Primavera

Although spring has finally arrived in London, we're really looking forward to returning to the villa next weekend, as I hear that la primavera has arrived will full force in Italia.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the progress on the footbridge across the Lima, linking the gardens and car park of the Villa Fiori next door with Ponte a Serraglio. During our last visit, we saw that the structure now spans the width of the river, and it looked like it was nearly complete. I'll put up some pictures after our next visit.

Earthquake

We are very thankful that we did not feel any effects from Monday's devestating earthquake in Abruzzo. The destruction and loss of life are terrible and our thoughts are with all of the victims.

If you want to contribute to the rescue efforts, the National Italian American Foundation has started an Abruzzo Relief Fund and the Croce Rossa Italia is also very active in providing relief and assistance to the victims.

Headed Back

We're headed back to the villa for an extended stay for the first time since mid-February. I'm looking forward to some Spring sunshine, although when I checked the weather yesterday, it had been raining for days and expected to rain all week. Hopefully it will be all "rained out" by this weekend and we can enjoy some good weather. Fingers crossed.

Italian Art

While wasting time on the internet last weekend, I came across a site that turns photos into drawings. I thought I'd see what the villa would look like as a drawing. Here's the result in two different styles.


Mi piace molto!

Visiting in Mid-Winter

We spent a long weekend in Bagni di Lucca recently, and although it's still very much winter, I think I detected some faint signs of Spring around the corner. The nights were still cold (sometimes close to 0 C), but the bright, sunny days warmed up to 10 C, providing a refreshing change from grey, cold and damp London.

Fewer tourists also means it's easier to get around. Of course, Florence is always crowded, but in February it seems almost deserted compared with the heaving masses clogging the streets during the height of summer.

All-in-all, a great time to relax, stroll through the towns and cities and eat great food. Can't wait to get back!

Renting the Villa

Now you can enjoy the charms of Bagni di Lucca and Tuscany and rent the villa for your holiday or short break.

We had trouble deciding whether or not to offer the villa as a holiday let (I'm not terribly fond of the idea of strangers living in our house), but in the end we decided that renting provides a good way to offset some of the costs, especially as the house would otherwise remain empty most of the time.

Of course, we worry about damage and wear and tear, particularly as we have just renovated the house and bought new furniture. However, I've noticed in my experience as a renter of houses that they are normally in pretty good condition, so I've concluded that most holiday renters take pretty good care of the property.

Of course, I have no concerns about any of this blog's readers renting the villa, as I'm sure that you would take the utmost care of the property.

So, if you fancy a stay at the villa, you can find the listing here on Holiday-Rentals in the UK, and here on HomeAway in the USA. There's also a link to the listing on the sidebar of this blog.

We hope you will get the chance to visit Bagni di Lucca. Bienvenuto!

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's weekend in Bagni di Lucca and enjoyed a relaxing stay. The roof has been repaired - three tiles were cracked when the TV satellite was installed and that was enough, with all the heavy rains in December, to cause the leak. As expected, there was no real damage, and we'll just need a lick of paint to the bedroom wall to remove the water stain.

After the deluge in December, fortunately it rained only one day. The temperature, however, was colder than normal, hovering around freezing and only rising to about 5 or 6 Celsius during the day. Despite the temperature, the area remains beautiful and charming even in winter, and quieter, with few tourists.

We took a drive to the nearby ski resort of Abetone, and while snow in Bagni di Lucca is rare, plenty had fallen and accumulated just a few miles up the mountain - several feet in fact! The resort was packed with skiers, so it must be a popular spot.

Much of the small amount of remaining work in the house has been completed, and only some landscaping and clean-up left to complete in the driveway and garage area. We're already planning our next visit and I'm especially looking forward to the warm spring and summer weather, which can't come soon enough!

Leaky Roof

The rains that have swelled our river have also caused a problem in our house. The roof has started to leak.

When we renovated the house, we replaced many roof tiles to ensure the roof would remain watertight. We rely entirely on these tiles to hold out the rain as there is no waterproof membrane or lining beneath them. Normally, this provides perfectly adequate protection from the elements, and I am told that is a relatively common roof structure for old houses in the area.

We think that some of the tiles may have become cracked when we installed the TV satellite dish, and this, combined with the very heavy rains, has caused the leak. I say we "think," because the rain has not stopped long enough for anyone to go up to the roof to find the problem and fix it!

Meanwhile, water has soaked into the middle bedroom's wall. It probably will not cause any real damage - the walls are stone after all. We will just need to re-paint and perhaps repair a bit of plaster, but we're still anxious to fix the leak as soon as possible.

The rain has to stop sometime doesn't it?

A River Wild

What a difference some rain makes. Well, actually, a lot of rain.

Back in Bagni di Lucca last weekend, the river had really risen from when I last saw it in October. A furious torrent filling almost the entire riverbed had replaced the shallow waters running over and between rocks, and the ugly concrete barrier had become a flowing waterfall.

Here's what the river looked like last summer:

A Brief Visit

This weekend we return to Bagni di Lucca for the first time in almost five weeks. We have missed both the town and the villa during during these weeks and look forward to returning.

Now that we have finished most of the work, we can spend a restful weekend and with a little luck, enjoy some Autumn sunshine. It will be a refreshing change from London's grey September skies.

Unfortunately, we can only stay for a long weekend. I know our stay will seem much too short and before we know it, it will be time to leave.

Hopefully we can spend more time there during the coming months. Autumn and Winter in northern Tuscany are much quieter than in the summer, and even in Winter, the weather seems nice to those of us who have become accustomed to the cold, wet and dreary days in London or New England.

