213 what can/should we bring to Italy

The Italians are quite advanced and do have electric kettles, and surprisingly electricity to go with it!
Your plants probably wouldn't survive the journey, would they.
Your TV will work, but your SKY won't.
Have you learnt or are you intending to learn the language?

.........bring patience (all those forms you'll have to process!), a sense of humour (those forms again!) & a desire to integrate.

If hubby's a sports fan, the local bar is a better place to get live footie than relying on Sky.

Apologies, I believe I was incorrect about the TV.I'm advised that the system differs and so it won't work.
For the kettle, you may have to visit one of the shops that sells Televisions and Audio equipment, as they also normally kettles, irons , toasters etc.You could always bring your own one and just change the plug.
Ribena, is something I've never seen here, but I must admit I've never looked for it.

We brought everything we owned out in a 45 foot container last year which meant we had the space to take things that most peolple would have left behind. The TV works absolutely fine over here. We also brought over a seperate trailer load of plants with us around 200 in all, they also survived the 3 day journey!

Hi J&A

One other thing I can think of is tea (crucial). I can only speak from my experience in Sardinia (where all sorts of things are in random supply, electricity being one of them, Ian!).

The most common tea sold there is Star, which is akin to drinking diluted paint - so if you have a favourite brand take it with you! My wife is Sardinian and she always takes boxes of PG tips with her whenever we go back.

In terms of a kettle, they do sell them but aren't commonly used in Italian households so to be on the safe side it's best to take your own.

Russ

UK Sky TV, Will (sort of) work, depending on where you are and the size of your satellite dish. The farther north you are the better basically, i'm in cagliari, Sardinia and with an 80 cm dish I get most things except for BBC, ITV C4 and some things I only get a certain times, however my fav sky1 is always on (thank god) and I get plenty of other channels like bravo, paramount, sky movies etc etc which makes it worthwhile for me. You will need a UK sky subscription which must be registered to an address in the UK.

However there is now an Italian Sky TV which has loads of sport (Italians are probably more fanatical about sport than the English believe me) and in many cases you can listen to an English audio track (especially when it comes to movies), there are a fair few english speaking channels too so it may be better to get that, you also get the opportunity to hear a lot of Italian which may be better if you need to learn the language.

If you already have UK Sky, bring your box and dish, see if you get any joy (You may need a larger dish also), if not buy an Italian sky setup and get to enjoy those quality Italian variety shows.

I know this sounds daft but !! When we go to Italy we always ask our family if they would like us to bring them anything. the answer is always the same, English tea, Birds custard and Rowntree's jellies???

Susi

Our local hardware shop in Amandola has a fantastic selection of kettles - but they are all "on the hob" types rather than plug-in.

I would not worry so much about anything in particular.

Low cost airlines allowing you to visit England more often, friends coming over to visit and e-commerce should help you getting most of the things you might miss.

What you miss when you move to a different country is often something non essential, like your Ribena :) , but it keeps that strong tie with your first home alive and gives you comfort.
On the other hand, this should also give you the right incentive to explore your new area in search of proper alternatives. Sometime, it is just amazing what you can find!

It also depends on where your new home exactly is, how far it is from a city, a market or a supermarket.

As for tea, I agree with the comments on Tea Star, but I am not a fun of PG tea either :rolleyes: ! In most Italian supermarket you can find Twining and other more familiar brands, alternatively, a fair trade shop in your area should have a nice variety of blends.

If you are ready to sea the funny side of the English traditional "cup of tea" habit have a look at what an Italian living in England has to say!!
[url]http://www.la-cena.co.uk/2004_08_01_blogarchive.html[/url]

Best of luck with the move!

As someone has pointed out it will always be possible to ask the inevitable numerous visiting family and friends to tuck any essential and much missed items into a corner of their suitcase. However, yes electric kettles are available here, they tend to be sold in larger electrical shops or in some of the larger 'hypermarket' type supermarkets such as Auchan or Carrefour.
If you are bringing any table/bedside lamps from the UK that need bayonet fitting lightbulbs, bring a supply, you cannot buy them in Italy. It is also worth bringing a supply of 3 to 2 pin adapters to use for any other electrical bits and pieces until you get around to changing the plugs.
Good luck with the packing and the move
Anne2

Have nothing much to add here but would suggest - since you like your Ribena - that instead of diluting it with water try it with buttermilk. It may sound wierd but really tastes quite good - and I am no fan of Ribena or buttermilk in their pure forms...

