Buongiorno a tutti

Hi Berry happy you joined us. Thanks for sharing a little bit about your life and of your love for Italy. All people who have "cuore italiano" cannot help but return to their roots  Have you travelled to Italy in the past?

Yes, Valentina, I have. In fact I am actually in Italy at the moment - a funeral, I'm afraid. I get over here 4 or 5 times a year, which gives me a bit of a break both from work (huzzah!) and English drivers! It also makes it possible to fritter my time away on the internet, of course - at least it does in the winter with the skies grey. My next trip here will be in March - next month! Again, huzzah! :D

 Hi Beeryspice. I sort of welcomed you on another thread but it never hurts to do it again. We look forward to hearing more from you and your plans. Best wishes

Hi Beery, good luck with all  your plans.  Keep us all posted.  Tiler eh? shouldn't be short of work wherever you are.....pavimenti per tutti dappertutto!!

  Hi Beeryspice and welcome. You're the first person I've ever heard coming to Italy for the good drivers!

Guess you know who's the Italian in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeSzFtqLxQ4

  Hi welcome to the forum. Where in Calabria are you heading for? We are near soverato and just love our village.I don't share your 'love' of italian drivers tho!!

  Eeeeeek, have been here 6 months now and find venturing out in car sooo scary.....no white lines on road, so 'sight impaired people', note no ageist comment made... can't see right side to be on...need vallium drip to get to local 'supermacato' only 2k's away........love big drive home to uk once on 'painted strip' roads.  Welcome Berryspice, read on another thing yo were enjoying blog....am I missing out......?? Mrs D............

  welcome beery, I dont drive here, and now only scream in a subdued way, but according to R you get used to it, he was out in the big city today, and was happy to return to more rural roads, and peaceful driving. The most scary place for me was in America, on those huge roads, back down out burrow suits me.

Thank you all for the welcome, I appreciate it enormously. Cilla10, I'n not actually heading for Calbria - well, not in my current plans, that is. I have family in a village called Platì - up in the mountainous part of the region. The views of the mountains are fabulous there, but it is not a tourist area. Driving here? Yes, I do find it much easier than in the UK. You may well feel pressed in or cut-up by another driver here, but it is not done with anger, as it is in the UK. Here, if I cut someone up (inadvertantly) I might be told something or have one or two fingers waved in my direction - but at the next stop in the traffic it will all be comletely forgotten, unlike in the UK where I will be chased and hounded until I can escape the "wounded" party! So, I find it much less aggressive here - but it is much closer to a contact sport here than back in the UK; just try to find the humour in the situation, rather than the anger! I spent some time in America as well, Angie & Robert, which I have to admit I found boring in the extreme, due to the slow driving, sharpened up only by their driving past you on any side. There was something unsettling about being overtaken by a couple of large trucks - one on each side of you - on the motorways there: at 65mph! So, thank you again for your welcome. If you have any questions about tiling or stone work, I will try to help out!   :)   Beery.

I almost forgot to mention, Valentina, you can see more of the work of Bozzetto here: his most famous work is, of course, Europe & Italy - but you will find "Yes & No" here as well - in the original Flash format.   Beery.

Don't mean to be entirely off topic here, so....welcome again!I agree with your comments about the contrasting driving styles. There's no doubt that in Italy you know exactly where you stand..or sit (whichever!). In Ireland and in the UK we still expect a certain level of courtesy on the road..like cars letting you out at junctions, or not expecting someone to just pul;l out in front of you etc. and when we don't get it that leads to road rage incidents that are harboured and seethed over. In my experience of Italy everyone expects everyone else to cut them off and pull out in front of them and certainly no-one expects anyone to let them out at a junction; God forbid! Driving in Italy is a competition, a race. Once you know that you don't expect anything different and road rage just doesn't arise. So from that point of view I can empathise Beeryspice.Also I saw Jeremy Clarkson on a repeat programme about Italy the other evening asking an Italian gentleman "Why is that everyone in Italy drives so fast and yet no-one is ever on time?". The elegant answer was "In Italy to drive fast is an expression of freedom; to be on time is a dictat of slavery."

