Mumsnet Little Italy 6

[Rosa]

Ciao , Hello , Welcome .

Lol, I once went to see a place where there was a hole in the ceiling and it was even pointed out by the estate agent as having "travi a vista" through said hole in the controsoffitto.

The best one is the brianzolo obsession with entrance halls. When your flat is 70sqm you don't need 20sqm of entrance hall. And they had to cheek to promote it as a trilocale.... 2nd bedroom was a windowless cubby hole.

Estate agents, don't you just love 'em!

Seen a lot in the last few days as we are looking for a place in Rome as DH can't face commuting any longer. We want to keep this house though and return at weekends and the summer.
We are looking at Vitinia at the moment, on the outskirts of Rome, Gio if you take the trenino out to Ostia it's on that train line. It's quite cute and small town-like but there's the train into Rome, it's near DH's work and SIL is nearby. We viewed a place yesterday which would be perfect for us, it even had a garden, and 5 minutes walk from train, school, shops etc. but it's really at our upper limit budget wise and would mean a huge mortgage. Then again, if we vacate in the summer we could rent to tourists so might recover a bit. Anyway August approaches and we're carrying on looking.

DelGirl this is tiny but cheap, might be ok for 3 months. Montopoli is adjoining Poggio Mirteto.

There's often ads for rental places at the supermarket etc so you may be better off coming here and looking. Also, I know someone in Casperia with an apartment she rents to tourists. She might be interested in 3 months especially in autumn or early spring.

For the nursery I know ours would take your DD if they have spaces, just that most of the kids would be under 3 and so less verbal. There is another one in Poggio which I know takes older kids too, in particular in the afternoons if the parents are working when the school shuts, so that could be a possibility.

Ello - Delgirl it sounds as if you found the place with the answers I am pretty useless as a) am in the north and b) my dd is a bit behind the others so have not got as far as that yet !
Sputnik so are you going to launch and buy or sit on your hands until after Agosto. Dh has gone to view a place this pm its right in an area I don't want so the place is bound to be lovely !! SUn trying to come out here at the moment but the clouds are still round.
Have a good weekend all ....

We can't move now as we have to wait for DH's new contract. Then august happens so nothing will move til september anyway. Hope the house your DH is going to see is crap then!

Well seeing as I go and do the initial visit on most of the places it is about time he did some foot work ( and its only as it is a house in front of a mate ) its ok for little ones but as soon as they get to school age then the nightmare begins and it takes ages to get anywhere from there but seeing as we can't find anything in the area we want I guess we have to look further afield. Now where did I put the numbers for the lottery ?

Thanks alot Sputnik. That place looks just a bit too small for me. I'm waiting to hear from work whether I can take unpaid leave and I think the best time to go would be spring. April/June or March/May. I guess it will be slightly warmer from April. Also thinking of perhaps driving my car there but we'll see. I want an Api (appi?), that's my dream

good luck with your search btw. You don't need someone to look after your place do you

Think you mean an Ape, I'm forever getting stuck behind them!
Shall I make enquiries about the Casperia apartment? Thanks for the house sitting offer but we'd want to use it on the weekend probably

well I could go to bro's place in Motasola for the weekends . Just kidding.......

Montasola!

Oh, and yes please, if youo could ask your friend. Are there many Italians in Casperia? I've not been there, yet.

Plenty of Italians in Casperia, DelGirl
Then there is a lovely welsh lady who is a friend and client, with a B&B, she has another welsh friend, the one with the apartment. Then there is a British guy used to have a wine bar. I think there's others I don't know about.

I have to see the B&B lady next week, so will make some discreet enquiries about the apartment. I can post on here or you could leave your e-mail.

Brange, I meant to say earlier I don't think the paed apts are obligatory, I'm hopeless too DD got her 3 year one 6 months late and paed didn't bat an eyelid.

Ah thanks, that's what I thought. DD's paed is quite relaxed anyway, she always laughs when I ring up for some reason.

I didn't realise there was a non Tuscan Brit enclave. You live and learn.....

I just found an Italian vegan site. They're so radical on there, it's quite scary (and this is from a rabid vegetarian). I found the same thing with an Italian cloth nappy site. It seems that you have to be a raving nutter to be different here, there appears to be no such thing as normal people making different choices. It now understand why people used to look at me strangely.

Rosa, how was the house that your DH saw?

The house was a total overhaul job- so much for just the heating and bathroom needing to be done anyway he feels the lady might be willing to drop a bit so will go and see on my return !
I thought that the 2 yr check and the 3 yr had like 180 days either way kind of thing. Took dd for her 18mth when she was nearer 2 as we reckoned that he might be seeing her in the winter anyway. The only time we needed him this winter he was on hols !!!
Looks as if dd getting a cold ( I await the comments ....troppo aria , troppo freddo, vestitio troppo poco,etc etc - No actually it was probably the baby gym she went to on Thus and she picked it up there !!)Cugini and dog been over this morning she wet herself with joy when she saw them .
Its not raining today so thats a plus !!