For my own use I always take packets of organic chicken stock cubes as I have yet to find any Italian ones that don't have monosodium glutamate in .The Italian ones are all very salty too (Italians seem to like their food well salted) unless anybody knows different??

Susi

I always bring Marmite over for an ex-pat friend.

Also - rather than bringing loads of adaptors - a couple of UK 4 way extension sockets plus adaptor work well [watch the power rating] - then change the english plug on the extension lead for an italian plug, and you dont have to change lots of plugs

Thanks to all of you for your advice. Husband pleased about the tv and even more delighted that he should hang out in the local bar. To answer some of your queries: we'll be living between Martina Franca and Ceglie Messapica; we are learning the language (slowly) but hope to have lessons when we get there (and if anyone knows a good teacher in that area we'd love the contact details).

I like the sound of Ribena and buttermilk, so will try that and the suggestions about the tea were particularly helpful as I like a particular brand of spiced tea, so better bring plenty until supplies can be provided by the long list of friends and relations who intend to visit (oddly, some who've never visited us in Wokingham, but hey ho!)

I will be posting some more queries before we leave I'm sure so will appreciate more of your helpful advice.....septic tank management springs to mind!

Anyway, thanks again, "talk soon".

J.

If any one is buying a property in puglia and wanting to set up their house they could try Emmezeta on the edge of Fasano on the Bari to Brindisi road as they sell everything from light bulbs to fitted kitchens and they also deliver and install at very reasonable costs

I've just been told to bring children's medicine, i.e. calpol and the like because its very expensive in Italy. I've never bought in Italy so I can neither confirm this or deny this but I will be bring a large bottle, just in case.

Hi Kirstin
When we tried to buy ANY kind if infant/child paracetemol, we were told by our local chemist (in Tuscany) that it's not actually legal to sell paracetemol in Italy to children under 10. Not sure how old yours are. But this would be an extra reason to do what you're doing!
Have you seen those single-dose sachets of Calpol? Might be lighter for travelling than bottles.

Great to hear that there's a good shop not too far from where we'll be, and we'll certainly need a new kitchen, as well as having to refit two small bathrooms. We did hear that finding small local independant firms for that sort of thing is better....but as our language skills need some improvement still a bigger place might be better. Our place is habitable, so none of it needs to be done immediately.

We're thinking of putting in wood burning stoves for heating - anyone any experience/advice?

J.

Hi

I've been living in Italy with my Italian boyfriend for 6 months now and I'd say that I definitely agree with all the tea comments (Tetley being my preferred brand!).You also don't really get a decent peanut butter here! If you like things like Branston Pickle and conserves you don't get that much choice of them either. Apart from these small things, the food here is definitely a lot better and cheaper than back home.

I'd also recommend signing up to the Italian Sky - I believe it's around 55 euro per month for the full package (including cinema, football, sports etc). The majority of programmes that are originally English can be changed back to the original language so you should have plenty of viewing options. I agree that watching Italian TV will help to improve your language but the programmes on terrestrial TV basically centre around game/variety shows with an abundance of scantily clad females or serious political/sport discussion progammes.

Kettles - I have seen kettles here in electrical stores but the reason I haven't bought one is that the limescale is so bad where I am that it would ruin the element very quickly.

I also get visitors to bring me over English magazines and books - they can be quite hard to get hold of over here, although alternatively you can just order them from the internet.

Hope your move goes well!
Nicola

[QUOTE=J&A]We're thinking of putting in wood burning stoves for heating - anyone any experience/advice?[/QUOTE] I have a pellet stove made by [url]http://www.extraflame.com/home1.htm[/url] and I cannot say enough good things about it. We have a 3 storey house and it is on the bottom floor. Our gas out here in the boonies is GPL which is SOOO expensive. OUr first year, before the stuffa, the cost was €1800. The past 2 years the cost of gas (which is also used for water and cooking as well as the heaters on the top floor) and the pellets was less than €800. We have an older model but the new ones you can hook up to your heaters throughout the house as well as to your water which would be another huge savings. We get away with only using the stuffa during the day (heat rises and it keeps the middle floor very warm too) and then we turn on the radiators at night for around 30 minutes just to get it up to 17°C before going to bed.

