House Hunters International

We have been back in Italy for two weeks and hit the ground running with renewing our visas and making sure my citizenship documents were still in the approval process. Next on the agenda was finding a new place to live. We had decided to move further south after living a year and a half in Nettuno.

We had given our two months notice to our landlord in Nettuno and hoped to move out on May first. Then we learned that all of our documents need to be processed through May so we decided that maybe it was best to wait until all of our documents cleared before moving. Our Permesso Di Soggiorno (permission to stay in Italy) is tied closely to our rental contract because we are not students or employees so we don’t have a student or work visa. Our visa is a residency visa which means we had to show proof of funds to live in Italy and have a valid rental contract. We don’t want to cancel our current contract until we have the other firmly in hand and we don’t want to sign a rental contract until we know we are allowed to stay in the country another year.

So I spent the week combing through the Subito ads (like Craigslist, a place to find rentals and things for sale) until I had exhausted all of the available rentals in the cities in the area we want to move. The new area we want to move is still in the region of Lazio (where we currently live) but about an hour and a half further south. Its territories stretch from the hill towns of Priverno, to the beautiful coastal towns of San Felice and Terracina. We are also looking at the stunning town of Sperlonga which looks like a Greek Island and the seaside villages of Gaeta and Formia. The hub of our search was the city of Fondi with its broad pedestrian pathways and picturesque castle perched on the hill. Fondi  (population 40,000) is the biggest city in this area aside from Terrachina (population 46,000). The tiny hilltown of Itri with its population of 10,000 is also in our house search area.

Jeff really wanted to be in Terracina because it is close to our friends that live in San Felice, only a 23 minute drive, yet also close to Fondi (25 minutes away) and Itri (35 minutes away). So we had a full schedule on the Monday that we went house hunting. We had scheduled to see five different houses, one in Fondi, one between Fondi and Sperlonga and two in Itri. Two of our friends came with us for the adventure.

First was the house in the country between Fondi and Sperlonga. It was a “villa” which just means a small detached house. It was actually a large house that had been sub divided. We met with Maurizio, the owner of the house, in Fondi where he runs a little shop. We drove out to his family home in the country. He had relatives that lived on the bottom level and we would be renting the top story. The house was pretty rough around the edges according to western standards. I liked it because it had big rooms and a big farmhouse kitchen. Big kitchens are a rarity in Italy, usually you just get one section of wall that gives you a sink and a stove and a few feet of counter space. Gone are the days for me to have a dishwasher and large island like I do in Nettuno! But this kitchen was large with counter space all around a table in the center of the room. All of the apartments we looked at were furnished and this is normal in Italy. The furniture in this house was dated, with large yellow striped chairs and a matching couch in the living room. 

I have to admit that I was a little traumatized by this house because it seemed like circa 1980 Italy and not in a good way. Jeff didn’t like this house because one of the bathrooms just had a tub with a loose shower nozzle. Meaning you have to hold the nozzle and wash your hair while you are sitting in the tub. This was not a deal breaker for me but it was for Jeff. Even if you could install a hook to hang the shower head up high, there was no shower curtains or shower walls to keep the water from spraying everywhere. I guess when you take a shower it’s a good time to clean the whole bathroom!

The spare room bathroom was even worse because there was a shower head in the corner of the tiny bathroom but no shower doors so basically as you showered, the water would get all over the toilet. If both of these bathrooms sound strange to you, don’t worry, they a perfectly normal and we have experienced them before in our adventures in Italy. It’s just that Jeff didn’t want to experience them on a full time basis in our own home. Strangely, my friend and I both agreed that this house was one of our favorites in the end because of its roominess and potential for “farmhouse” cuteness. 

The real deal killer was that all of the outdoor space was shared with the other family members and we would have no privacy if we wanted to have an outdoor dinner party. The potential of having inter-family issues was a real threat in this arrangement. The upside of this house was it had screens on the windows (also rare in Italy, strange because they have A LOT of mosquitoes in the summer) and that it only had one flight of stairs we would have to climb. By the way, EVERY apartment we viewed was up at least three flights of stairs. We also viewed three country villas, these are the only ones that didn’t have stairs. The cost for the rustic farm house? €500 a month and no real estate agency cost since it was directly through the owner.

