Ofena
Ofena from afar
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Ofena from afar
Ice cream, olives and a lager, take a dip
Quite possibly the best restaurant in Abruzzo
Not as scary as you sound
One on top of the other
cup of tea ?
Is that how all our ceilings are made ?
One bedroom .. that leads to another bedroom !
It's not a good idea to blow up your chimney within the first week
No, it's the other staircase !
Typical arched ceilings, not so typical tiles !
And probably some wall staples, a new roof, ...
No loch-ness monster in sight
Breakfast... without end
Can someone convince the maire to create a beach at Capo D'aqua ?
Ofena from afar
Aim of the blog
The aim of this blog is to share information and experiences between those wanting to, or having bought a house in Abruzzo, and especially in the area near to Ofena. Where are the nice villages to buy ? What is the process ? What are the pitfalls ? How much does it cost ? What happens next ? Where to find people to help do up your house ? Meeting up with others that have come to the area ... where to find the best "agritourismos" ?
Pescara, Roma-plage
Ice cream, olives and a lager, take a dip
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a less-well-known part of Italy Pescara Pescara UK Pescara Europe , I think I would choose Malaga
Taking the nice new motorway out of Pescara towards the mountains, the suburbs give way to rolling green hills, and further-in, to reasonably-high, snow-capped mountains. This is the abandoned beautiful region, and to the left, the Gran Sasso area of Aquilla province. Here is where you'll find broken-down but beautiful half-empty villages, where the elderly look-on hoping for some action, and where tourism hasn't quite realised what it's all about. If you know where to look you can stumble across magnificient restaurants (or agrotourismos), breath-taking valleys and empty stretches of vast open plateaus.
Taking the nice new motorway out of Pescara towards the mountains, the suburbs give way to rolling green hills, and further-in, to reasonably-high, snow-capped mountains. This is the abandoned beautiful region, and to the left, the Gran Sasso area of Aquilla province. Here is where you'll find broken-down but beautiful half-empty villages, where the elderly look-on hoping for some action, and where tourism hasn't quite realised what it's all about. If you know where to look you can stumble across magnificient restaurants (or agrotourismos), breath-taking valleys and empty stretches of vast open plateaus.
Aufinium
Quite possibly the best restaurant in Abruzzo
Noisy ... but
Not as scary as you sound
Typical street
One on top of the other
Where to find your "bonheur"
Like a typical Brit, I wanted to get my foot on a fast moving property ladder. Having contemplated the whole of eastern Europe through Internet sites, I realised, much to my disbelief that in Italy it was still possible to buy a house for as little as 15K Euros (especially in Sicily - in Abruzzo it starts at about 30K unless you want a pile of rubble). The other factor that attracted me.. even though I'm not sure if its true, is the lack of capital gains tax. So, like a typical naive customer, having never bought any property abroad before, I packed my bags and invited my mother over to Pescara
Only two hours before my flight and .. no house. I had only chosen the village. Ofena is known as the "furnace of Abruzzo" and being from coldEngland Paris
Only two hours before my flight and .. no house. I had only chosen the village. Ofena is known as the "furnace of Abruzzo" and being from cold
Our house
cup of tea ?
Which house ?
We arrived in the village with 30 minutes to go before we had to leave for the airport.
The house the estate agent had in mind wasn't anything like what I wanted. I thought it was all over, until he suggested another rather big house that makes part of the village wall.
We visited the house in 15 minutes. Not even being able to remember how many bedrooms it had we shook hands. It is definitely the best deal compared to all of the other houses we had seen (although maybe not the best deal if you look more seriously) : It has a roof that doesn't appear to have leaked since we bought it, solid walls (we didn't notice the cracks at the time but the house is still standing), natural original clay tiles in most rooms, arched ceilings throughout, two fire places, two kitchens and a large cellar : about 150 square metres for 42K euros... totally over my budget !
The house the estate agent had in mind wasn't anything like what I wanted. I thought it was all over, until he suggested another rather big house that makes part of the village wall.
We visited the house in 15 minutes. Not even being able to remember how many bedrooms it had we shook hands. It is definitely the best deal compared to all of the other houses we had seen (although maybe not the best deal if you look more seriously) : It has a roof that doesn't appear to have leaked since we bought it, solid walls (we didn't notice the cracks at the time but the house is still standing), natural original clay tiles in most rooms, arched ceilings throughout, two fire places, two kitchens and a large cellar : about 150 square metres for 42K euros... totally over my budget !
The cellar
Is that how all our ceilings are made ?
Strange Italian planning
One bedroom .. that leads to another bedroom !
A word of advice
It's not a good idea to blow up your chimney within the first week
It's a cupboard ?
No, it's the other staircase !
The pink room
Typical arched ceilings, not so typical tiles !
The friendly estate agent takes the stress out of buying a house ?
Most of my friends and family were concerned that I would get ripped-off or attacked by the mafia if I bought a house in Italy Italy
Needs some paint
And probably some wall staples, a new roof, ...
Are you sure they are parallel ?
Once we had bought our house we started to invite various builders from the area to have a look. (The geometra report that we had asked for from the estate agent only seemed to talk about the nice view!) If you buy an old house (ours is about 150 years old) take some valium before inviting builders to have a look at it. After visits from certain builders we were too afraid to touch the wall in case it fell down. However, my boyfriend's father came over and was more reassuring, pointing our that the walls are half a meter thick and lean inwards and not outwards... even if there are parallel cracks that run down the front of the building. Either you are minted and can pay for all of the repairs straight away, or you aren't ... and in that case it is probably best to do nothing for the first year or two in order to be sure about what is essential and what can wait.... whether we want to keep the house long-term or sell it after five years and find a house with a garden, nearer to a lake, etc. We are pretty useless at DIY - so it might be better to buy a small house with little repairs to do.
Great for swimming
No loch-ness monster in sight
The best place to stay in Abruzzo
Breakfast... without end
Things to do
One of the aims of this blog is to share ideas about things to do near Ofena and in the rest of Abruzzo. So far we have discovered two lakes which are great for swimming and snorkeling, the local agritourismo on the hill-side which has the most outstanding bed and breakfast and restaurant perched on a terrace with swinging garden chairs, the Ofena restaurant, which although just looks like a local bar from the outside, has a fabulous menu, Sulmona and its summer cat walk show, the scary snake festival, ski-walking on the mountain, roller-blading along the Pescara promenade, and the Chinese restaurant on the beach.
Archives du blog
Our view
Can someone convince the maire to create a beach at Capo D'aqua ?
Qui êtes-vous ?
- House in Italy
- English from Worthing, BSc Biochemistry and MSc IT at uni in London (UCL), MSc IT Security (Royal Holloway), taught English in Nanjing (1998 to 2000) and now work as manager in audit at Deloitte, Paris .. specialist in data analysis for the detection of fraud, etc, would like to emigrate.
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