We looked for over a week to find the perfect house. I know that doesn't sound like long, but it's a lifetime when the military thinks you should have found something yesterday....know what I mean? Unfortunately, nothing was screaming "home sweet home". I was desperately searching for that old-world Italian character and charm, and only seemed to be finding old with no character. Ramiro finally made a command decision and chose this one. It's in the town of Sarone Di Cavena....about 15 minutes to base. Sarone sits at the bottom of the mountains, so we have a beautiful view driving in and out of town. Of course the mountains can be seen for miles, so a beautiful view isn't too hard to find.
Our landlord lives to the left of us up a small hill, and his daughter and her family live in the other half of our duplex. They are all very sweet and helpful. Behind us is another duplex with Italians on one side and another military couple on the other. Their houses look so pretty with flowers.....I'll attach a picture below. I can't wait to spruce ours up a bit!
Keep in mind that the houses here have no closets, no pantries, and no storage within the walls themselves. Most kitchens have only a sink, and garages are somewhat of a luxury. So your lucky to find something with additional rooms to use as storage. As far as closets and pantries, you just have to be creative. The military does issue us what they call wardrobes. They issue two per family and 1 per person, so we ended up with four. I'm afraid it still won't be enough for all of our clothes, shoes, etc. Creativity seems to be the name of the game here. Everything is smaller, slower, and less convenient than state-side living. Needless to say, we feel very lucky to have found a house with kitchen cabinets, additional storage downstairs, and a garage! Here are some pics.....
Front view.....3 story, 3 bedroom, 3 bath. The front door is actually on the side. The door you see on the balcony is off the kitchen. All flooring is tile except for the bedrooms, which are hard wood. Stairs leading to the upstairs and basement are all marble. I've yet to see carpet in any Italian home.
View of the mountains from back yard.....
View of the mountains from front balcony.....
Kitchen.....no dishwasher, but at least I have cabinets.
Most, if not all homes have racks above the sink for drying dishes....space saver I assume....pretty cool.
Downstairs living room.....we plan to use this as our main living area because it's the biggest room in the house. That's a fireplace in the corner that can be used for heating or cooking.....we probably won't use it for either one.
Main floor living area and step-up leading to two bedrooms and the bathroom.....the stairs go to another bedroom and full bath upstairs.
Duplex behind us.....I love the flowers!
You probably noticed that we don't have our household goods yet. We got word today that they're delivering our things next Thursday.....yeah!!!!! We've been living out of suitcases since 9 June and we're soooooo ready for some normalcy. More importantly, the military issued mattress is more like a concrete slab, so we can't wait to have our own bed.....our bodies are starting to protest! I'll send more pics of the house when it's all put together.....then I will call it our home. :)
Church across the street...
Me enjoying scoops of strawberry and pistachio.....deeeeelish!!!
Rome working on his 1st scoop.....yep, he went back for a 2nd!
