Pasqua in Puglia 2015

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. Sunday 30-March-2015

A good trip to open up for the season with several highlights. The first was the weather which exceeded the forecast pretty much every day. We were able to drag the mattresses out into the courtyard for their spring toasting to drive off the winter damp.

We are switching from umbrellas to a shade sail on the advice of our local agent. Parasols generally do not last as long and fall over in the wind. A quality shade sail lasts longer, provides higher UV protection and covers a larger area. We avoided the Ikea sails and went for a high quality Australian make called Kookaburra.

My top priority on this visit was to drill holes and install eyebolts to take the fittings; two are static (with tension adjusters) and the third has a pulley for raising and lowering. All went remarkably smoothly and we now have cover for lunch in the courtyard. We will retain at least one parasol for the courtyard round the back but I expect the sail to be the main protection from the sun.

Back in Cisternino old town the alleys are too narrow for vehicles of any size and especially for a dustcart (aka garbage truck). Instead of weekly rubbish collection you leave a plastic carrier bag out every night for daily collection. These little vehicles navigate the cobbled streets every day collecting the bags from people's doorsteps.

In our apartment the large white wall has been crying out for a painting. Last year we looked at paintings by local artist Patrizia Pareo who, coincidentally, has her studio directly across from our apartment. We didn't feel able to afford the one we wanted then but this time we upped the budget and bought "Bianco nello spazio".

It must be one of Patrizia favourites as she used it on the cover of her catalogue. And now it's our favourite too. It looks splendid on our wall and is the perfect finishing touch to the apartment.

It was a quite the cultural visit. we went to book at table at Osteria la Valle. At eight o'clock they hadn't event started laying the tables so we went to Bar TrentaDue for a drink for an hour. There was a band setting up and doing a sound check. So after our meal we went back to listen to the band. The bar was heaving with trendy cool dudes. The first set finished at midnight. I was deemed an old fogey for wanting to go home to bed so we stayed for the second set and staggered home some time after one am.

We had hired a large estate car so we could go shopping to patio furniture for the terrace. After visits to Ikea, Conforama, and "our man in the country" we ended up back at Conforama and bought a table and L-shaped sofa.

It only just fitted in the boot with a bit of shoving and is now up on the roof ready for some serious relaxing next trip.

Pasqua in Puglia 2014

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. Thursday 17-Apr-2014

We flew out to Italy for a shortened Easter trip - our original plan had been a full week but at the time I had no work so we prudently maximised Mary's billable days. That meant we crammed a week's worth of socialising into four days.

Thursday evening we invited our neighbours Mark and Sue round to see the apartment. They are not only our nearest neighbours to Trullo Azzurro but it transpired that they live only 1.5 miles from us in London.

After the tour - it doesn't take long for a one room apartment - we then went out for a meal at MezzoFanti complete with live Jazz.

The Jumpin' Drivers.

Saturday we ate in. Sunday lunch was with ex-pat friends hosted by Chris and John plus their visitors. On the way there we saw more Strega Befana - good witch.

We flew out with eight Cadbury's eggs in our hand luggage which we distributed to the assembled company.

One egg was for Michele and Rosa next door who whitewash our trulli every spring and rotavate the garden as needed. Of course we all had to come in and have nibbles and and digestivi.

In Sotto Le Stelle we relaxed and admired the vaulted arches yet again.

It being Easter there was the obligatory parade of the Madonna which passed under our window.

Easter Monday it was lunch at Kath and Richard's who's house we can see from our terrace. Only 0.83 miles but it is all downhill. A long boozy lunch was followed by a stagger back up the hill.

Tuesday was lock up and off to the airport via Carole and Mino's for a cup of tea.

We enjoyed the trip so much we booked another week out here in July; September is too long to wait for our next trip.

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 8-10. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Sotto Le Stelle 16 - Storage is at a premium

The main change from our last visit in December is doors for the bathroom but no picture as we forgot our cameras.

The main change should have been gas central heating but the Italian bureaucracy has been grinding along since September and still failed to deliver approval of the connection of town gas. We are all plumbed and ready to go.

Empty gas meter cupboard

Also storage in Sotto Le Stelle is at a premium - basically there isn't any. We need to maximise use of every niche. So we asked our builder to install glass shelves in the niche behind the sink and the niche in the valley wall. They looked good and add storage capacity.

Cisternino in January is pretty quiet. Many of the restaurants were closed even on a Saturday night, some of them for an off season holiday. We wandered around on our arrival Saturday night looking for food and settled on Le Tre Lanterne in the main square (Piazza V. Emanuel).

