alan h's activity

Are you paying cash  or doing it by receipts and cheques?

(The black economy is alive and kicking in Italy.   Saving of about 20%-40%)

If all else fails, you could email the Comune (email address on its website) .

I'd do a very simple email in English/American can with no flowery prose - just very basic.  I'd then add the translation into Italian (Google translate) and send it to the Comune. 

You'll probably get a response - usually in Italian, but Google translate will translate back OK. 

If you're lucky,  you'll get a response from an English speaker.

I use the above process when talking to my Italian bank. The only thing I do is split the email into single sentences, with it's translation below it.

Good luck 

Can your Caretaker recommend replacement? I'd expect him to have someone in mind. 

Not sure what you are asking.

Setting up the Direct Debits  is a simple form filling exercise.  So that sorts out gas, water and electricity Bill's.

Don't have internet connection in Italy- just needed an email address for the bank, to send scanned,, signed documents to, from UK.

You can, of course, go the whole hog and get an on-line Italian bank account.  It may be a bit cheaper.

We set up an italian bank account when we were over getting the keys to our house, a few years ago - the estate agent helped us set it up.

All our Utility Bill's are paid by direct debit, and the bank pays the IMU etc Bill's from the Comune - the Comune sends us the Bill's by email, and we send a scanned/signed copy to the bank   for them to pay.

We top the account up when we are in Italy by cash, but can also top up by bank transfer from my UK bank.  Just get your bank to send regular statements to you in the UK, either by post or email.  You can also set the account to be 'On Line", but we haven't bothered with that.

We use Groupama for house insurance .  They bill us by email, and we pay by bank transfer.

Have  you looked at:-

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-horses-and-ponies-special-rules#exporting-or-moving-equines-from-great-britain-gb-to-the-eu-or-ni

Must disagree for once with steve.

The whole point about a wood fire in a holiday home is the visual effect as much as its (in)efficiency. 

In ours - it's great to come into our place in Winter, temperature in house just above freezing, put on the central heating and light the fire.  Efficiency isn't of great importance when you only use the fire about 6 weeks or so in the year  and anyway we support the local farmer by buying wood off of him.  100 euros worth does for a year or so.

The other thing to check is the ventilation in the room.  If the problem disappears when you crack open a window, you probably need some type of air vent fitting, to allow the easier access of air into the room.

...........

(Dont think we'll be able to drive down to Italy until September - and we will have our first jab of the vaccine in the next 3 weeks, but I think the problem will be EU countries allowing access without conditions)

"our problem is an open wood fire where the smoke doesn't pull up the chimney. "

Try making the fireplace opening smaller - this can speed up the air flow.  You can test it by holding up a bit of cardboard over the top half of the fireplace to see if things improve.  If it does, a more permanent closure can be fitted.

deleted - double posting