IKWYM Brange, I offered my newborn cloth nappies - hardly used as both mine grew really fast - to a couple of friends I thought might be interested, but no. I have saved tonnes of money (not to mention landfill) with those nappies!

It's got hot again here Rosa so I'm a bit envious of your cool weather.

I am going to bring some cloth nappies back - can't claim to do 100% cloth as I will have a problem washing and more to the point drying but will do some and see how we go !
Dh says its a scrocher up NOrth as well.

Rosa, if you want to try some you can try some of mine. I advise to try a few types before you buy as your final choice will depend on the shape of your baby - eg. mine had skinny legs so the brand I got her (all24 of them) wasn't really ideal - and how heavy a wetter you have.

I met a couple in the healthfood store this eveining who were looking at Popolini and the guy in the shop was giving them all sorts of incorrect spiel about how you'd need about 4 a day. It was obvious he'd never been around a bfed baby. Anyway, at that point I butted in with my experience and the couple are coming to see my stock next week. I don't hold out much hope of selling them on, as most Italians are a bit schifittosi about 2nd hand stuff, but you never know.

Sputnik, did you ever try giving away baby clothes? People round here seem to get a bit offended if you offer stuff, or maybe it's just me

Thunderstorms here again. I've been trying to get to the local pool since I finally waxed my legs and every weekend so far has been unsettled weather. Grrrr

Thanks Brangelina I accept ( but won't tell Nonna!) I was going to get 1 of each of the more popular brands - according to the Mnet polls and take it from there. They seem to be cheaper in the Uk just need to work outthe postage / liners etc ...
Second hand baby clothes hard one . A friend asked me if I wanted some as she had been given some girl things along with boys and she was so worrried about asking me incase I would be offended !! I took them no probs Petit Bateau stuff as well! I am going to box mine up and send to the Uk I think . Sorry but too many snobs here .

Actually someone once gave me some 2nd hand stuff, it was the SIL of a friend, I never actually met her, but some people must do it (unless I ended up with it as I was the only straniera she knew of).

I have passed on to Romanians! I also took a load of the "nice" Baby Gap etc stuff, back to my mum in the UK, as she works in an Oxfam shop.

Have any of you tried selling on Italian ebay?

Went past Vitinia on the trenino back from Ostia yesterday Sputnik, have often wondered what the places it goes through are like. I have marked a load of rental places in Porta Portese to call today. DP has declared had enough of feeling unsettled (we know we have to move)and wants a proper 4+4 contratto etc so we are kicking off search again, before I feel ready financially has to be said but hey, chances are it'll take a while to find and am also sick of feeling like not really home.
lol at troppo aria comments you are expecting re dd cold Rosa, how is she? ds always gets cold when back in UK, I am convinced gets from plane on way over but dp, nonno etc convinced from troppo aria o such like
Off to UK on Sat for our summer 2 weeks then Como!
My childminder has suggested I put clothes to give away in a bag and put them in church, anyone done that?

I think I read somewhere something like 25% of air travellers catch something or other on the plane, not surprising really.

Vitinia seems nice, it's like a little self contained town of about 10,000 people, and seems fairly quiet. Main problem seems to be narrow streets with no pavement, parking problems and a fiendish 1 way system but that probably describes most of Italy, at least from Rome southwards. I really like the idea of being in walking distance of everything as I have to take the car just to sneeze where I live at the moment.

Good luck with your search too, are you looking to stay in the same area?

Yes, the only times my DD gets sick is when she's been travelling on a plane, though it's not been happening much lately so she must be inured.

I've done the clothes in a bag to the church thing, but it just ends up in a Humana bin, destined for "Africa" (in reality a capannone in the milanes hinterland). I'm thinking of ebaying on UK ebay. The Italian site is a bit shite for children's clothes, most people advertise things at pretty much the original price because they want to make as much money as possible, so of course nothing gets sold. I've seen on the UK site that certain French brands go quite well and I have a fair amount of those. I'll just have to time it for when someone is going to be flying back to the UK so thay can take the sold stuff and send it from there.

Sputnik, I also got offered loads of stuff and I strongly suspect it was because I'm straniera. Some I got through a filipina friend who'd been offered by her "signora" and a lot of it was lovely barely-worn Petit Bateau (along with some horrible Emanuele Schvili(sp) gear, which went straight into a humana bin. Ugh! hate the stuff).

yes we are, have to stay near nonno plus am so used to living centrally would find it hard to change I think now. We don't have a car and I love the fact we don't need one as I can walk everywhere and dp works just a few stops on metro A. The fact I walk everywhere is the only thing that keeps me remotely fit as well as me and exercise/gyms aren't well suited . Vitinia sounds lovely plus not far from the sea there . Which beach do you go to? My ultimate dream is to one day live near the sea, or at least be rich enough to have a second house there (dream on)

Last couple of years we've been going to Santa Marinella (actually Santa Severa) to the beach. We were even house hunting there, til we discovered house prices are no different from the outskirts of Rome.

Not actually been to the beach this year though, I have made DH promise we are going this week. Which reminds me, bikini line......