The Dream House Revisited

I had a restless night last night - you know how life-thoughts seem more sinister and dire in the wee hours of the night and I wonder how we ever take on some challenges in the light of day without thinking twice about it? Well, the dark thoughts didn't invade on the crazy idea of the house in the country-

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day so we decided in the late afternoon to take the hour and a half drive to "our" house in the country that I wrote about last month. When a house like this is listed with an agency, it is called a "ruin" because it needs so much work and when we saw it yesterday, the railing of the rickety deck had fallen off so it appeared to be even more so in that category. However, the views surrounding it were even more beautiful with all the leaves off the tree, and I felt so peaceful and as I sat on a rock, the warm, setting sun so healing. (These photos are from our visit during the summer.)

There just so happened to be some people who drove up to the church parking area next door who turned out to be locals who came to enjoy the air and the views. Andrea found out from them that two weeks ago the house had been on the auction block for a ridiculously low price that we would have jumped at (Paula, your comment was right on last posting) and we don't know if it had been sold or not. These folks even broke into the cantina and gave us a tour of the ground floor that included a large fireplace (a perfect study and music room, and storage for wine). I told Andrea he had to call the priest today to inquire. Interesting myth: there is evidence that there was once a castle built under the house and church which makes sense as it sits on the very top of a hill.

So, last night I was restless and kept thinking how crazy we would be to take on such a huge project - it would be an ongoing thing that perhaps we wouldn't even begin for another year or two and could go on for the next twenty. But the challenge felt only positive and exciting, so if it turns out that the timing is right and the house is still available and we can convince the church to pick us to sell this little ruin to, life will be much more interesting in the coming years. I will keep you posted.

Update: the house indeed is for sale, but for about 25% more than we expected. With the current exchange rate, add another 25% and there you have a price that is just too high. However, it does include five acres of land - more than we expected. But we will meet with the person in charge this week and see what he has to say - he did say the price was not negotiable but this is Italy, after all (maybe I need a sign from a pigeon like Diane Lane got in "Under the Tuscan Sun"...).