Restoring a Stone House in Italy
We were on a whistlestop viewing tour of Abruzzo a beautifully unspoilt and green region of Italy little know by tourists. The idea was to buy an old house and restore it mainly using our own labour.
We had already seen a house in the mountains that had fired our imaginations but as usual we found the beautiful old structure was encased in ugly cement render painted a horrible shade of yellow!! The agent showing us properties was driving us and the approach to the next house was a blur as we took corners and inclines at speed! I could see we were some way out of the last village and in an area surrounded by oak trees and olives.The winter had been paricularly harsh so the trees were only just coming into leaf but the sheltered position meant that the air felt warm and sweet with a definite promise of spring.