Those who know Maria and I well, or have read the website, will know that we have had a couple of dreams, rather than the one dream in the tag line.

The first of these is to travel the world on Mariadz. As you will have seen, getting the boat ready has taken a lot of time, effort and money.

The second dream after we had finished travelling was to live in beautiful southern Italy in a magnificent property. By having this property available prior to our departure, it would provide a steady income stream which could support us during our journey.

We spent a lot of time and effort working with our Italian friends to identify the land, design the house, get planning permission (no mean feat in itself) and then start the construction. Our plans were ambitious. The house was sized as an equivalent of the house we had in the UK and so consisted of 250 square metres of interior space. But of course, in Italy, with its temperate climate, a lot of time is spent outside so interior space is less important. The problem with building a large place is that the cost increases in proportion to the size and if we had developed something of 150 square metres, we would now be looking at a finished build.

In Italy the build is done in two stages, the first is the rustic element which includes foundations, walls and ceilings. The completion follows which is when the windows, doors, electrics, water, climate control, bathrooms etc get finished. Finally, in Italy, the kitchen is not included in the build, or house sale, unless specifically identified!

As you can see a lot of expense over a period of five years and unfortunately the property is stuck at the rustic stage. After some bad luck, and bad decisions, we have found that we won’t be able to afford to complete the property for a number of years.

We have looked into loans but can’t find a lender who is prepared to lend on a part built property in Italy with someone that is not currently living there.

It has put us into a dilemma. Although we both love the land and the project, it looks like we will have to reluctantly decide to sell it to someone who can afford to finish it. So our gorgeous Italian project is on the market and having of valued by two different people, the price is €400,000, which is not much for such a huge building. We are hoping it will sell to someone who will love it as we have. The overall dream is not over. Our intention would be to reinvest the money from the sale in a smaller completed property that is usable straight away. This would bring the dream closer and put us very close to being able to start our journey. So fingers crossed for a happy ending.

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It is not all blue skies, white stone and ambitious plans and unfortunately there are some things that happen that bring you crashing back to reality. I’m not talking about the recent political resignation either, although who knows what impact that will have!

Last weekend, we discovered that the small deposito on our land had been broken into. The thieves had levered the bars from the rear window and broken through the window to get in. They had rummaged through our stuff and stolen the electrical goods, alcohol and tools. They then walked through the front door to get out. All in all it has cost us 2-3,000 euros.

This is despite the building being secure, alarmed and monitored by the local vigilanze (private security firm) with a ten minute response time.  When we spoke to the security company they said that the alarm must have been switched off since it had not triggered. In fact, the theft was only discovered the next day when our friends popped by to check the place was ok and found it not ok. On reopening the front door, the alarm went off and some considerable time later (and not the ten minutes or so that they are meant to be there), the security firm arrived.

Unfortunately this does make you reconsider some of the decisions you are taking. We have shown a lot of trust during our Italian adventure and this is the third time (and by far the worst) that we have had things stolen from us. It is a very poor part of Italy, times are hard and immigration is hurting since this is one of the spots that illegal immigrants cross from Africa.

It is also the hunting season in Puglia when people are entitled to walk on any land that has not got a full height wall surrounding it. Clearly this allows people to scope out the place too. But the house looks so innocuous so it must have been like Christmas coming early when they found what was inside.

Having had some time to think about it, Maria and I now need to discuss how we react.  We have a lot of good friends in Italy and we do feel that by trusting people we have got further than we would have done otherwise.  You also shouldn’t let a few mishaps change the way you feel about something.

But we do need to react to minimise the risk of recurrence.  So we are considering changing our plans slightly to make sure that we can finish off the build and get the house ready without any more unfortunate incidents. In the past we had thought that the wall surrounding all of the land would be built after the house was completed but we now think that we are likely to be continually broken into while the house is being finished. We need to discuss further with our builders but it is likely that we need to make the site completely secure with the wall, gates, CCTV, alarms and a reliable security company (and just to be clear, we are not saying the previous company aren’t reliable just that we need to check this rather than assuming it).

Anyway, Mariadz life is not all perfect but we will get over the obstacles that get in our way to move onwards and upwards.

We have returned to italy after a few months to the most exciting part of the build from our perspective, the building of the trullo cones by Trullidream construzione.

