Buongiorno di Pizzo

We are here, in Bella Pizzo, already in our second week, and I have not posted anything here on the blog yet. It is more a technical issue. First I could not connect to the Internet. And even with my mobile phone I constantly lost network in our house with many one meter thick walls.

Until one sunny afternoon, when the Irish gentleman, who is Pizzitano since many years and chances to meet him in one of the bars in the piazza are good, told me that almost every bar in the piazza has wifi, and he knows all the different passwords from "franco62" to "iloveicecream".

Maybe I should sit in the piazza and write a post on the iPad... But what about photos? For me a post needs at least one nice photo. May I invite you to check our pics and posts on FB at www.facebook.com/PalazzoPizzo instead.

But what's up in Pizzo? Or our house?

Not sure where to start. For the insiders who spent here last summer, I would say, the pizzeria La Ruota, after 8 month of closure, has reopened at the Marina and Sasa La Divina is singing again in piazza every Wednesday night. (I still wonder if she is a twin sister or brother of our electrician.)

Since La Ruota was closed on the piazza, because the whole palazzo is under renovation (will we see another nice hotel?), the restaurant at the corner, Le Castelane, started offering pizza too, and is doing well.

Next to the gelateria and Bar Ercole, a prodotti tipici shop has opened. Le Chicche di Calabria has a few cute tables on the piazza where you can eat different (cold) specialities of Calabria, salami, cheese, sweets and of course taste wine.... Last night the triple grappa was too much for me...

Angelo still comes every morning to our house. First he fixed a window, then he lent me his Bosch sander. When he does not appear until 10am I already worry he might have felt off his Vespa... Yesterday, he bought new material to fix again part of the vaulted stone ceiling in our residence. Today he repainted a bathroom wall. We have some walls where the paint comes off again. In some areas it seems humidity with unknown source, in other areas it seems just a material problem.

My first days here, I was occupied with vacuum cleaning, grinding garden chairs, and painting those. While vacuum cleaning, I discovered a lake of water below one sofa. I thought of a broken tube... But it was condense water "only"! We thought of acquiring a "deumificatore".

My garden chair project took several days, because I only could work on the balcony as long as there was shadow - I've got a sunburn after my first visit to the beach. I thought I could sunbath like the Italians, and additionally did NOT use my 50+ suncream...

Now, my tiny chair project is accomplished, my skin feels better and I can go to the beach again.

Another big project however, is on hold: Pizzo harbor. The wind blows fine dust on our balconies and through the windows from the deserted sandy dessert around the unfinished harbor basin below the house. The new major wants to continue the project, but people say the commune has no money left.

Finding: La Torta Belvedere tastes differently this summer. Maybe my gustatory sense has changed, maybe the recipe - unfortunately. Although, it makes the decision easier: tartuffo!

Recently, our neighbour has painted a wall connecting our houses in the same color, almost same color, as our facade. And I did not notice!

Sunday evening, I was invited to celebrate my neighbour's (another neighbour, and friend) birthday with a BBQ on the beach at the Marinella. Beside a few Italians, some originally from the North, I met an interesting international group of English, Irish, Dutch and American - all very nice people, and all in love with Pizzo.

Today, the tapissiere passed by to have a look at our chairs and sofa. We explained what we want and he gave us a price. Since he is busy and we expect friends, we decided to only let him work on the upholstery after our holiday.

After lunch, when we were thinking of a pisolino, two window makers arrived with a zanzariera, a moskito net frame for one of our windows.

Tonight, we plan to have dinner with my inlaws and a friend from Rome at San Domenico restaurant. It was our favorite last year. Looking forward! :-)

Good Morning Pizzo !

We made it !

We moved in ! Although the moving truck already delivered tons of boxes over two years ago !

We finally spent the first night in our house in Pizzo !

We survived the night - everything was new ... one moskito disturbed our sleep and the blue movement control light that switches on whenever you move was a bit strange too, but it helped to find the way to the bathroom. The newly aquired matresses, bed sheets and pillows are very comfortable.

But above all, the sound of the waves was fantastic !

The breakfast photo, that looks so beautiful,  is a bit of staging though ... I have to admit....

1) I usually do not eat Choco Pops for breakfast (only today, since I had no other choice).

2) My son, who eats this, however did not want to join me for breakfast in the sun, he prefered the kitchen counter inside

3) CC and Angelo were absent too; they went for a morning walk like always and planned to have breakfast at Belvedere (!)

4) the two espresso cups are empty because the espresso machine had the wrong (Chinese) plug! And the other espresso machine that would have worked, we had forgotten in Vibo Marina...

I am enjoying myself very much! We all do !

