sebastiano's activity

Questions Asked

Unfortunately whilst still waiting for some kind of government the italian economy is still struggling and in great difficulty.Amongst the many negative indicators this morning it was announced that in the last two months over 10.000 shops have cl

Sat, 03/16/2013 - 08:45

Since publication in the official gazzette n° 14 on the 17/01/2013 it has become obbligatory for all those who host/house paying guests to comunicate their guests' details directly to their local questura by computer.In order to do so it is neces

Fri, 01/25/2013 - 10:00

There have been some rumours of a possible downgrading of Ancona airport to a freight only scalo.Finally national government is trying to bring an end to the era of "an airport in every town" in which minor areas and comunities all wanted to have

Wed, 11/28/2012 - 09:48

we have guests from 15 countries (including italians) given that even google maps have difficulty in finding our location we always ask guests on booking to inform us from where they are coming so we can send them VERY SIMPLE INDICATIONS as to how

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 10:28

I was just reading someone called Pat Eggleton who wrote a patronizing article on the home page of this site concerning a proposal by a minister to shorten or do away with altogether with working lunch breaks.the writer may even have been to Italy

Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:14

The other day our post lady delivered me a registered letter from Roma.it was from the ministero delle entrate...revenue again.As usual it was ,to say the least, almost incomprehensible .From what little one could glean it was concerning their "st

Tue, 06/16/2009 - 09:17

Comments posted

Sat, 10/02/2010 - 04:34

yes, i seem to remember that you posted some time ago. Whilst you may feel very tempted to move to some rural venue with your children this could work out to be the wrong move.As you say you will have to work the amount of non manual employment in rural areas is next to inexistant.Perhaps you ought to look at somewhere quite close to a largish town preferably in the north of Italy this might just be able to balance the need to be in a fairly rural setting with adequate facilities and work not too far away alongside good school and health facilities.IF i were to make a suggestion i might perhaps say somewhere along the line of Reggio Emilia-Parma -Modena ,this area with a young family probably offers the best prospectives all round.OH yes, there is a tendency on this forum to say "come to my area,it's the best" whilst this answer is answering your question and not promoting where i live which i would regard as unsuitable in your position..

Answer to: Wayward Mail
Wed, 09/29/2010 - 10:21

nah, never send money, cheques in the post.... i thought cheques were almost finished anyway i know there's a proposal to banish them wouldn't it be easier to just make a bank transfer from your pc?

Answer to: Malt Vinegar
Wed, 09/29/2010 - 10:17

a friend of ours was whingeing on that there's no coriander here... i said that my employee who  also has a contract with another farm was talking to me that large tracts of land here are now being planted with coriander in fact there's over 40 hectares under coriander around monte leone/belmonte etc and it's on the increase he brought me two huge sacks full..... look around and you'll find most things.you can get for example very fresh middle eastern/eastern spices here from alhal butchers for tiny money far better than anything you find packaged in supermarkets..also the meat like that is nice too....

Answer to: Income Tax
Fri, 09/17/2010 - 11:56

i suggest that you find asap a local commercialista who will fill you in.whatever you do do not wait until they find you it will be much much worse.

Fri, 09/17/2010 - 11:53

we did it the slow and very expensive way ie. total renovation.mainly because large tracts of the building were sound otherwise there would have been no question and we would have gone for new build. Techniques today are such that a new build especially where old materials are integrated can look absolutely fine.The benefits can be immense.you can have new state of the art insulation,absolute sismic proof foundations and shell for the building, better ad hoc disposition of spaces and rooms,logical electric/water heating systems etc. given that the ball park figure for restoration to builders finish on a place the size of yours would be probably not less than  Euro 450.000,00 before the rest.I think you would save significantly on a new build.Don't let people convince you just because there are some pleasant niches in the old building that you've got to "save" them you can get builders to make a new crooked niche if you can't do without!

Fri, 09/10/2010 - 11:50

once you are over here ie. resident you can enroll on the national health system (which for EU nationals is all quite simple) once done your local gp will issue the prescrptions for the drugs you require these chronic conditions are treated the same here as in the UK and for those you won't have to pay.You may well have the pleasant suprise of receiving better ie. new improved drugs that the NHS don't give you due to their budget restrictions.You will probably find that in the better hospitals the treatment is better than in the UK and after spending most of my life here i have no complaints at all.

Wed, 08/25/2010 - 02:58

yes,of course a good plumber knows about and installs such systems we are doing exactly that and indeed not informing the plumber but following his advice on the subject including the hot water resovoir of which we have already had one for ten years anyway.The main difference is that not everything in the country is "driven by the web"...

Tue, 08/24/2010 - 04:37

whilst one could give the benefit of the doubt and put the whole thing down to slovenly practice. it is also true however that the very reason for the burocracy which surrounds cell phone use (referring to fiscal code numbers correct names etc) is because they can be used, and are, for terrorism and more commonly by people involved in organized crime .There are a lot of people out there trying to get cell phones in the names of other people to avoid detection.If it happened to me i would go to the shop and ORDER them to sort out the problem and inform them that otherwise you will be forced to go to the carabinieri and lodge a formal denuncia which in this case could be penal for them for the above reasons at worse it's all extremly inconvenient for you.

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 15:00

firstly i apologize if this reply is too long and tedious.We have an agriturismo in the marche WITHOUT a swimming pool.We have been open for over 10 years.We do quite well and have people from 15 countries and around 1.500 x annum.We charge more than most places in the area (which reflects the level of the services/food/clientele etc. We do however have a jacuzzi outside under a gazebo in the garden,which is well used.I have seen what people call pools around here.Mostly they are: poorly done,lack style,character and are generally rather boring.I have seen a book made by an architect/photographer of absolutely fantasticly designed pools referring to their form -position/colour/artistic aspects landscaping/illumination and so on.The bottom line is IF you want ANYTHING really nice you'd be looking at Euro 50-60.000 +, OTHERWISE ,and personally i wouldn't bother.Because it's nicer to be in a lake/river/sea if it's not too far........

Sun, 06/06/2010 - 03:41

around here in the marche,things ,people tell me have picked up a little.most buyers now seem oriented towards lower cost properties,village houses,restored properties rather than ruins with swathes of land as in the past.also there seems to be more americans/dutch/germans/belgians rather than brits looking...