House number two was in the center of Fondi, walking distance to the pedestrian center of town in the shadow of the iconic Fondi Castle. Fondi is truly a beautiful city in Italy. There was no graffiti (like Nettuno our current town), no trash and the trees and shrubs are neatly trimmed. It would be perfect for me to walk to the grocery store or into town for a coffee. This apartment was up three flights of stairs and had two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms only had bunk beds which is less than ideal for our future guests. One of the bathrooms was a half bath (no shower) but the other bathroom had a nice stand up shower and tub. We like this apartment with its small balcony overlooking the neighborhood street. 

One major drawback was the parking, we would have to pay for parking but if we got a new car every month (like we do because we rent a car each month online) we would have to register the new license plate every month. That could get complicated. I also didn’t like the three flights of stairs and bunk beds. The cost was €480 per month plus an agency fee of $480 which effectively makes the rent €40 more per month since we may only be here for one year. Plus the stair cleaning fee and lights for the stairs (€30) Shocking, I know! Not only do I have to climb three flights of stairs but I have to pay someone to clean them. The higher floor you live on, the more you have to pay, I guess it stands to reason that the poor person cleaning the stairs would want more money the further they had to climb. I was later told that the third floor and above levels of apartments are the least expensive if there is no elevator. I guess that’s why I could find only third floor apartments, nobody wants them! The adjusted price per month with the added fees is €550

I was pretty worn out by this point with my head spinning so we took the obligatory Italian lunch period of 1:00-3:00 and decompressed. We went to the beautiful seaside town of Sperlonga and strolled the narrow white washed cobblestone streets until we found the perfect little restaurant that spilled out into a courtyard. The tables were dotted with bright yellow flower bouquets in the center of each table. We selected a seat in the courtyard and enjoyed a meal of grilled squid and fettuccine with mussels and shrimp. The wine helped calm my nerves and our friends kept things light and fun. After lunch we were leisurely strolling down the beach promenade, gazing out to the unreal blue mediterranean sea when suddenly my phone rang and the owner of our next apartment to view was phoning me to find out when I would be arriving. I totally forgot that I moved the appointment up an hour! So we all scrambled to the car and sped out of Sperlonga heading to Itri, the hill town about 20 minutes away.

This time we were meeting Angela, the owner of an apartment called “the Attic” because it was on the top floor (4 flights of stairs up). It was in the middle of the old town of Itri which meant it was on a narrow ancient cobblestone street. The approach was adorable with little potted flowers lining the way. We climbed the steep ascent of four flights of stairs and arrived at the top huffing and puffing. We were told that other family member live in this apartment building, the old Nonna (grandma) was on the ground floor and a cousin was in the middle apartment. The apartment itself was old and didn’t have much furnishings. Just one small table and no couch. There were two bedrooms with beds and decent closets. The kitchen was tiny and dark but the bathroom was nice and there was good parking. I liked the views out of the wrap around balconies. You could see little terraced farms, a bee keeper and the old city and castle were directly in view!  There was literally no furniture and how, pray tell, would we haul a couch or chairs up that ascent of stairs? We would certainly get physically fit if we got this apartment! This apartment was €450 with no stair cleaning fee or real estate fee. All the apartments we viewed on this day were between €450-€600. 

Then Angela took us to her country villa which was a big house on nice property. There was barren gravel around the house and plenty of parking. The kitchen was fairly good size and the windows all had screens. The views of the valley dotted with cypress trees and olive groves was beautiful and tranquil. Another benefit of this house was that it had no stairs to navigate but it also didn’t have any closets, no dining room table and you couldn’t drink the water. It did have several couches and chairs in a yellow stripe that were in acceptable condition. But it was on a crazy, bumpy, narrow gravel road with steep hairpin turns that even caused my “Mario Andretti” of a husband to “white knuckle it” as he grasped the steering wheel. This house was €500, no cleaning fee, no agency fee but not easily accessible.