The house is really taking shape away and the “rustic” build will be completed in the coming months.  This is the build of the walls and roofs, the framework for the home. The completion part of the build is the next phase when the doors, windows and internals are all completed.

The roof for the main part of the building has been in place for some time and our intention is to put a lot of solar power up there. This will help with the bills, to say the least, since we expect the power consumption of the house to be quite high.  In the picture the curved areas of the roof would be nearly all solar panels.  This would be hidden from anyone staying at the house.  Our plan would also to be to have a reasonably sized generator hidden around the side which would automatically kick in if there was a power issue.  The flat parts of the roof could have been a roof terrace but we understand that the health and safety issues would be too great so the roof will be off limits unfortunately.  One thing you can see from the view is that the building is about the same height as the olive trees and when up the all you can see is trees for a distance around the house. Looking over the trullo area of the build is not quite complete and Massimo at Trullidream Construzione has said that the outside of the cones will be dressed by the end of October.  Already you can see what these will look like and they will be an amazing sight.  As you can see the structure for all six cones is now in place and the outside will have the same uniform structure. Maria is now at the stage of thinking about the decoration at the top of each of the cones, there are a number of standard shapes traditionally used in the area and Maria is currently considering whether to have a cross on one of the central cones surrounded by the balls on the others.  Again this is something that needs to be agreed with the team doing the build and we are keen to keep the traditional feel of the trullo so will take advice.  Finally, and considering the recent earthquake in central Italy, the stone structure of the trullos has been reinforced with concrete anti-earthquake pillars.  Let’s hope we never need to see how well they work but it is reassuring that the possibility of earthquakes has been factored into the design to make the house safe.

The major progress over the last few months has been around the trullos.  It wasn’t that long ago that all we could see was steel reinforced concrete pillars and we couldn’t wait to see the stone work going up.  Part of this was the concern of whether the space in the trullos would be usable for a master bedroom suite.  A lot of trullos are very small but we wanted this to be unique selling point for the house, with the master suite combining five star luxury with a traditional feel. The outside being all stone will look amazing and the plan is to have a small “English” garden outside of the front of the trullo, partly as a nod to our background but also as a tranquil place combining with the Italian architecture. So we are more than happy with how the outside is taking shape but their was still the niggling concern about the size of the rooms and would it work. Pino, our architect, is a very talented man and so we didn’t have anything to worry
about. As you come into the trullo, the first cone to the side is a dressing room which is a good size, especially considering that this is being used for holidays rather than a permanent residence which would have a lot more clothes. The picture shows the corridor to the trullo and this is wider than it looks on the picture. The picture does show the flow into the first set of cones, the bedroom cones and finally the bathroom cones. One thing that cones give is height and this increases the feeling of space in the building.  To be fair this is true throughout the build with three kinds of traditional ceiling designs on show: stellar, curved and trullo cone.  All of these give height to the room.

Returning to the trullo, we couldn’t be happier with how it is going, they are everything that we imagined although building a trullo from scratch is a skilled task, and hence more expensive, we have to say it is worth every penny. As we start to move forward with the internals of the house we will give more details on the bedrooms, kitchen, lounge and games room as well as the basement which should have a gym and storage.

However, that is all for later blogs. The key to a Mediterranean house is of course the outside living space, since this is where you spend most of your time.  The pool and sun terrace are very important but there are also covered areas outside which provide comfortable areas. The pool was designed to provide swimming, a play area as well as an area for chilling.  It is a standard depth all round which means that we could not have a dive board but does mean that games can be played in the pool without anyone having the disadvantage of the deep end 🙂 we also had the steps extended all the way round so that they became a terrace of sitting which also provides a perfect relaxed area to sit and chat whilst half in the pool.  Finally there is a jacuzzi area in the pool. A large area surrounds the pool which provides space for sun worshipping but also has areas of shade, particularly later in the day when shade may be a requirement.

This shot is taken late in the day when the sun has gone behind the trullo.  The jacuzzi can be seen to the right and the main sunbathing area has already been set up 🙂

We have described previously the ambitious build we have planned in Puglia. The plan is to have our roots in Southern Italy where the people are so friendly.  The cost of living is a lot lower than the UK and it is possible to buy a nice retirement property for the price of a flat in Southern England. It is also easy for a pension to go a lot further than in the UK. Did I mention the weather is a lot better too? And the food and the wine….. So lots of great reasons to try Puglia!

