Tuesday 24 March 2015

Villas for 2 Blog


Our friend David Brenner has written this interesting blog post on Roman Sites in Abruzzo and visiting the archaeological museum in Chieti.

Roman Abruzzo


Detail of the Capestrano Warrior

Lettomanoppello in winter

You'd think that it would be quiet here in a cold March evening but no such luck! There were still groups of very loud men chatting and arguing in the square until after midnight!

Then there are the bin men who start around 5am.Still I really do like this little village and would not miss the Sunday morning market with a trip to Bar /Café Vittorio for a coffee and cornetto.

The bar also have 2 small apartments for rent at very reasonable rates.And there is a mini bus service up to the Ski Slopes over the winter.





Nothing keeps an Italian indoors!

The stairs

Nearly there now, at least we have our wall constructed to divide the hallway so that we can make a small boiler room. The construction rapidly progressed due to the use of the lightweight cement blocks that have little air bubbles making them very easy to cut.


 
We've used the rock/gravel infill to create a breathable yet insulated floor which will later be compacted by tamping down a few inches of road base onto the gravel. We used this method in the living room and it seems to be working very well with any damp earth being kept well away from the base of the floor bricks. In times of very wet and cold weather some damp will come upwards but rapidly evaporates and does not cause a problem by rising inside walls and forcing bubbles in plaster a common sight in Italian houses.

Rush Hour in Lettomanoppello




A Week in March

Over the last few years I've made a short trip out to Abruzzo to check on things after the winter .I've written before about the heavy snow in Abruzzo and how it has damaged so many roads and homes.

The road to our house rises along the edge of the ravine so I wasn't surprised to find more landslides close to the road. It was actually quite scary driving up and down !

Much to my disgust last year some local 'farmers' had dug up quite a few old olive trees across the road from us leaving what once was a lovely area of old trees and wild orchids just bare soil.


 
I was delighted this March to find signs of some of the lovely Orchids growing out of the bare clay and hopefully even the rarer ones will survive.
 
 
The dogs were really happy to see me again!
 
 
In order to prevent more slippage by these old trees I have piled up cut branches and soil from the floor of our hallway.I will have some more soil left here and later in the spring it will be planted up with some ground cover plants and in the autumn some trees that will all hopefully firm up the area.
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Neve

Abruzzo was hit by a spell of severe weather last week and now many roads are closed due to land slips and rock falls.

This is the second winter where roads around Manoppello have been closed for months while the council clears the blockage and repairs road and pavements. Its hard to see how all these repairs will be paid for?

Surely as these type of climate events become more frequent areas like abruzzo will need to allocate more funds ?

 

No More Olive Oil?

Its sad that so many of Italy's ancient olive trees may have to be felled due to the emergence and spread of the Xylella fastidiosa disease, which spread to Italy from the Americas, has infected up to a million trees in the southern region of Puglia.The disease is carried by aphids and there is a strong possibility of its spreading to other parts of Italy and Greece.



Last year in Abruzzo was a disaster for Olive farmers as there were very few olives worth picking. A very wet summer meant a poor crop which was then attacked by the olive flies. These pesky creatures lay their eggs in the developing buds and the maggots then hatch out in the autumn. Our trees were badly effected and  will try to collect and burn all the fallen olives this year -the only problem with this is that the Long Tailed Tits and Nuthatches love to pick the maggots out of them as they lay on the grass.

As well as being an important part of the Italian landscape these old olive groves shelter a wide range of wildlife including Little Owls, Wrynecks, Shrikes, Woodpeckers and many different warblers.

 
woodcut by Andrew Wddington


 
Shrike by Andrew Waddington
 
 
Redstart by Andrew Waddington
 

Sunday 8 March 2015

Camping in Italy France and Switzerland

Not everyone is a fan of Italian campsites: They tend to be organised along the lines of maximum convenience for shopping and eating rather than for the appreciation of nature! Anyone who has ever been to an Italian beach will be familiar with the regimented lines of tables, chairs and umbrellas all close enough to a bar to allow frequent trips for a coffee or beer and campsites are very similar.



It was good therefore to hear of a campsite that has opened fairly close to us in Serramonacesca.The site called Kokopelli is more of a natural camping ground that tends to be popular with British campers and I hope that the couple that run it will be successful. The area was totally lacking in this type of tourist accommodation and its good to see that the campsite also organise hiking trips.



Another very useful online site for campers and those driving from the UK to Italy is campinmygarden.com which allows you to view a large number of 'garden campsites' often way out in the wilds and very peaceful. Looking at sites along our route through France Switzerland and Italy I came up with 3 sites that were all close enough to our route to be worth trying.

You need to sign up to take part and then you can email an owner to ask them if they have space.Prices are very reasonable compared with large campsites.