Lunch, however, we have again at Hotel Mamma in Vibo Marina, as usual. The only way to publish this post... (I need to find out how to blog with my phone). Also a chance to pack the other espresso machine - and to borrow a dining tabel! Angelo will transport it to our house on top of his car after the siesta.



no title

For this post I have no title.
Or should I call it "my strangest summer holidays ever" or "lost in renovation"?

Since ten days - this is how long I am now in the South of Italy - I am telling myself, this is only a short phase, we are going to move in soon, tomorrow, maybe, and tomorrow I am telling myself the same thing, we are moving in tomorrow, domani, magnana...

But what do we do in the evening without light in the living room? Or at night in the bathroom? Okay, lets buy lamps. Of course, CC does not want to spend his holidays buying lamps, so we buy all in once... not sure how many dozens we bought in one afternoon – mainly wall lamps (applique).  Is it only our team of electricians or do Italians in general have a passion for wall lamps?

wall lamps for the whole house

Luckily we found a shop similar to IKEA that has quiet a good choice (Semeraro at Lamezia's Due Mare shopping center). Of course we did not only buy lamps. Also adapters, plugs and jacks to harmonize Asian and European lamps and appliances with the two Italian systems of electric plugs we both have spread irregularly all over the house. - And hooks, we also bought lots of hooks and mirrors for six bathrooms...

red bathroom: mirror installed (inherited from mother-in-law),

matching lamp hopefully found

(in this room the camera failures always!)

Progressing, Unpacking and the Bar

We are progressing. Half of the house is now ready for furnishing - but the other half is still dusty construction. Although we are closing doors between ready and non-ready areas, the workers (and ourselves) walk up and down between clean and dusty areas. So by now, dust is mainly everywhere... but we are progressing. Here in photos:

the blue bathroom got flooring:

restored terra cotta tiles previously used in other areas of the house 

We also finally got flooring in the entrance:

restored old tiles with floral pattern previously used in a room in the first floor

we visited an antique dealer in Vibo Valentia to look for some wardrobes and commodes since we need to store clothes, bed linnen, towels etc somewhere - the above wardrobe is French, but we bought it nevertheless

Top 10 Impressions from the Renovation Work

In the last five days I have taken many pictures from the house and the work progress. Every day, I am on site measuring, looking into details, unpacking, helping whatever I can do. Yesterday, while showing friends around, I realized that I have some new favorite spots that I want to show you too:

My first favorite spot is the small sunny piazza infront of the house.

Here, at the main entrance three generations of (future) inhabitants are posing happily.

Angelo's art work at entrance #37

more stucco and paint art work on ceilings

my favorite bathroom in the vaulted cellar

Work Progress in Pizzo

Angelo decided to give his new light sky blue ceiling an apricot framing

The sixth and last bathroom will be a blue bathroom - it's the one in the guest residence

waterproofing of last bathroom floor (seminterrato)

Work Progress in March

photo documentation about work progress - click above to enlarge

Angelo, my father-in-law, who also at the moment functions as our contractor on site, sends us photos via email about the work progress. Sometimes I get several mails a day, each with a couple of pictures about different subjects or rooms and his comments. At the moment his reports are all positive about completion and progress. Very promising and inviting. We have gas for cooking, we have hot water for shower and heat for cold days.

The screen capture above shows my "March File". It shows thumbnails about the seminterrato where the walls were insulated, it shows a waste water pump in the garden, the renovated scuri of the windows of the primo piano, the actual status of the bathrooms, the new doors in different areas of the house and the finished stairways - which deserves a post of its own. 

Since the second week of March is always a busy week for me (birthday and anniversary celebrations) I had no time to update the blog. But now, I am back on track.    

update

Wow, more than a month has passed since my last posts (about the bathroom) and my yesterday post (about the stuccoed ceiling) !?

Our "contactor" Angelo, my father-in-law, has been back in Northern Italy for a break.

In the meantime, I have been busy setteling into our new home in Bangkok. We found a lovely appartment and moved in beginning of September :

new Bangkok home

In October, our son had his first break from school and we decided to visit our old home in Beijing, China for the first time since we moved away two years ago :

old Beijing home

 Now, we are all back on track. Me in Bangkok and Angelo in Pizzo. Last week, he "pushed" me to decide on the tiling and equipment in two more bathrooms, since he wants the bathrooms finished before the parquet laying. Of course I have thought about these bathrooms a thousand times and had many pictures collected in my files. But when it came to the selection of sinks, I realized that I do not have the exact measurements of the walls and the distances between sink and toilet etc. Also we had never finally decided on tiles or mosaic. So can you imagine, how I felt? Thousand of miles away from the construction site. My husband in the office and busy with other things. And Angelo who does not want to see mails and mails with my brainstorms, but just clear instructions?