I've got a backlist of about thirty books to read that I hope to tackle between now and Springtime while sitting in front of a comfortable and warming fire.

A Delightful Garden

In some ways, the garden turned out best of all. The beautiful stone patio bordered by the new rose garden provides a peaceful oasis for reading, eating and relaxing in the beautiful Tuscan summers.

Bathrooms

I know you've seen some of this before, but I couldn't resist showing the bathrooms again. They really came out great.

The upstairs with its grey and white tile:



The expanded downstairs bathroom, with new laundry area and shower, also came out well.



Next post, out to the garden. . .

Bedrooms

We've made each of the bedrooms a little different from each other, but they share an understated and comfortable look.

The main bedroom with its rich wooden furniture. . .



the simplicity of the second double bedroom. . .



and the coziness of the twin bedroom. . .


More to come. . .

Kitchen and Living Room Photos

As promised, but a little late, I've taken some pictures of the house that is now 98% finished. We are terribly pleased with the result, especially the kitchen.


The main living room is spacious and inviting.


The room facing the river with the large fireplace has turned out great - an especially comfortable room for reading and relaxing.

I will save pictures of the bedrooms upstairs for the next post.

Settling In

We arrived late Friday night to find the house and garden in great shape. Almost everything is done inside and out. In the garden, the landscaping is complete with new lawn, flowers and shrubbery. We found the inside in the same condition, with everything spotless and complete.

We've spent the first few days here shopping for various odds and ends, including some rugs, pictures and other various decorative items. I think we're finally about shopped-out, which is good since we've also just about tapped-out the wallet!

Now, we're looking forward to a few days of nothing but rest! I will post some new pictures soon.

Zipping Around Town

I'm considering getting one of these, as I think it would come in very handy for tooling around town.

Plus, Vespas are cool!

Of course, there's always the danger of falling and breaking my arm (or head!).

And then there's this potential image factor to consider. . .

An Extended Stay

Tonight we leave for a two-week summer holiday at our newly renovated villa. We can't wait to see how the remaining work has turned out, especially in the garden, where the grass should be laid and the flowers and shrubs planted.

Originally, we thought we would spend this time helping to finish up the renovation work (really watching, actually) and getting everything in order, but our project manager and crew have done such a great job of getting things done, all that's left is really some finishing touches.

So, instead of running around trying to get things done, we can spend two delightful weeks picking out and hanging pictures, shopping for antiques, eating and generally loafing about. I view this as fantastic news, as it will give us an opportunity to really enjoy our new house, and besides, I really need the break!

I will try provide updates and photos during the next two weeks, but the mobile broadband signal is sometimes a bit dodgy, so wish me luck.

A New Bridge

Our house is not the only place in the neighbourhood under construction. Work began earlier this year on a footbridge across the Lima, only a few dozen metres from our house. Although they started work in the spring, things appear to have come to a pause, as we did not see much progress between our last two visits.

You can see the base of the bridge under construction in the picture below on the far right. Our house is at the far left, still half white, half-yellow.

The other side of the bridge will connect here:

When finished, the bridge will span the river at this point.

You will notice that the not much water currently runs through the riverbed. I am told that they have reduced the flow by closing a dam further up river so that they can complete the construction. They have also filled in a lot with rocks and built a barrier across it (below). Before, this area was filled with rushing rapids.

Supposedly, once the water flow is restored, this will again become rapids and the barrier will form a waterfall. I hope this happens soon, as the sound of the gushing water in the river is a great feature of our house. We would like to enjoy it!

Retail Awareness

We found that furnishing and outfitting a house from nothing has brought the added benefit of giving us a thorough knowledge of where to buy stuff all over Lucca province and the surrounding area. We found some of the places by accident, but thankfully our project manager/translator/nanny steered us to most of them.

In the course of our quest for sofas, tables, garden furniture and book-ends, we've shopped at high-end furniture shops, DYI stores, low-end furniture shops, antique shops, garden centres, flea markets, junk stores, electronics super stores and everything in between.
From Mondo Convenienza and Che Meraviglia for indoor and outdoor furniture, Brico and OBI for DIY, and Mercatone Uno for a little bit of everything, it seems like we have visited every big-box Italian retailer. And, of course, Ikea. We've even wandered through the Altopascio Mercatone Uno so many times that the furniture lady recognises us!

We've also found things in unexpected places. After looking everywhere for mattress covers, we finally found them in Esselunga, the supermarket. And we found some really great framed Puccini opera posters in a market stall on the streets of Lucca.

For all the fun, shopping for household items did present us with challenges, especially with language. With only a few shop employees speaking English (naturally enough), and my Italian remaining problematic, communicating exactly what we wanted did not always happen smoothly. However, persistence usually paid off, and through a combination of fractured Italian phrases, English and lots of hand gestures we managed to complete quite a few transactions.

Most of all, the experience proved a big confidence builder, both in using the language and in gaining the ability to accomplish what would be routine tasks at home in a different and sometimes intimidating environment.

Landscaping

Although we have done far more work (and spent much more money) on the garden than we originally intended, we do not regret it. The stone patio makes all the difference in the world, and I cannot wait to see the lawn.

Of course, to properly complete the garden, we must now decide upon what plants and shrubbery to plant. During our last trip, the landscaper brought a number of samples for us to see and choose from.

Unfortunately, our indispensable project manager / interpreter was not there when we discussed the options with the landscaper, and my Italian remains pretty rudimentary despite all of the lessons, so we're not really sure exactly what we chose in the end.

I'm sure we did get across that we wanted red and white flowers, and we're pretty sure about the shrubbery and hedges, but we will wait with great anticipation to see what we actually get.