We find that porridge, tea and cheese biscuits move in one direction and amarone, brunello, parma, parmesan, and runny gorgonzola in the other. Does anyone export anything high value low bulk that they appreciate having in Italy?

We always bring back Pecorino, coffee beans (they are so cheap there) Ameretto and packets of pana cotto pudding mix ( I know it's cheating but so easy to make)

Susi

Hi we brought plants too, no problemma!

[QUOTE=Ian]The Italians are quite advanced and do have electric kettles, and surprisingly electricity to go with it![/QUOTE]

Yes, but all your neighbours will point at the kettle and say "what's that?" errm sorry "che cosa è quello?" And then have to fobbed off with tales about tea drinking.

Also the plugs and sockets are of course different and the original poster will have to either change the plug (not the end of the world, but given the choice of three different types it takes some doing to get the right type of plug) or find a new kettle lead.

[QUOTE=cristina]I have a pellet stove made by [url]http://www.extraflame.com/home1.htm[/url] and I cannot say enough good things about it. [/QUOTE]

Do you find it to be noisy? We considered having one but when we went to the local ferramenta to see one in operation the clanking, grinding and 'whooshing' noises were so fierce we couldn't contemplate having one in the house. Also we have four hectares of olives so we produce "quite a bit"of wood waste each year as well as the pomace. We are currently considering a larger industrial burner which can cope with rough chippings rather than pellets and putting that in an outhouse, or (more likely) a woodburner, solar panels, wind generator and a thermal store to combine heat from all three.

[QUOTE=Susi]For my own use I always take packets of organic chicken stock cubes as I have yet to find any Italian ones that don't have monosodium glutamate in .The Italian ones are all very salty too (Italians seem to like their food well salted) unless anybody knows different??

Susi[/QUOTE]

I find British stock cbes to be horrible, we tend to use Star "delicato" and cut that in half if necessary.

OK, so your TV will work fine providing that it was made in about the last ten years, TV's here are plentiful and reasonably priced anyway, we brought loads of plants, all survived the journey. Subscribe to Italian SKY here, it is less expensive, has language options anyway. If you travel in through France, you will probably have no border controls to worry about, you know "What you are allowed to bring", you will however needs bucket loads of patience and the ability to switch off your "Surely they can't be serious" button ;)
BUT, once you get through all of the initial stuff, it's lovely here...
(and, you can get most things from the supermarkets, but, tell no one OK)

[QUOTE=GeorgeS][snip] Subscribe to Italian SKY here, it is less expensive, has language options anyway. If you travel in through France, you will probably have no border controls to worry about, you know "What you are allowed to bring", you will however needs bucket loads of patience and the ability to switch off your "Surely they can't be serious" button ;)
BUT, once you get through all of the initial stuff, it's lovely here...
(and, you can get most things from the supermarkets, but, tell no one OK)[/QUOTE]

I'll emphasise the ned to subscribe to local Sky, if you must. TBH I'd throw out the TV myself, there's a whole new country out there with a new culture. Do you *really* want to sit on your thumb all night in front of the goggle box?

When we are at home (home is now in Abruzzo)we don't have TV, and I only tend to use the radio when I'm doing a really boring job like pointing the walls. Otherwise for entertainment we visit our friends and neighbours - there's no time for TV.

We also had bad experience with a couple of German friends, they brought German satellite TV with them, over the years they have walled themselves off from friends, sit at home watching TV in German and their Italian gets worse year on year. I'd watch terrestrial Italian only TV if I watched any of it, because you need total immersion in the language.

As to ravelling through France, yes this should be at the front of everyones mind. I'vemade this mistake several times because our route home is via Bologna, Milan, Como, Switzerland, Strasbourg, Metz, Luxembourg, Dunkerque (for the cheap ferry - Norfolk Line). However twicenow, I'veforgotten that we have had the car loaded with goods that we should have declared at the Swiss border - we brought back prosecco for my daughter's wedding, a lot of it. And on another occasion we brought back supplies of our own olive oil and packaged food for my wife's business, again this shoudl have been declared.

In fact what we should have done was to plot a route back avoiding Switzerland, probably Turin/Frejus/Lyon/Reims/Dunkerque.

Each of us who relocates and takes goods backwards and forward really should remember that Switzerland is not an EU country.