans

I don't know, if this project below our house is on hold due to money problems. I only know that there is a lawsuit (initiated by our neighbour) to stop the excavations of the blue grotto. But the harbour project and the lungomare could be continued without the realisation of the grotto access, I guess.

Pizzo wants to change - STOP modern ugly dense housing projects


Another "piccolo" subject, probably too small to be mentioned in a political program, however, we and our neighbours are interested in, is the repair of the small alleys in the historic center. Some areas have so many holes that you would need an off-road-car. Since a couple of years the commune has promised to restore the alleys. But the tight financial situation always had been an excuse that nothing had happened. - I hope, it is covered by the general target to take care of the historic town center.

We are looking forward to Gianluca and his team of ambitious politicians to start working on the targets they have been voted for. So many Pizzitani have faith and hope in the new sindaco. We too.

If we would have been able to vote, we probably would have voted for Gianluca Callipo too. Since we sourced all our bathroom equipment and tiles from Callipo in Vibo Valentia, I guess, we already indirectly have supported him  ; ) 


Photo Source:
Programma di Governo (government program) and Gianluca Callipo website and blog:
Gianluca Callipo blog

How much fabric is necessary for armchair, chair and sofa?

80 cm fabric for dining chairs

I did not plan to write yet again about  finding the right fabric, or how to calculate the amount of fabric that is necessary to do an upholstery job. But today, when I finally went to buy our, I almost made a mistake.

For the sofa, I was convinced that we need 4 meter and just made the guy cut the fabric. For the silk fabric of the armchair, I also asked for 4 meter. Then however, just before the salesman started cutting, I made him stop. I asked him, what he thinks I would need for an armchair. His prompt answer was "6 meter".



While I was searching for a photo on my phone to show him our armchair, he was taking out some charts to show to me.


chart that indicates the right amount of meter for fabric needed for upholstery of all different kind of chairs, armchairs and sofas (.80 = 80 cm, 1 = 1m, 2.5 = 2.5 m ... / 1 inch = 2.45 cm / 1 yard = 91.44 cm)


I was totally impressed, once again, how well they are prepared and trained to serve the customers. He looked at the photos of my armchair. Actually, I only had looked at one - the one with the leftovers of the upholstery - a front picture - and never thought of the back. Now, I was looking at the second picture, where the wooden frame of the armchair was totally stripped off all upholstery. I realized I need fabric for the back too!


The salesmen looked with me through the charts and we agreed that probably 4.5 meter would be enough, but to be safe I bought 5 meter (the silk fabric is 100 cm wide only).


The calculation of fabric needed is the same as for tiles needed in a bathroom or kitchen. Almost. Because you need to take into consideration the width of the fabric you have chosen. If you need for one dining chair e.g. 70cm x 70 cm of fabric and the fabric is at least 140 cm wide, you get two chairs out of  70cm length. And you need only 2.10m for 6 chairs. Is the fabric less wide, you can get just one chair out of 70 cm length, and would need 1.40m for two chairs or 4.20m for 6 chairs. So I took 80 cm times our dining chairs.

A wider fabric might be more expensive, but if you need less fabric, you might end up cheaper.

You need more fabric than it seems when:
  • you choose a fabric with a bold pattern. You probably want the pattern in the middle for an aesthetic symmetric look. The excess fabric on the sides often is waste. 
  • you have chosen stripes. You have to determine in which way the stripes should run before calculating. The entire fabric cannot be used as it would require to change direction.
  • you want piping for your cushions
  • you want the seat covers of your dining chair removable for dry cleaning

For the excess fabric you can find new usage: small cocktail cushions for another sofa to repeat the pattern in the room, patchwork floor cushions, blankets, or funny tents over kids bed and the garden.


Finally, it is a good idea to get your fabrics weighted in case you need to take them by plane. My shopping prey today weighs 4.7 kg, already 1/4 of a 20 kg suitcase (allowance in Alitalia national economy class).

This is what I have learned so far. I am not an expert. If you have any other tips let us know!






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