Then we met with Mimo, the coordinator for our english group and he arranged for a realtor to show us around. She showed us two apartments in Itri that were each up three flights of stairs. One was old with really big rooms and some old, ugly, wood trimmed circa 1970 furniture and a tiny kitchen. It had nice balconies with beautiful views of the Itri castle and countryside. Another plus was that it had air conditioning so it quickly rose to Jeff’s favorite choice, if he had to pick from what we saw so far. But it was so ugly! Each room had different old tile floors and different floral wall paper from 1970. There was three bedrooms, a large empty room that Jeff called the “dance hall”, two bathrooms and It was only €450 but had an extra €50 fee for cleaning the staircase and the agency fee making it €550. 

The second apartment the realtor showed us was up three flights of stairs but was decorated nice and newly remodeled, it also had air conditioning and good parking but they wanted €650 plus the agency fee of €650 making it €750 a month! Our friends really liked this one but I didn’t like that the views outside each balcony were not tranquil like the other apartments we viewed, but rather you saw large apartment building all around you with all kinds of people living their lives, hanging laundry and operating store fronts at every angle.

Finally we drove to the last villa. It was out of the town of Itri 10 minutes but I couldn’t believe it when I saw it! It was the cutest green villa perched on the hill top! It was a stand alone house so it had no flights of stairs to navigate, it had a patio and garden (everything was a little overgrown) grill and even an outdoor pizza oven! It had the most amazing view of rolling hills and olive groves and the sun was even setting perfectly for us! Inside it had beautiful terra-cotta tile floors and a fireplace in the corner! A couch, a large wooden dining room table and a cute kitchen (although it was tiny and the freezer looked like it had seen better days). There was a spacious bedroom and bathroom downstairs with plenty of storage and closet space. On the second floor there was two and a half bedrooms and a bathroom. Both bathrooms were floor to ceiling blue tiles with a bathtub and shower in one and a shower in the other. Both showers had doors AND shower heads! 

The second floor had a balcony off of each room that offered sweeping views of the hills covered in olive trees. The hills looming in the background turning every shade of blue as they layered their way to the sea that winked at us from a distance. Oh my heart wanted to stop! I loved it so much! It was like living my own Tuscan dream. The price seemed like a steal by the standards set by the other apartments. I was already dreaming of my own little garden and a Spritz on the patio…

So an appointment was set to meet with the landlord, he liked us right away and we made a verbal agreement to sign the contract for our dream house on May 19 when he arrived back from a business trip in India. He handed the large archaic looking key to the realtor and said we could come any time to look over the house or work on it until we meet again on May 19.

Until then we wait with bated breath hoping he doesn’t change his mind….  

Other articles you may enjoy about traveling & living in Italy:

A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)

A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)

Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)

Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)

Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)

Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)

Our Trip to Englands Cotswolds (Published January 12, 2018)

Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)

A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)

A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)

San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)

Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)

Florence in Fall (Published Nov 6, 2018)

Villas, Palaces and Fortresses (published November 25, 2018)

Path of the Gods and Amalfi Coast (published December 4, 2018)

Budapest in December (published December 10, 2018)

Hill Towns of Central Italy (published January 14, 2019)

Articles about Tiny House “Homesteading” in California:

The Beginning of a Blog (Published May 18, 2017)

The Cherry Tree (Published May 20, 2017)

How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans (Published May 22, 2017)

Successful Square Foot Gardening (Published May 23, 2017)

Yosemite (Published June 7, 2017)

My Tiny House (Published June 15, 2017)

Making Noyaux (French Bitter Almond Extract from Stone fruit pits) Published August 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 21, 2017

Classic Canned Peaches (Published August 6, 2018)

Ricotta from Powdered Milk (Published Aug 5, 2017)