It is a challenge ! And it's fun ! It is a project that distracts me from my (sometimes) boring day to day life. Although I cannot say that I my day to day life is boring yet, after having moved just three months ago to South East Asia. Probably it will never be boring. But for someone who has worked fulltime for almost 20 years, it is like a fun job ! I wonder what I do, when we have finished this project ?! But probably there will be always something to do ! I even might convert it into a B&B for holidayer from May to October.

Have you noticed the door got big bullen nails (borchia f., borchie pl.) !? (photo below).

And look, we got a door bell and plates with our names ingraved ! So you could ring the bell and if I would be home, I would open you the door and offer you an aperitivo... 

 

 in progress: Italian home  

Pizzo Project (Lungomare)

Sometime ago I presented a project of the commune di Pizzo for the  lungomare  between la marina and la Seggiola.

The map below shows the Marina on the right and the little bay called La Seggiola on the left:

Inbetween boths sights of the village is a not so attractive 'lungomare' which was provisorically installed some years ago to protect the rock on which thrones the historical centre of Pizzo from being washed out by the sea.

However, there is one more attraction hiding ! Almost underneath our house one can still see the entrance of the "grotta azzurra". When my husband was a little boy (not so many years ago) he used to go by boat very close to the grotta and even swim inside the grotta. Today grows grass around the entrance and it easily can be overseen.

position of the grotta azzurra

A project of the commune of Pizzo forsees a reopening of the grotta. The plan is to enlarge the bay by letting in sea water until the grotta. Eventually this area will be used as yacht haven and small boats will carry visitors inside the grotta azzurra.

Pizzo as it was for many years

Pizzo's new lungomare that connects the Marina with La Seggiola

and opens the grotta azzurra for visitors

draft of the project

photo from the inside of the grotta today

photo sources: with friendly permission for publication by Arch. P. Pitt



Update November 2010:

They have started with the earth moving work. Here a photo taken from our balcony:

PS:
Oh, yes, it is a fantastic project - and the view from our house will be even more interesting.
I only hope that the earth moving work they do, and the digging, does not affect the rock... and the houses on top...


Update July 2012:

Since this post is one of the most popular posts of my blog, I think a little update is necessary. Last summer, 2011, they finished the digging of the harbor. There is no connection to the gotta, however. A neighbour, who lives above the gotta, stopped this part of the project with a lawsuit. He claimed the work would endanger the rock on which many houses of the Centro storico of Pizzo are located. Well, maybe not that absurd.

But after they did all the earthwork, the heavy equipment and trucks disappeared. Now, we have just a deserted sandy dessert around the half finished "harbor" - that has not seen any boat yet, I guess it is not deep enough - and the wind transports fine dust every day up to our balconies and through the windows...

The new elected major Callipo (since May 2012) wants to continue with the project. But people here say that the commune has no more money. It seems a typical Calabrian project. It will take more time than other projects elsewhere. But it will be accomplished one day, I am sure, because it is a great project, that will make Pizzo even more attractive in the future.

For further updates click Harbour Project

Restoration progress of the Vaulted Cellar

One of the beauties of our house in the South of Italy is a spectacular vaulted cellar.

Formerly used as warehouse for the storage of olive oil and handmade soap this vault is carved into the cliff below the ground floor of our house. From here, many years ago, the traders sold olive oil and soap to the merchant ships by letting down the cliff roped up baskets with the goods.

A separate entrance leads from the piazza downstairs and opens up to this long gallery with high stone ceilings. We call it our 'seminterrato' (basement).

The former storage area was in two large rooms (on the right). The storage area in the ground is still visible (not in the picture). We still think of recovering it and illuminate it below a glass top.

The gallery and the second room have doors that lead to a small garden. Here we added the two iron doors (older post).

The garden offers breath taking views as everywhere in the house.

Our architect, who is specialised in restoring old stone walls and ceilings, did a great job.

Okay, here the close observer will recognize that we have a humidity problem. This seems to origine from the outside wall that we have not touched so far. It is a stonewall on which a few wild plants grow and their roots might cause the dammage and rain water finds its way through.

I would solve this problem before the wet season starts. But it is a question of money ... to restore properly the outside wall my father-in-law calculates another few thousands of Euro ... the dammage will be minor. The walls are not even painted yet (just plastered).

This is the gallery from the other side. On the far left starts the steps that lead up to the piazza by passing by a small bathroom.

Here we are. This is one of the future bathrooms. Under the vault (on the right) will be the shower ! And the window has seaview !

Opposite the shower will be the toilet and bidet - a must in an Italian home - with a lighting on top.

Let's summarize: the vaulted cellar has a long gallery with space for a small kitchen and dining area. It has two rooms for a living area and a sleeping area. And it will have a pretty bathroom.

And ....

.... it has a small garden with spectacular sea view !

And a 'balcony' with an even more breathtaking view.

Remember the separate entrance - what do you think ?!

Isn't this an ideal guest appartment ?