  So what is it if an Italian is early for an appointment I wonder? Sorry back on topicish, beery what would you say would be a simple/cheap and attractive way of covering a concrete terrace that has cracks, thanks A

Hello Beeryspice and welcome from another newbie to this community. Your introductory post came at a very opportune moment for us and I hope that you won't feel ill of me if I seek your professional advice. Let me explain. My partner and I have decided to replace the laminate flooring in the conservatory with tiles. We have seen those available from the usual suppliers and there are some that we really like. However my partner knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, if you get my drift, who has offered us something he called 'Italian Tarasso' (?). He has been shown a sample and describes them as  8 to 10 inches square & a ½ inch thick and he was told are marble chips set in some sort of cement and then polished. Sorry to have rambled on but, would you have any idea if this type of tile might be suitable for our conservatory. I just wonder if given the weather over here (UK) the polish would wear well in a heavy traffic area which is frequently quite wet, or even if they are likely to be Italian at all? Thanks in anticipation or, our sincere apologies if this post is inappropriate.

Well, I asked for it, didn't I :) "Sorry back on topicish, beery what would you say would be a simple/cheap and attractive way of covering a concrete terrace that has cracks," There isn't really a simple answer to this as it all depends on the state of the terrace itself. Assuming that you are talking of a fairly normal sort of Italian terrace - concrete base with either stone or tile covering - you need to get the base checked out first. Are you in an earthquake area? How is the water table there? Any tree roots under it? Etc. Because you need to sort the basics out first. I could just say; "tile it", but that would potentially cause even more problems for you. If you can answer my list above, I will ask the next lot of questions, OK?   :)   Beery.

Hi indeed! Pleased to hear from you. "My partner and I have decided to replace the laminate flooring in the conservatory with tiles...my partner knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, if you get my drift, who has offered us something he called 'Italian Tarasso' (?). He has been shown a sample and describes them as  8 to 10 inches square & a ½ inch thick and he was told are marble chips set in some sort of cement and then polished. Sorry to have rambled on but, would you have any idea if this type of tile might be suitable for our conservatory. I just wonder if given the weather over here (UK) the polish would wear well in a heavy traffic area which is frequently quite wet, or even if they are likely to be Italian at all?"   I am going to work on the asumption that you "tarasso" is actually "terazzo" - a composite material either laid in a liquid form and then ground and polished in situ, or as prepared tiles, ready for laying. They are not used often these days - although there are huge numbers of houses in Italy that still have composite floors laid. They are very hard-wearing, so will last a long, long time before they start to show any signs of wear. Laying is fairly straight forward, using a cement based adhesive, preferably a flexible one. If your substrate is concrete you will have no problem but if it is timber, you are going to have quite a job preparing the floor. Bear in mind that they are usuall quite a bit heavier than any of the modern types of tiles and plan (or get planned) the substrate before buying them. Is this what they look like (-ish)?   Beery.

Picture does look familiar, keep digging bits up in garden.....Not sure I would want that look inside...tho'

We have terazzo tiles on all the floors of our house. They were laid in the 1960's when the house was "restored". They are much thicker than ceramic tile- about an inch thick! My wife doesn't like them, but we can't afford to jackhammer all the floors out and lay new substrate and ceramic tile, so we've learned to live with them.

  Thanks beery, its just concrete , no covering to it (very attractive), cracks have widened because we are in an earthquake zone, and had some shakes a few weeks back. No tree roots, and the drainage is good, does that help?. you are a useful chap to have around!

Perhaps the best idea would be for you to use concrete pavers to cover the damaged concrete? They are pretty common in Italy and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You don't cement them down - you lay them on a solid base, just using a little sand to level them. They are very hard-wearing and if you get any further land movement they don't crack - perhaps a good idea there? Anyway, a Google search on your area with "pavimentazioni" as the search key should come up with a few options - this website will help to give you a few ideas to start with.   Beery.