We didn't choose her, she chose us
This is the story of Pleun, our 100% Italian dog with the 100% Dutch name. The story of how she found us when we weren't looking for her, here at Valle Dolce, is an unusual one and worth a blog. I think...
THE BLOGS
read below. latest on top
THE NEW LUXURY.
Just short of 20 years ago, it seemed like a clever idea, and clever indeed it was. The digital technology had gotten so sophisticated, we just needed one device in our lives; “everything” was arranged by one fingertip, sorry two (unless you’re a boomer): our phones became smart, like really smart. A camera, shopping mall, bank, office and social meeting place in the palm of your hand. We not only can phone our loved ones/colleagues/friends from every remote place on earth but even see their faces on screen. We can continue working 24/7, wherever we are. We no longer look at the landscape or just stare out of the window while traveling by train/plane/bus, instead we view the video you downloaded earlier.
Some of the features are indeed making our lives easier, but at the same time more demanding. The time we saved by going to a physical place, we lost by streaming, scrolling, swiping. The omni presence online (incl that friendly chatbot you ask all the simple questions), the clickbait popping up everywhere, the algorithms we loath, the abundance of things/treatments/trips… screaming attention on our screens. "Like it”or “not like it”.
So, this is life, a quarter into the 21st century, ànd we are getting more and more conscious of the downsides of so much screen time; first for kids and teenagers, now we are also looking at our grownup-selves.
Increasingly, people are looking for at least a temporary way out, a break from it all. Disconnect from our screens and reconnect with real life, meeting and chatting offline with real people, slowing down. Longing for stillness, tranquility, nature, or at least a vast green space. Where bird singing is not just a ringtone and you can actually smell that gorgeous looking flower: thìs is the new luxury. Strange as it may seem.
So, what's the luxury part of this? Of course, you could bury your phone under a pile of unworn clothes or on the bottom of a drawer at home, but the element missing is the one to get away from the familiar and above all the temptations of (urban) living. To be able to go somewhere to experience moments of sheer awe, moments in which you won’t even think of your phone (okay, maybe just to get there). Impressive nature, stunning culture, delish, yet uber simple, fresh food and a bit of physical challenge to compensate for the many hours spent sitting at a desk or, being a home worker, hanging on the couch, laptop on your.... lap.
Check Insta or TikTok for inspiration on where to go? Immediately a constant influx of, like, the “10 most beautiful places in……” or the “top 10 secret must-visit-towns/ beaches/restaurants” are thrown at you by the self-employed entrepreneurs called “influencers”. Who themselves are hooked onto their devices docked on Bali, Mexico or South Africa (or is it Thailand now?).
Their content is creating fomo and a snowball-effect on over-tourism; the same places pop up all the time ànd people are susceptible to follow in the footsteps of trend setters.
(The latest trend of the “elite” is posting pictures of a mouth-watering place, without dropping its location, so-called consciousness to prevent over-tourism...). The effect of this is people are, rather than truly experiencing a sought-after place, consuming it, ticking it off. Seen it, done it, selfied it and posted it. Next!
Avoiding maddening crowds during a holiday is getting more and more challenging, yet not impossible, even in Europe. Finding lush green spaces to connect with nature, without having to join a survival canoe tour in the wilderness, or a mountain trekking from refuge to refuge, carrying your complete holiday-outfit in your own backpack (as we are not all suitable to do that).
Of all the places you could go to, you guessed where this long intro is leading to: “our” Abruzzo. It's often declared the greenest regions of Italy and even Europe, because of the old and many national and regional parks, covering half of its territory. The coast where we are based, the Costa di Trabocchi, has long been underrated, but is now gaining popularity as a slow-travel destination, due to the cycling- and hiking path along the coast. We don’t want to turn this region into the next hotspot, far from it, but invite you to look beyond those “most popular places to visit” and allow yourself to explore a region that’s still has lots to discover, all by yourself!
You can find some concise information about Abruzzo on our website, before you dash off. And of course, keep following and get influenced….
