10402 New Member

A warm welcome Jinty

Welcome to the Forum, neighbour. The Garfagnana is a lovely area.

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96723]A warm welcome Junty.[/quote]Ignore her (briefly) Jinty - Sally means well even if she can fall over her fingers sometimes. just as well that C isn't next to J on the keyboard, eh? :winki:

Don't be too sure Nardini - Sally often calls me J+C, J&C, C+J, C&J, Julia, Julian, Colin - and on one occasion she even called me Jesus Christ - although that may have been out of exasperation. :bigergrin:

PS. Welcome Jinty. :smile:

[quote=juliancoll;96744]............. on one occasion she even called me Jesus Christ - ............:[/quote]

I thought she had recognised your true worth

[But beware at Easter - she can be fickle]

.

[quote=alan h;96745]

[But beware at Easter - she can be fickle]

.[/quote]

But Shes always able to put you up for the week end ................Welcome Jinty

A rose by any other name and all that !
Thanks for the welcome!
So now for the first of many questions - Do you have any advice on cars?
We can't decide whether to keep renting cars every time we come over (currently about 5 times a year for about 5 days at a time) or bring one of our cars over and leave it there (taking it out of Italy every 3 months of course) or can we buy one in Italy without being residents?
Hubby thinks we should take one over now (mainly because he can't get used to the big bit of the car being on the other side!) - I think we should wait until we are permanant residents and buy in Italy then. What do you think?
N.B. We are near a train station and can get to Pisa for Ryanair Flights (until they change the departure from Pisa to very early o'clock!)

[quote=Nardini;96743]Ignore her (briefly) Jinty - Sally means well even if she can fall over her fingers sometimes. just as well that C isn't next to J on the keyboard, eh? :winki:[/quote]

:eeeek::bigergrin::bigergrin:

Welcome to the forum Jinty and enjoy your time in the beautiful Garfagnana.

Welcome to IM Jinty.
As you have seen we are generally 'a load of nuts' - though some will deny :nah: that.

I'm surprised that 'our Sal' didn't pick up on the fact that you are a fellow Scot - but then maybe she didn't read [I]all[/I] of your post :winki:!

I look forward to hearing about your new place and your planned move...

"and on one occasion she even called me Jesus Christ "

Didn't Claudius in order to save his life before Caligula's sword, have to acknowledge Caligua's deity. lol

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96877]"and on one occasion she even called me Jesus Christ "
Didn't Claudius in order to save his life before Caligula's sword, have to acknowledge Caligua's deity. lol[/quote]

Well I never... :swoon:
Do I detect a just a hint of [I]touché[/I] here?

On reflection, It was a little bit cheeky, so I'm sorry J+C

Hello there Everyone

Thinking (very seriously) of upping stix and moving from Liguria (La Spezia) to the Garfagnana. A few questions to ask, like what is the weather really like in the winter? Some of the agents we have talked to have said the weather is quite good. We do not however seem able to find any archive material on weather patterns. The areas we are looking in are around Castiglione and Barga, further towards Lucca and of course Bagni di Lucca. We have been told that there is a lot of money being pumped into Bagni, renovating the old thermal baths and generally upgrading the whole area. Does anyone know if this is true? Is it correct that Bagni has its own microclimate?
Any info anyone has on the new road bypass (Castelnuovo) as we are given to understand that it is going to give better conections to Modena eventually.
We are looking in the area as we want to commence some kind of tourist activity probably house rental or B&B. I know that there is a lot of competition in the areas around Lucca but wondered how it is higher up the valley? If anyone can tell me which are the better Communes who are also open to this kind of activity then it would be greatly appreciated. In fact any help that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated.

ciao a presto

Robert

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96877]

Didn't Claudius in order to save his life before Caligula's sword, have to acknowledge Caligua's deity. lol[/quote]

Did it really take you 48 hours to come up with that? lol!!! Anyway, don't worry Sally, take some rope - or would you prefer to have a go at cracking the whip? :bigergrin:

[ATTACH]2113[/ATTACH]

[quote=Robert Vickers;96906]Hello there Everyone

Thinking (very seriously) of upping stix and moving from Liguria (La Spezia) to the Garfagnana. A few questions to ask, like what is the weather really like in the winter? Some of the agents we have talked to have said the weather is quite good. We do not however seem able to find any archive material on weather patterns. The areas we are looking in are around Castiglione and Barga, further towards Lucca and of course Bagni di Lucca. We have been told that there is a lot of money being pumped into Bagni, renovating the old thermal baths and generally upgrading the whole area. Does anyone know if this is true? Is it correct that Bagni has its own microclimate?
Any info anyone has on the new road bypass (Castelnuovo) as we are given to understand that it is going to give better conections to Modena eventually.
We are looking in the area as we want to commence some kind of tourist activity probably house rental or B&B. I know that there is a lot of competition in the areas around Lucca but wondered how it is higher up the valley? If anyone can tell me which are the better Communes who are also open to this kind of activity then it would be greatly appreciated. In fact any help that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated.

ciao a presto

Robert[/quote]

Yes, Robert, Bagni di Lucca enjoys a microclimate, not too cold in winter, not too hot in summer, particularly if you are in the areas close to the river Lima. Things can be different if you are in one of the villages at a higher altitude. It is also true that there are lots of renovation works being carried out and that local authorities are trying to put the town back on the map after decades of neglect. Roads have also been improved. If you have any more queries, just ask and I will try to help.

Welcome, you can if you wish bring out your UK car and drive it in Italy - personally I don't find a big problem with the steering wheel on the right.
You must keep it UK legal with MOT and UK tax disc, therefore annual visits to the UK and your insurer must enable you unlimited driving in the EU - most limit you to 30 or 60 days. One exception is SAGA but there is of course an age requirement!

I think we might od that - husband is in the SAGA age limit (just!) - so I'll try there first- luckily I have relatives in the SE England so driving back once a year for MOT's and Tax will be a pleasure.