Restoring a House in Tuscany

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CONTENTS

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12

PREFACE

14

INTRODUCTION

30

SOME HISTORY

50

FINDING YOUR DREAM HOUSE

58

PITFALLS WHEN BUYING

72

ESSENTIAL CLUES IN RESTORATION

120

NO WATER, GAS OR SEWAGE

132

THE WORKFORCE: ARCHITETTO, GEOMETRA, INGEGNERE, MURATORE, MARMISTA, FABRO, FALEGNAME, IDRAULICO, ELETTRICISTA

162

OLIVE TREES AND LEMON POTS

198

SWIMMING POOLS

208

INTERIORS, LOCAL TRADITIONS AND ANTIQUE MARKETS

232

RUNNING COSTS

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PREFACE I grew up with a passion for old houses, architecture and building processes. I have no formal education in this direction, but I believe that genuine interest can take you far in combination with the real experts.

My father was in the construction business, building apartment houses in post war Norway and admired the architects working with him. But his heart was with old Norwegian timbered farmhouses that were left for more modern dwellings. He bought such an old farmhouse at a time when practically nobody was interested and turned it into a romantic vacation home for our family where we spent the winter weekends of my childhood with abundance of snow and firewood.

My work as a career diplomat and UN employee brought me far afield and gave me the taste for a warmer climate, while my passion for houses remained. When in 2008 I retired from my work in The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, with its Headquarters in Rome, it was my dream to dedicate myself fully to a small stone house my husband and I had bought 10 years earlier, a four-­hundred-­years old farmhouse in the southern part of Tuscany.

Since I retired I have helped friends and family find houses in Italy, guided them and closely followed the reconstruction process. It has been an exciting learning experience. Encouraged by friends, I have collected my experiences in this book, in the hope of helping other foreigners who share the same passion for old houses and dream of buying a vacation home in Italy. It is my hope that this book will throw some light on what it takes to buy property and restore a house in Italy. Some will perhaps be scared away from such a dream while others, hopefully, will be inspired. My experience is basically limited to Tuscany. However, much of what I have learnt also applies to other regions of Italy.

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AT THIS DILAPIDATED OUT HOUSE NEXT TO THE MAIN FARMHOUSE, THE NEW OWNER WAS ALLOWED TO OPEN UP TOWARDS THE VIEW AND TURNED THE SPACE INTO AN OPEN DOOR DINING AND RELAXING AREA (OPPOSITE).

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INTRODUCTION When I first arrived in Italy in 1996, I did not know much about the country.

I had studied and worked in France at various points in my life. Early on I had travelled to Provence and fallen in love with the small villages above Aix-en-Provence; Bonnieux, Menerbes, Lacoste, Lourmarin, Gordes and Roussillon in the Luberon region.

The villages were semi-abandoned and the most wonderful houses were emptied and closed up, beautiful in their dilapidated simplicity. The charming, provincial elegance of these houses bore witness of former village life, bustling with families, class differences on a local scale,

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IN THIS HOUSE THE OWNER USED RECLAIMED TILES AND MARBLE FOR THE KITCHEN COUNTER, CUT AND DELIVERED BY THE LOCAL MARMISTA. OPPOSITE: SLABS OF TRAVERTINE 153

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