My parents had a similar dream but wanted to live amongst the Spanish in Spain – rather than in an English resort in Spain. They have retired to Extramadura where they have been embraced by the Spanish and have learnt the language. We intend to do the same (except learn Italian 🙂 ) in our own small corner of paradise. The advantage of doing the build early is that it gives us an income during the summer months and Trulli Mariadz will be available to rent for a number of years.  Please book early to avoid disappointment, maybe wait until it is finished though 🙂

The project has been underway for a couple of years with Trulli Dream Constuction.  Now it should be said that the pace of construction has been slowed by us and not by the Italian company. We also talk about ‘Italian Time’ which in our experience is generally the exact time you say, ‘English Time’ seems to be a little after the arranged time…so that is another stereotype blown!

We have been very happy with the company building for us and know the family well. As part of this we have put our trust in our Italian team and Angelo Epifani deserves a special mention for being so amazingly helpful and kind to us over a number of years. He is one of the leading estate agents and works at Oasi dei trulli immobiliare (the link shows the current available property in Puglia and the picture above is just one of the properties that is for sale at the moment) with a complete knowledge of the area combined with an honest assessment of the pros and cons of each property.  We have also found Massimo and Pino very helpful and hard working throughout the process. One piece of advice we would give on this is that the people who have struggled buying property in Italy have generally tried to impose UK property practices  over the top of the Italian way. One even instructed a UK solicitor. We have found that element of trust and faith helps immeasurably and promotes the goodwill that is always required in any successful transaction.

For instance our planning permission required a large number of updates and negotiation to pass through planning control, which still took two years.  Without Pino’s commitment and constant visits to the office this would have been impossible. I’m sure his wife thought he had moved out at times since he was spending so much time in the office. Then the build started with a documented timeline.  Unfortunately we had to delay the build after we had started while we got some money together and Massimo, our Geometra, was very understanding and flexible. The great thing is that we are having the building work done by new found friends who are as excited about the project as we are. That shared vision combined with commitment and honesty has resulted in a trouble free process.

The design of the house was a combination of some ideas that we had from the UK and local building designs. The master suite consists of a six cone trulli with a bathroom, seating area with fireplace, dressing room as well as the bedroom itself. This is the last part of the build to be started and the stones that comprise the round houses has been delivered and the work will start as soon as the weather improves enough. To the rear of the trulli is a private ‘English Country’ garden with a grassed area. This will be our little homage to our home country with all other aspects being from our adopted home.

The rest of the house is pretty much complete. To provide greater privacy the rooms adjacent to the master suite are the dining room and the utility room. These will not be used all of the time and means this part of the house will be tranquil and quiet.

Moving round to the front of the house, there is a large entrance area with seating which is flanked by the kitchen and study/additional bedroom. This part of the build are all lamia with curved ceilings.  In front is the lounge area with a small games room to the left, with our pool table from the UK! Between the kitchen and dining room is a staircase down to a small basement which will have a storage area and some gym equipment, useful for people who can’t resist the pasta but still want to get into their clothes at the end of the holiday! From the entrance to the right is the corridor that leads to the remaining bedrooms, study, main bathroom and garage. The two bedrooms that face the rear of the property have star ceiling designs, as well as their own private seating area under shade.

Returning to the centre of the house, as you head out towards the pool there is a large fixed structure with star ceiling designs providing a covered outdoor area that is usable all year round. The patio area leads to the swimming pool. The left side of this is a large area of steps which will allow people to be in the pool sitting and chatting if they like.  The rest of the pool is one level and so ideal for games but not for diving. Finally there is a jacuzzi within the pool which maybe a good spot to watch the games for those less energetic.

To the right of the pool is the outside kitchen area which allows al fresco cooking and includes an oven for pizzas.

The whole build is surrounded by several hundred olive trees, which are cultivated and harvested in the traditional way and also provides the delicious Mariadz Olive Oil. There are also a number of fruit trees dotted around including Cherry, grapevines, fig, orange and lemon, required for Mariadz Limoncello.