For family and friends - and maybe to rent as well !?!

The 'balcony' with the renovated iron railway.

Next step:

We think about flooring. What kind of material. I would love to try concrete or Venizian terrazzo. Maybe too much 'stone' on ceiling, walls and floor ? And maybe lack of working skills. Concrete floors often have problems with cracks. What about wooden panels ? Antique oak ? Wood providea a warmer atmosphere. But humidity might be a problem, air must circulate underneath the wood. Terra cotta tiles ? Delicate sometimes. Not warm enough ?

We have time. But your input is welcome !!!

Long awaited latest photos

I am excited and proud to present these actual long awaited photos of the facade : (see also previous before & after pictures)

Our house is too big or the piazza in front is too small, that I cannot take a single picture of the entire palazzo ! - (I have the wrong camera / objective).
We restored the whole facade starting with colored plaster.
The two fake windows were restored (originally only one was elaborated).
All windows and window frames were replaced (we have painted white wooden frames on the inside and aluminium with brown wooden finish on the outside for the sea climate).

All window grids of the ground floor are newly made after our input. The balcony rails of the first floor were just repainted in black (before they were white).

Did you know that we are so close to the church, chiesa del Carmine ? Don't worry, the bells will not ring at 7 am.

The blue details below the balcony were an idea of our architetto, who said that the original facade had these blue elements.

The doors, we have three of them, were delivered last Monday and just finalised yesterday with all accessories including the original mail box cover. I do remember collecting all these pictures of doors to choose the right design. Then we decided one, but I cannot remember which one. - Here is the drawing from this blog's archive - oh, the nails are missing ! - Who cares, the result is great ! We like them all.

However, we have not been asked about the door knobs. But luckily we have been on site to choose the position for the knobs.

- original mail box -

For friendly mail only !

.

quick update w/o picture

Weather: sunny and hot !
Sea: crystal blue, turquoise, green, about 26 degree !

House:
We went there after our first swim in the sea - with no camera.
I felt slightly nervous.
We decided to start with the roof terrace.
But on the way I stopped at one of our new windows:
What kind of frame is this ?! Round finish ?
I cannot repeat the words that escaped my mouth ...
but it is clear that we did not order this shape !
It does not fit an old palazzo. It is modern, not even, just bad shape. 30 windows in this style...
This happens when you are not on site.

And the gold-colored handles ? My husband is responsible for this.
Only one time I skiped an appointment with the worker at the factory....

Then the roof terrace:
after the shock about the windows, I felt relieved here:
the blue tiles come out better then we thought !
Not too blue, slightly pale, not stealing the show of the scenery.

The iron doors in the basement:
they look good from the inside. As we had no keyes to open them - we had not met the architetto yet - we could not judge from the garden side.
Also my little lemon tree needs some water, but this had to wait, no keyes to access the garden.

Today afternoon, we went to see a marmista (marble workshop) in Filadelfia up on the hills. We were looking for a light color flooring for our floor under the roof. But somehow, it was too hot and we could not find anything interesting.

Next target: Callipo in Vibo Valentia - we had to drive down hill and up hill. Always small curvy roads. And here it took us about 5 minutes to find the solution: rovere bianca, white painted oak by Berti for the flooring under the roof.

Everything will be fine...

That's all so far.

Before and After: Facade

before (2006) main facade

after (2008)

 

before (2006) from the side

after (2008)

Didn't our architetto deliver a nice job ? Complimenti !
I am very happy with the result. It looks great. Not overdone, in my opinion. Just appropriate and very well matching the main facade.

But, ssh, can you believe that we have a neighbour who wants us to move the rain drain ?! (It is facing his ground.) Maybe there is an old South Italian superstition behind his wish?

Mmm ... it should not disturb us to enjoy the overall result.
We are almost done ! ... from the outside.

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More Facade Before & After posts:

 

before and after facade from above

before and after facade from seaside

 

See all renovation posts BEFORE and AFTER.

Outside In

As the frequent reader already knows, we renovate from outside in.

Here is an update of the work done on the balcony. It is probably finished by now.

Do you like the diagonal finish?

It happened like this:
My husband asked me last week around 10pm at night, if I want the tiles on the balcony laid diagonally or parallel?
Me: Mmh, do I have to make the decision tonight?
He: Yes, they want to start with this work tomorrow.

For your information, we have bought the tiles more than ONE year ago ! Also a decision that needed to be made quickly at that time ...

So I took a paper and a pen and drew the balcony (I know the shape by heart). And as it is not even and a bit round, the architect recommended a diagonal finish. In Italy quiet common.

I know it is common for small rooms as well to make them appear larger. - So, why not. My drawing looked okay.

And here is the work in progress.



PS: we are all wondering if we still like the blue tiles we bought a year ago... (There are more blue tiles for the terrace! Larger ones.)