internet connection

If your reception is crap then internet via the phone line is a much better option. Not everywhere had coverage from ADSL so you'll need to check a local phone number on the Telecom Italia site but if you are in Amandola town itself you'll be fine. I used to get up to 7Mb (in theory) but it was good enough fo me to work from and we could watch online telly up to 8pm when it dropped off a bit.

We are right out in the sticks above Comunanza and have about 0.9Mb which allows all the usual internet stuff plus watching BBC Iplayer with only occasional buffering.  (can't get Channel 4 or ITV to work though).  Doesn't really drop off in our area but then probably noone else on our line uses the internet!   Sorry, should explain, we are using Telecom Italia ADSL

If you don't have a phoneline already (even a very old, non-funtioning one is good enough) then you must pay for a new connection which may or may not involve more poles. Only Telecom can give you a quote and they are notoriously slow. It will be a lot easier if the new connection does not cross anyone else's property - another delay while they get the neighbour's consent (or not). You'll have to contact Telecom to get them to come and give you a quote. If you apply for a new line online they will contact you. Good luck with it.

Thank you for all your advice lots to think about, might get a quote first for landline as the posts are not far from our house.

Suggest you get in touch with Telecom, especially if the lines are close to the house. We had the normal line installed here before the works on the house were finished and then ADSL as soon as available. As about 5k from Amandola, cannot get the high download speeds, but normal 1.3 - 1.6 mbs, Skype is ok, with very few line drops, 700mb film takes about 1.5 hrs to download, BBC iplayer, download and save/convert instead of watching online.

Seems they like light coloured clothing. Couple of weeks ago, was dismantling a milking parlour (electrics etc. ) for a Italian farmer friend. First 2 days, dark t-shirts, no problem, 3rd day a light one and bitten so much the shirt had blood patches all over. 

Badger is that why they drew blood on the end of my thumb, didnt know how spiteful they were. How do I find out if I can get adsl?

You just need to get in touch with Telecom Italia. They will tell you if ADSL is available and if you can be connected from the existing lines. Would not think there would be a problem towards Montifortino.

We had a TIM chiavetta which worked fine a few miles away but did not work at all well where we live now. We also began to explore the alternatives (eg - phone + ADSL, satellite) which for us would have been prohibitively costly.  What I found (by chance) by idly 'playing' with my UK network smartphone was that although the TIM signal at our house was only 2G both WIND and Vodafone were both 2G and 3G. My understanding is that 2G is fine for phone but not ok for internet which requires a 3G signal.  Because the UK phone 'roams' onto Italian networks while here it checks for a signal and connects to whatever company suits it - it is different at different times and places. On my phone I went through Settings > Wireless + Networks > Mobile networks > Network operators > Search networks, although this may be different on different phones.  We now have a Vodafone mobile WiFi device - a little modem in fact so up to five devices can connect - costing 15 euro for 5 GB per month on a two year contract. The signal is fine although it took a bit of trying out different places to put it before we settled on its current location.  We can watch a bit of YouTube and skype but we don't stream TV or films but we don't find this a disadvantage. 

First off, do research Sprostoni's suggestion of getby (which I think is a microwave solution). These are very good (I have no experience of getby, but of three other operators in this sector I only get good reports )- will probably cost you in the region of €20 per month for a flat reasonably fast (typically 3MB real, not promised) ADSL. The only snag is you must have line of sight to one of their masts. Check out a rivenditore of getby and ask a techy to call at your house. For a cellular based solution, if you have got a good signal from any of the operators (searching on a UK Simmed smartfone is a good idea for assessing which operator might suit) then you have many payment options - pay as you go, contract, whatever. The major difference between the packages is how much data you can download (upload) in a given temporal period. Some offer 4GB per month, others 500MB per day, some contracts offer unlimited. (If you want to stream video on a regular basis you need unlimited.) A landline (to my mind) has now become the least attractive choice on cost considerations, (booting out of the window some of these mega expensive satellite based deals) and if you are located some distance from your nearest centralina (or if your nearest centralina is ancient) then it's probably also the slowest option.