3224 Abandoning Ship For La Dolce Vita!

Ciao,
I have been living in Tuscany for 10mths now. I initially left London to go on a long sailing trip, this lasted two months and took me to Trieste in the North, the intention was to continue sailing but on a trip to Tuscany, I came to visit Cortona and my heart said stay! So I did! I arrived with little money and only sailing gear to wear, but luckily with some transferrable skills like healing, I exchanged healing sessions for 3 new dresses & a pair of shoes in the first shop that I visited! Afterall, shorts & offshore oilskins were just not going to cut it amongst the finery of the Italian woman!
[B]When you are given a gift the greatest joy is in sharing it[/B]. With many new wonderful friendships I was offered the opportunity to house sit a beautiful B&B over the winter period, this inspired an idea to launch a project called [B]Respite Italia[/B]. We offer FREE accommodation to people that [I]really [/I]need a break. This is a collaboration between holiday accommodation owners and a UK breast cancer charity at the present time. We have only just launched but already I have received fantastic response from accommodation owners and other supporters & sponsors of the project. [B]I believe in business supporting social needs[/B] and it has touched my heart deeply to be able to come to Italy, start a new life after escaping the stress of life in London and to create something new and of value in partnership with other expatriates and local Italians – And I don’t even speak the language…Yet!
If anyone is able to help in anyway (ie: if you have accommodation in Italy) please see the website for more info and contact me at [email]ruti@respiteitalia.com[/email] or here on the forum [URL="http://www.respiteitalia.com"]http://www.respiteitalia.com[/URL]
Grazie, Ruti

Category
Introduce Yourself - Piacere Conoscerti

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 03:14

[LEFT]What a wonderful project. Unfortunately our property is not in a fit state to relax anyone at present. However, when we get there will certainly consider this.

Good for you.[/LEFT]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 04:44

Hurrah for your efforts! Good luck with it.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 05:01

Well done! What a brilliant idea!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 06:56

Welcome and wow! Such an amazing thing that you are doing. I do not have a property [i]yet[/i] but will certainly make it/myself available when I do.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 07:07

Ruti,
Am having a good think about this. I have a property you might be interested in - does it matter if its in 'shoulder' seasons? Can they cover costs such as heating and cleaning or are we donating that too? Are we covered against any damages? Could we do it on a late availability basis?
Might be worth you posting this to [url]http://www.laymyhat.com[/url] - its a site for holiday home owners that let their places out
Great idea - one of the things that I hate is having our house empty so much of the year when people could be having a great time there and I've often thought about letting a charity have access.

Marina

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 08:42

I like this idea, well done, there are some nice people around.....:)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/10/2006 - 11:47

Fantastic project, sounds really interesting. Look forward to hearing more about it over the coming months. Good Luck with it all.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/11/2006 - 15:33

its people like you that make the differance... Bravo !!!!!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/11/2006 - 17:34

I also think that this is a great idea. We do not yet have a property in Italy but as soon as we do (sometime this year?) we shall hopefully be in touch to see how we could be involved.

I too think it is a shame to see buildings standing empty and so this certainly is an ideal solution.

Cath