We finally own the house!!!!!!

Finally, after 9 months, we own the house! Which is kind of scary given how much there is to do and how much money is involved. Still, no backing out now! We need to get the job done and get the rentals coming in!

First thing, I didn’t think the car was even going to make it up the drive but by going back and forth on the dry tarmac under the car, I manage to find enough traction to get it going and we just about make it out. Once on the road it’s fine. Everywhere looks beautiful and still covered in snow but the road surface itself is clear. At Luca’s office, Beatrice brings out Easter eggs for Dominic and Kitty and then we set off following Luca in his Kangoo.

It’s so much more personal doing this sort of thing in Italy. At home you need never see the other party, or even your lawyer. Here, we sit around the table with the vendor, Delio Mancini and his geometra, Lorenzo Anselmi while the notaio reads everything out in Italian and then Beatrice reads the English version. There’s a slight hiccup while we assure ourselves that it doesn’t force us to follow Italian inheritance law (and which prompts us to arrange to do Italian wills next week) and then we all sign and Luca hands Mancini a cheque for the balance. Then it’s off to the pub! Or rather the bar. Or rather not because it’s shut. But Delio has asked us all to lunch (bang go our plans for the day!) Originally he says it’s in Pedaso but as our 3-car convoy heads north, we go through Pedaso and on to Ristorante Campanelli in Porto San Giorgio where we are the first customers of the day (it’s not quite noon yet). Soon after Sra Mancini arrives, driven there by their son in his lunch break (which presumably explains why we are eating nearer to the Mancini’s home in Fermo). The food is sensational from fish and shellfish antipasti through two pastas and on to great plates of grilled fish (fantastic monkfish tails) and then an extra bowl of mussels (we’ve now had them cooked 3 different ways) specially for Delio whose favourite they seem to be. The kids are brilliant and spend a lot of the meal watching Ready, Steady, Cook (Italian version of course) on the obligatory telly. I’ve no idea what the price was but we’ll definitely be back.

Early in the sale we were told that Delio was selling because he needed money to complete doing up his house. And now the convoy heads off to Fermo so we can all see it. Seems it’s not a house. In fact it’s a big block of flats that are up for rent, next to another block that he already owns. Obviously a man of some substance! Then it’s off to casa Mancini for coffee before we all say goodbye – and arrange to meet Delio at our (repeat “our”) house on Tuesday morning.

We were supposed to be seeing Lucozzi today about bathrooms but he’s only in Amandola in the mornings so we rearrange for 8:30 on Tuesday before the site visit at 10:00.