For years Bar Fod was the only bar in the main square. Then a young upstart rival bar cafe appeared. Now it has gone and is replaced by Le Tre Lanterne, a "fornello pronto" - lit. "speedy oven" - basically a butcher that cooks meat for you. Le Tre Lanterne was more like a proper restaurant but we're not complaining. I had some excellent wild boar sausages with a half bottle of local Primitivo.

Wild Boar Sausages

The next day was lovely and sunny. As it was Mary's birthday we ate and drank - celebration was a four hour lunch at Osteria La Valle. It was so typically Italian at the next table: a multi-generational group of about twenty family and friends chatting, hand-waving, greeting friends who dropped in to say hello. Love it.

Sunny panorama from Sotto Le Stelle on January 26th

The next two days were shopping and furniture rearrangement, respectively. How is it possible to spend eight hours shopping? It is all part of creating storage space in Sotto Le Stelle so we can clear our stuff out of Trullo Azzurro:

• The space under the basin now has a towel rail and hooks for a curtain. We have commissioned a glass shelf to go in there.
• The alcove beside our bed acquired a hanging rail, an assembled, flat-pack chest of draws and a curtain rail to cover it all. 
• The old toilet niche would have have a cheap set of wooden shelving in but the dimensions lied - the shelves were 0.5 cm too wide! Wednesday's activities included sawing one end of each of the shelves ready for assembly next visit. 
• We bought a set of sliding shelves to go under the kitchen sink but they would not fit so they are now installed in Trullo Azzurro. Next time we will check the depth as well as the width.

Basking in sunshine on January 29th

Every morning after breakfast in Sotto Le Stelle we repaired to Trullo Azzurro for a shower as we had no heating in the apartment. The last morning was spent basking in the warmth of the sun trap that is Trullo Azzurro courtyard after a most productive visit. Then home to a cold and rainy UK :-(

Sotto Le Stelle 15 - Sleeping in the apartment

So close to finished that we can sleep there and publish version 1.0 of the before and after pictures.

The gas has still to be connected, thanks to the Italian bureaucracy. The bathroom is now complete apart from the door which is still being constructed - the tower rail, shower screen, mirror and lights are all in and the loo works even if there is no hot water.

We started the process of furnishing the apartment: I unpacked and assembled the sofa, put up a curtain pole for the alcove behind the bed and completed the bed assembly left over from the last trip. Then we brought a load of kitchenware over from Trullo Azzurro.

With aid of a kettle and toaster we were able to sleep there even if we had to go back to Trullo Azzurro for a shower. A major milestone.

The builder actually thanked us for allowing him to work on the building - to modernise an old building whilst preserving and enhancing its original character. He is a man with a passion for stone and we were guided by his advice on a number of items so he must take a goodly part of the credit.

Next trip we should have heating and a bathroom door (with any luck).

A full set of before and after photos on Flickr: 20131012-Sotto-Le-Stelle-Before-After.

Sotto Le Stelle 14 - Kitchen Fitting

This whole purpose of this visit was to oversee the kitchen installation and it was a good job we were there in person.

This is what the kitchen looked like earlier in the year after the initial stripping off of the plaster and before the removal of the dividing wall and replastering.

Kitchen Before

A key feature of the layout was that the sink unit be exactly aligned to the central niche. Most of the sequencing of rest of the units and appliances followed on from that.

At one point the workmen said the end spacers meant the whole thing had to move three centimetres sideways. No! Plus it would have blocked one of the electrical sockets.

A good job we were there or that is what they would have done. Instead they bashed off the infill end pieces and installed them at the opposite ends where they fitted perfectly.

We have a suspicion that the guys at the factory screwed up and pre-assembled the pieces the wrong way round - they fitted the end gaps so well.

Once it was in place it was clear that the splash back should not run the full width of the worktop. Instead it will be cut to run only where there is plaster and leave the stone and niches exposed.

As you can see the colour scheme is white. The original hob had grey pan rests but was discontinued and we were able to make the switch to all white SMEG hob and oven.

Mary has declared herself extremely pleased with the end result.

After we leave the electrician and plumber come in to connect up the appliances. The builder will infill the niches with marble to make them level with the worktop.

The mains gas will be connected once Italian bureaucracy has processed the paperwork to approve the installation.

All should, hopefully, be working by our next visit in the first week of November.

Sotto Le Stelle 13 - Furniture, more windows, plastering

Nothing happens in August but before and after the holiday season progress has been made however no kitchen.

On the roof we have safety railings and a lovely stone wall to hide the very functional water tank.


Railings


Water tank

The bathroom has been given its final coat of cement and resin mix. Unfortunately it looks like the message about the colour had not got through to the plasterer. This (the lower part) doesn't look like white with a hint of grey to us. A conversation with Maria at the bathroom shop led to some remedial over-plastering. We will see how well that went next trip.


