Monday, March 06, 2006

Update on the Hovel-in-the-Hills

"We went out for a nice Italian meal on Friday."
"Oh, where?"
"Italy."

These flying visits have settled into something of a routine. Leave work Friday midday and catch the train up to Stansted. Have a late lunch at the air-side seafood bar, smoked salmon and a glass of champagne, then fly Ryanair to Bari. Pick up the hire car and drive to Locorotondo, pick up the keys to the apartment and head straight to restaurant Centro Storico for a late supper and tucked up in bed by midnight.

Saturday we meet with Daniele the architect, survey the "progress", discuss a few items and then leave. This time literally a flying visit, we did a one way car hire back to Brindisi airport and back Saturday night. So we were actually in Italy for just 25 hours.

group of trulli and lamia
A view of our holiday home from the boundary

group of trulli
Bedroom trulli from the outside

interior of lamia
Lamia floor and walls almost complete

excavator digging
The driveway being levelled for the patio

Progress has been made on the lamia house, the floors have risen about nine inches since our last visit. This is due to the layered underfloor ventilation then heating then tiles. The walls are ready for the final plaster and whitewash. The roof-top terrace is also tiled and just the finishing touches to go. In two weeks the doors and windows are due, then final works can begin on the interior.

The driveway is being levelled for the patio and the new water cistern. The old one (behind the digger) is temporarily filled in as a safety measure and the new one will be in the same location but deeper and flush with the surface.

Danile reckons the building will be habitable by Easter, but there will still be groundworks, boundary walls, driveways, etc.

2 comments:

Rosa said...

Aren't we the jet setter! How exciting. What type of archetecture is that? How did you find it? Questions, questions, questions. Reminds me a little of "A Year in Provence." Funny. "Acquired Tastes" was a fun read too. I bet you have some stories to tell dealing with the Italians!

Mark McLellan said...

Rosa

Yep, you get pretty used to low-cost airlines. We went to Italy nine times last year, mostly for weekend visits, to monitor progress.

These funny conical buldings are called Trulli (see Google Images of Trulli).

Try reading "Extra Virgin" or "Ripe for the Picking" by Annie Hawes for an Italian Year in Provence.

More answers later...