We are planning to drive over to our place in northern Tuscany in April with a van load of furniture (all second hand) bits and bobs for the house etc but I have suddenly realised that this may not be as straightforward as it was pre brexit!!
JanJ's activity
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I know from reading the many previous posts that buying a car in Italy as a non resident seems nigh on impossible.
Sat, 10/01/2011 - 14:49
This is the porch I saw that I liked the look of! Unfortunately not a great photo.
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 19:01
Try again!We have a hideous canopy porch (green corrugated plastic) over the front door of our village house and would like to replace it with something more stylish.
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 17:27
Can anyone living in the Bagni Di Lucca, Fornoli area tell me if there are any free Wi Fi spots available near by? I would like to bring a netbook (or something) with me to our little place up in Vitiana so that I can check emails, do a bit of 's
Sun, 11/21/2010 - 06:42
Advice wanted. We need to travel to Bagni di Lucca in November to sign the final bits and pieces for our house in Italy (very exciting!) but our usual flights, Bristol to Pias do not run in the winter. We can get good flights to Rome however so
Sat, 09/04/2010 - 10:57
Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a stone staircase? We stayed in a rented house recently near Bagni di Lucca that had a lovely stone staircase which on close inspection could have actually been new (although it looked authentic) Having n
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 15:43
This may sound like a stupid question, but how do you change that horrible green school boy thingy photo that everyone (except those with the know how, and those who are a bit more switched on than me!) has by their name?
Sun, 07/25/2010 - 18:18
Can anyone give advice? We have just bought a place in Italy to use for holidays and hopefully at some point for longer stays. Do we need an Italian bank account or can we do most transactions via the UK? The previous owner of the house (also B
Sat, 06/26/2010 - 18:06
Comments posted
Thanks everyone for your comments re the bank account question. I think we'll hang fire for the moment and see how we get on without an Italian account for the time being. All good info though for future reference.
I will watch with interest Pam how you get on in your 'new' house - good luck. We have just bought in the same area so much of the advice you receive could be very relevant to us also. We will be doing work to our place at some point but are hoping we can persuade friends and family to come over for working holidays. In the mean time, we will have to suss out local buliders merchants, paint suppliers etc etc and also learn enough Italian to be able to ask for the things we need!! (Should be fun) If you have any info on the best place to buy stuff (paint, cement, sand, paving slabs, chippings etc.......) anywhere between Barga and Bagni di Lucca, please let me know. Good luck with everything and I hope you have a great time. We are flying out on Thursday for a long weekend and I can't wait. Jan
Thanks for the advice Fabbriche. We could easily have just gone ahead without thinking about the authorities. I would like to think that we'll use something sympathetic but maybe we'll check it out first! A week tomorrow and we'll be there! Jan
Hi Smeralda. We too have just bought a place in northeren Tuscany, north of Lucca and like you are very excited to be visiting soon and staying for the first time - I can't wait. Unlike you we would not have room to build a pool so I won't be any help there - a small patio is going to be our limit! We will be able to stay in the house without doing too much work but long term we will be making alterations and getting things into shape hopefully. I'm looking forward to buying furniture, rugs and things for the walls etc - lots of trips to shops and antique fairs I think! Good luck and have a great time. Jan
Another Eric Newby book! I'm going straight to Amazon to see if I can find it Thanks Patz Jan
Hi Patz Thank you for your welcome earlier. I look forward to following the online chat...... Every so often I have to get an 'Italian fix' and read something that just transports me there. I've just finished Eric Newby 'A Small Place in Italy' (3rd time I've read it!)and Isabella Dusi 'Vanilla Beans & Brodo' so am between books at the moment, casting about for something else. I've started 'Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold, but it's not doing it for me although I'll probably struggle on. Oh to be able to read in Italian!! I am determind to learn the language but it is so hard if you are not a linguist (like me). I've pretty much mastered Michel Thomas (all the way through to CD 8!) but am finding it really difficult. Hopefully when we spend more time over in Italy I will get the opportunity to practise. Jan
Many thanks Tink. Really good to get useful information - we will certainly follow up when we come over. Glad to hear you love the area - it'a scary buying somewhere and hoping that it's the right thing to do! How do you find the weather generally? Reasonable from say April - October or is that a bit over optimistic? We came over at the beginning of May this year and had wall to wall rain. The last few years we've been to Lucca for the same first week of May and it's been sunny and hot - hopefully this year was just a blip. Can't wait to start visiting regularlly and getting to know the area better and meeting people etc - I hope to eventually come over and spend a few weeks at a time, in the meantime I'll keep plugging away at my Italian (in one ear and out the other at the moment!) Any tips on learning the language gratefully received!! Jan