House for Sale-In Bella Italia

We have friends who developed a love affair with Italy--which is very different from their Kentucky. They sold their house, uprooted themselves, went through untold frustrations and difficulties buying their perfect home here in Italy in the small Umbrian hill town of San Venzano, renovated it so that it is quite lovely, made many friends, learned how to handle the post office (you need to live in bella Italia awhile to understand this) and settled in for a long and peaceful rest of life in Italy--with a trip or two back to the states each year to cuddle grandchildren, see friends and go to Churchill Downs. They dreamed of having time and resources to travel, visit new places and just "do." Life was good for them and they loved it.

Then........the euro (€)

took over

and the dollar ($) plunged and life changed.

Now our friends are selling their lovely, loved home. They are not sure yet whether they will stay here in Italy and rent or buy an apartment with the profit they will realize from their home or move back to Kentucky and resume life there. If they stay, they can maybe do some of the traveling they have not been able to do and continue living the life they enjoy here. The decision is hard. Fortunately, Barb and Art are people who move on with life and don't look back once decisions are made.

We visited them last week--a 2.5 hour drive from our place to theirs. Barb served a delicious lasagna and her own tiramisu--yummy. They had invited another expat couple from around Orvieto and the six of us had a great time together talking and sharing tales and interests. And--we were able for the first time to see their home. Truthfully, if we were going to stay in Italy, we would give significant thought to buying it.

Not only is the house nice with a great kitchen and big rooms but the outside benefits are wonderful. The village has recently made a park right outside their back door so that it seems to become an extension of their property--and--it is a park that is small and not heavily used, making it almost private. Across the street (a narrow lane really) is another small triangular green space with benches for sitting. The house itself sits on a hill and has gorgeous views of the country side.

So, I told friend Barbara that I would write about it on my blog because one never knows which word of mouth will bear results. If you know anyone house hunting in Italy, send them to Barb and Art's pages. There you will find many pictures which tell the story plus a thorough description of the details and advantages that this house provides--and there are many.