At the front of the house is another staircase which goes up to the roof.  This area can be used as another private sunbathing area although some of the roof is sectioned off for the solar panels that help to provide the power for the house. The roof also offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside with the entire area covered with Olive trees and a few small houses dotted around. One of these is the piccolo casa. A self contained one bedroom apartment on the other side of the driveway.

The entire plot is surrounded by a traditional wall and privacy screen with automatic gates at the entrance. A 24 hour security team is in place that monitor the alarm systems and respond very quickly as required. There is also CCTV to the outside areas which again adds to the security.

The pictures show that the build is well under way and hopefully it wont be long until it is completed.  I will update as we make more progress.  Anyone interested in learning more about Puglia and what is available please contact Angelo (info@oasideitrulli.com) who will be very pleased to help no matter what the budget. I’m sure if you mention Maria and Adam, he will be especially helpful 🙂

It was September 2009 when we were first introduced to Puglia.  Maria had been working in London and speaking to someone who had honeymooned in Puglia, by the time they had returned they had fallen in love with the area so much that they had bought a small holiday home.  On the back of that, Maria decided to book a long weekend in Italy and got in touch with an Englishman who introduced us to two Estate Agents, one in the North and one in the South of Puglia. The two parts are quite different with the southern part being quite flat and filled with Olives. We found that Northern Puglia was served very well by Bari Airport, easily reached from the UK and the southern part by Brindisi airport, accessible from Stansted for us.

We stayed at Alberobello which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and features architecture unique to this part of the world – the Trullo. This type of building is built of stone and has a stone conical roof. Made of limestone they start a light brown colour but then turn to grey over time.  Alberobello was a “must see” for us but it is a tourist centre and not somewhere that we would consider living despite its beauty.

So having seen some properties in the North and not having been inspired, we drove south to San Michele Salentino.  Here we met an amazing man called Angelo Epifani who works at SEFIM.  At this stage we hadn’t started Italian lessons and Maria’s Italian was limited to saying that someone had nice eyes or a nice rear end! That wasn’t going to get us too far!  Angelo showed us a number of properties from aderelict 100 year old Trullo to more modern villas.  Our hearts were set on a Trullo and so we refined the search.

There were a number of trips to Puglia over the coming months and we are proud to count Angelo as a friend. Within a year we had decided on a renovation project, the building had been on sale for three years.  Before buying we wanted to have some plans for what we would do for the renovation.  We spoke to Pino from TrulliDream who helped us formalise our ideas for the property.  Once we had our plans in place and we knew we could afford the project we moved forward with the offer.  This was accepted but before we could pay our deposit, which in Italy makes the contract binding (or lose the 10% deposit), we were told somebody else had also put an offer in on the house and were asked to increase our offer.  We agreed with Angelo that we weren’t prepared to get into a bidding war and pulled out.

We then decided that we hadn’t really seen a place that we felt that we could convert to be what we wanted and so took the unusual step of deciding to build a brand new home to be designed and built by TrulliDream.  It took a lot of work with Pino to come up with a design that we were happy with (and could afford!).  After a lot of viewings of different landscapes with Angelo and of course Lisa Jones one of very close and dearest friends who accompanied us, we had found some land, a beautiful plot of olives in 16,000 sq metres. However the buying process for this probably took nearly a year!  The process of planning permission in Italy is very long winded too and we are indebted to Pino for his hard work and perseverance to make sure that the design was approved.  This took the best part of two years, and I have the utmost respect for Pino and his patience to continue to ensure that the planning permission was successful.  In August 2013, we finally had permission to build our dream home.  Massimo Epifani at TrulliDream, Pino’s brother has been working hard with us to keep the build on track, which has mostly been delayed due to us or the weather – we have no complaints about Italian building companies or the builders themselves.

As you can see the construction is going really well and the next stage will be building the Trullo which will be at the right hand side of the picture above.

Our experience of building a home in Italy has taken time but has been a very positive experience with some great people.  We would recommend it to anyone.

One word of caution though as someone from England buying in Italy.  The Italian process is completely different and the people that we have known who have had trouble have invariably tried to force the Italians to work in an English way. We love Italy and the people so we have been happy to work with them and that has helped the success of our project to date. I would also add that it takes time and although the prices are good, if you want something fast you have to be prepared to spend a little more.