This time last year, our derelict Abruzzo property was snow-covered and scenic. This year, our new Abruzzo home has risen from the rubble and is nearing completion !

This time last year, we'd signed the primary contract to buy our Abruzzo property. But not the final contract. So as the snow fell, with its promise of a white Christmas, we didn't actually own anything.

Or rather we did – but in the wrong country, because the sale of our old home in England had fallen through two weeks before we left for Italy. 

So as we watched the snow gently lay a wintry coat over one of the two long-derelict properties we'd half-bought in the equally long-derelict hamlet of Cinonni, just outside Casoli, we couldn't help but wonder if we were making the worst mistake ever.

The idea had seemed simple enough. Buy two old ruined houses about forty metres apart on an acre of south-facing land with stunningly panoramic views.

Knock them down and rebuild a wonderful new Abruzzo home for us and three new Abruzzo holiday villas for you, all in the traditional Abruzzo style of white walls, terracotta-tiled roofs and dark green window shutters.

We finally completed the purchase in early March. Problems ? Not really. But. things. just. took. quite. a. long. time.

In the middle of May, the old place was still heroically standing and looking even more impossibly scenic than it had in December. We were getting mails asking, 'Are you crazy wanting to knock down such a beautiful old house ?'

Trouble was, the beautiful old house had not-so beautiful foot-wide cracks in the walls and crumbling foundations that'd have needed a mile-high stack of €500 notes to fix and taken more time than building the pyramids. Neither of which we had.

So the day after this picture – in came the demolition crew.

Then it rained. For two solid weeks. Probably served us right.

So by the middle of June, we were the proud owners of an acre of mud and the hopes for our Abruzzo home and your Abruzzo holiday villas looked…well…not exactly immediate.

But now. (Roll of drums). It's come on a little. Take a peek.

This is how it all looked last Sunday – just a couple of days short of a full year on from the snowy scene above.

In fact, it could've been a little better had we not lost a couple of days last week to – guess what ? – rain ! But for that, all the roof tiles would've been on our place and a start would've been made on doing the roof tiles on your place.

As it is, as we'd always set our sights on, we end 2008 knowing that we'll be in our new Abruzzo home late February and – more importantly – we'll be opening for you on Saturday 2 May. 

Come the New Year – about the middle of January to be exact – the current Villasfor2 About Abruzzo blog will become a cog in the all-singing/dancing Villasfor2 website which'll tell you how to book and the big introductory discounts that'll be on offer – and, more importantly, how it's all going to look.  

Keep watching…

(ps. Click on the images above for the bigger picture !)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 4:37 am and is filed under About Abruzzo, About Villas for 2, Property. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.