Gala Placidia's activity

 It is quite possible that the UK market is in a bit of a "wait and see" situation because of the falling value of the pound; however, potential buyers in the euro zone are looking around. I do not think that prices have gone down in Italy in all regions; perhaps, prices were artificially inflated in some areas because of the big demand, and these are the ones that are going to suffer. Eliven, your house will also appeal to the Italian buyer from Rome who wants to buy a secondary residence in the country. For this reason, market the house through several agents who have a broad clientele.

Elliven, the opinion of just one agent is not enough. I have met some excellent agents and some who would not have a clue of what they were supposed to be doing. Aim for all the markets, both Italian and international ones. The British are not the only people buying Italian property. 

 Great singing at the match. Really inspirational!

 I do not think that Italians are indifferent about what goes on in the political arena. My opinion is that they have suffered so much that there is a lot of pessimism about the possibilities of a real change. They would need someone honest and truthful to inspire them.

We cannot expect that in the new format everything is going to work to perfection. One thing is to have ideas and a different one to put them into practice. I agree with Adriatica in everything he says and I am also pleased to see the increasing number of members, both old and new (or perhaps "recycled" who are participating.I do believe in open groups. Members will possible read or participate more than non-members, but at the same time it gives everyone a better base upon which to decide whether they want to join in or not.Perhaps, the new groups are replacing the sub-forums, as I said before, and this is not bad. We all have our areas  of interest and there will be groups in which we would like to participate more than in others. Still, many other posts will not fall within a group category, so we need to have those two facilities available.We should all be a bit more patient - this does not mean that we cannot make suggestions or warn whenever something is not going right - but we are not going to have everything perfect from the start. 

 I do not worry about the groups being open to everyone. On the contrary, I think that being able to read all the postings may help members to make up their mind to whether it is worth joining them. Perhaps, i would put a restriction on adding posts to them if you are not a member, but I would not go beyond that.

 I think that the Groups in the new community are replacing the old sub-forums. I do not know whether this was intended or not, but it is what I can observe. My opinion is that closed groups or the ones where membership is by invitation only or not open to all members is counterproductive.

I think that it all depends on the particular date when you go to the Post Office. I must say that it has not been too bad at Bagni di Lucca, 2 people before me at the most, but it is hard to predict how long they will take. Anyway, it is a short walk from home and if I see that the Post Office is too busy, I can always come back at another time. Lunch time it is usually very quiet. 

 At least ENEL can be contacted via the Internet if the intermediary has access. I think that our Geometra charged a very small amount to do the necessary.

Monte Paschi is the oldest bank in the world, it was founded in 1472. If they have lasted this long, they must be doing the right thing. This is what we thought and we haven't been disappointed  Not as yet, at least.