Waterproof walls

The windows were not installed in time but they did arrive while we were there. The frames went in first followed by the double glazing. The shutters were still to be fitted by the time we left.


Window frames

Because we thought the place was going to be weather tight we did not defer the furniture deliveries. We are now fitted out with double bed, sofa bed and extending table plus a day bed intended for the terrace. The beds we left in their wrappers pending completion of the works.


Furniture

One last relax on the roof terrace on the eve of our return.



The kitchen was not ready to be fitted in time so we have to go back again in two weeks time - we really want to be there when the installation takes place.

A full set of pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmclellan/sets/72157635854112373/

Sotto Le Stelle 12 - Floors, doors, windows

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. Saturday 20-July-2013

Steady progress on the apartment:

• all the walls have their final top coat of finishing plaster
• tiling finished, not just the main floor but entrance and landings (first and second floor)
• shelving in alcoves, niches, window, dividing stub wall and roof landing
• electrical sockets installed
• refurbished front door installed and looking good
• roof terrace door fitted - toughed glass so the stairs act as a light well
• zanzariera (mosquito screens) fitted to terrace door, balcony door, and valley window
• bathroom prepped ready for cement and resin plastering to be followed by fitting of sanitary ware and shower screen 
• stone bench on the roof

Shopping done:

• two 140 cm beds: one for Trullo Azzurro, one for Sotto le Stelle
• arranged washing machine move from Trullo Azzurro to Sotto le Stelle while scaffolding and winch still in place
• new washing machine ordered for Trullo Azzurro for our guests
• up-lighters for Sotto le Stelle to illuminate the arches
• internet and wi-fi installed at Trullo Azzurro

We even moved in our first piece of furniture - the day bed from Trullo Azzurro.



We are not going out in August but we hope to be able to sleep in the apartment in September. There will be deliveries of a fitted kitchen, dining table, bed and washing machine.

More Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmclellan/sets/72157634879838164/

Sotto Le Stelle 11 - Underfloor heating

Since our last visit the main, visible change has been the floor. The underfloor heating has been laid, the covering cement poured on top and the tiling been mostly completed using recycled tiles.



It is nice to see that builder's bottom is an international phenomenon.


Franco the tiler and side-kick

There were not enough reclaimed tiles to re-lay the entire floor. We always planned two rectangles of plain tile - one at each end of the long room. This meant a trip to the nearby quarry to select the right shade of limestone for the infill tiles. As luck would have it we all agreed on the same slab.


Colour matching in the quarry

One of the big hassles has been that the kitchen company would not commit to measuring until the floor, tiles and wall were done. Since the lead time is a couple of months, and nothing happens in August, that means that, likely, everything else will be done and then we wait for the fitters to install our simple, linear kitchen range.


Kitchen measurers dither and cavil

Other progress included:

• a mock-up of the bathroom handbasin base - Saverio will be re-using some of the dividing wall stones rather than make a cement cube
• choosing the colour for the resin-concrete mix that will be used to plaster the walls and floors in the bathroom
• ordering a dining table - we eventually went for the the original preferred table after having looked at, and eliminated, many alternatives. But we did lay sheets of brown paper on the floor to confirm the correct size
• a simple top to the stub wall - it makes such a difference

Plus the usual eating and drinking with our friends and an unexpected bonus: a refurbished ant!

We inherited this boot jack back in 1994 when we bought Avon Cottage. It moved with us to London and then onward to Italy where it does duty as a door stop. It lost one of its antennae and we left it with Chris and John to take to the local blacksmith. He was at first uncertain if he could repair cast iron but in the end it came back not only repaired but also freshly enamelled and looking spiffing.



Full set on pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmclellan/sets/72157634341824707/

Sotto Le Stelle 10 - Plastering and rendering

Since our last visit there has been significant progress in the reconstruction: we now have a concrete floor, the walls have been rendered with a mix of concrete and calce (lime) and the ceiling has been repointed - and looking brilliant.



Saverio did three test samples for possible finishes for the wall plaster top coat. The upper sample was rustic, the bottom very white and shiny and the middle somewhere in between. We went for the middle option.



The other big topic of discussion was windows and doors - what can be refurbished, what will be new, which will have shutters and mosquito screens, the type of glazing:

• the front door will be refurbished
• the street balcony doors will be recreated but re-cycling the ironmongery
• the valley window will be replaced
• the door to the terrace will be one big pane of toughened glass
• the bathroom door we are postponing to allow further cogitation

The underfloor heating pipework has been ordered and due to arrive from Germany. By the next visit it should be installed and the top layer of cement laid over it. Then the original, salvaged floor tiles will be relaid. That means the kitchen fitters can come and take definitive measurements; the kitchen lead time is now the critical path. Only three weeks to go to the next visit.

Full set of pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmclellan/sets/72157633777780557/