THE LIST
When we embarked on our house hunt in Italy…
...we already had excluded a few regions that didn’t match out appetite enough (like: too far from the sea, an overkill of foreigners or second homes). There was a budget ànd we had made up a wish/priority list, as wise people do in these cases. Years before we had done the same, in our search for a holiday home in Italy and that had ended up quite satisfactory.
Once we knew we were going to emigrate into another country it became all the more important, as it’s not like you're, say, buying a loaf of bread.
What's on the List? A determination of the position, neighborhood, conditions and features of the dwelling and premises. Set the priorities amongst these, gradually sliding down to mere bonuses, but no dealbreakers.
Should the top 3-5 not be featured in a project, we shouldn’t even plan a house visit; of course the goal is to find a house that ticks all the boxes (a phantom), or, more realistically, ticks more of them compared to other houses visited.
Once we had narrowed down our search to Abruzzo over time our list was getting longer, not shorter, so we could really get into details comparing all these country-houses available on the market there. Yet most projects didn’t get past point 5. Or even 3. There wasn’t a whole bunch of them. Actually there were just two. And finally, just one.
On top of our list was to find a renovation project with some character, with good bones, preferably in a livable state. We wanted to do the renovation (or most of it) ourselves, so ruins were out of the question; we wouldn’t mind living in a tent or caravan for a while but the longer our search took, the lesser this seemed a good idea. Amenities like water and electricity (in whatever state): also a must.
Next: 1 ha of land or more, as we love our freedom but wanted also the option to start a boutique glamping. Followed by the presence of an olive grove of which I had been dreaming for so long (I admit, this was my personal dream. Jaap preferred a bar at walking distance). This part of my dream was not really hard to become reality; it’s almost harder to find a farmhouse on the Abruzzese campagna without an olive grove.... and always nice if you can scratch one or two points off the list and move on to the next.
Ah yes, we wanted something close to the sea, how close however we left open for negotiations. With ourselves.
Next: we are from Holland, the flattest land on the world, most of it stretches out BELOW sealevel. So of course our new paradise should be in a hilly environment with a nice view, that would reach beyond green pastures with cows or a bunch of treetrunks. Either faced on the mountains or on the sea (a bonus).
A nice, medium sized town in the neighborhood with all services: a must. Walking distance to the home village cum bar: another bonus (sorry Jaap).
We also hoped to have a nice collection of fruittrees, bonuses for the ones with something else than figs (as 99% of the objects had these anyway) and the more exotic (to us at least), the merrier. A small vineyard (scenic!) was a plus as well, although we had our doubts if this would be a wise idea…. No dealbreaker.
On our first visit to Abruzzo on our second to last day, we visited a house we had seen online and dreamed about a lot. It came well passed point 5, it just lacked a bathroom (and kitchen but who cares), had solid bones and we saw enough possibilities to do a renovation ourselves. We visited with a geometric architect etc. and then made the mistake of trusting the real estate agent selling the house, as well as the kind owner. He had inherited his parents house, then changed the listing to an agricultural dwelling to save taxes, which we knew. What we didn’t know was in order to get it listed back as a house, it should be renovated by professionals because it was obligatory (in this area) to do complex earthquake-proof adjustments. It would not only exceed our budget but also kill a lot of the charm of the old farm we had fallen for. When we found out, we had already made the first down-payment (because we were in a hurry and the agent said another couple was keen on buying it, just had some financial issue to sort out)…. It was not a whole lot and we regarded it as learning money, an nevertheless costly lesson. Well, now we were all prepared for the real work! We explored Abruzzo further south, did some house visits with a new agency mainly in central Abruzzo. And then came Covid…
To be continued in the next blog!
Pictures of the house we bought and then didn't... I think it does show why we fell in love with it, not to mention its setting. Why we easily became (too) eager to buy, although we had had at least a few non-sleeping nights along the process of buying and not buying. Also we didn't go about the process all that naïve, we had a few architects looking at it with their expertise and critique, though all were as enthusiastic as we were about the object and it's location, they were sceptical about the process of getting it listed as a proper house.
So this uncertainty both financial and administrational (Italian bureaucracy being not new to us) also in terms of time frame blew up our dream. But only this time....
N0. 1: "Come mai Pollutri"...?