Visits to the property

Speeding?

Ed Living in Italy 0 Comment
Speed camera violation notice in Italy
Violation Notice
 Click image to enlarge

Today, the mailman brought a registered letter from Italy. Against my better judgement — we’ve been burned in the past when Anne was served in a lawsuit this way — I signed for it. I figured it had something to do with the house.

Wrong. It was a notice of a traffic violation. A quite tardy notice, since the date of the violation was last July 5, over 7 months ago.

A side of the road speed monitoring camera had caught me going 118 km/h in a 110 zone and they wanted 58€. Very steep for 8 k/hr (5 mph) over the limit.

Here’s the section outlining the violation:

Text of speed violation notice in Italian

The comune that had issued it is all the way over on the west coast north of Rome, I figured I wouldn’t need to pay it, but I thought I’d check with Giovanna. Sadly, she told me I should pay.

Given the amount of speeding I’ve seen in Italy, this all seems terribly unfair. La dolce vita, I guess.

An Update

My online Italian teacher Silvia sent me a link to an article that explained the speeding fines in more detail. After reading it, I realized I was lucky to be going only 118. If I’d been measured at 121, the fine would have been at least four times higher.

These side-of-the-road speed cameras, called autovelox, are everywhere. Usually, they warn you in advance that you are in an area with them, but not always. Apparently, not all the cameras are active; some are just dummies, but unless you live in the area you don’t know which are which.

The fine depends on two factors: your speed relative to the limit and the time of day. (Fines are higher between 10pm and 7am.)

The fines can get really high, even for a small violation. Here’s a chart I built from the facts in the article. Ranges are given. I assume that the specific fine depends on the locale:

Speed relative to the limit Fine 7am-10pm Fine 10pm-7am
kph: Up to 10 over
mph: Up to 6 over		 €41 – €168 €55 – €224
kph: 10 – 40 over
mph: 6 – 25 over		 €168 – €674 €224 – €899
kph: 40 – 60 over
mph: 25 – 37 over		 €527 – €2,108 €703 – €2,811
kph: More than 60 over
mph: More than 37 over		 €821 – €3,287 €1,095 – €4,383

The Trip Home

Ed Living in Italy, Traveling in Italy , 0 Comment

At dinner last night, still trying to avoid a refueling charge from Hertz, I get my 20 changed for smaller bills. Then on the way to the airport, I’ll have another go at the pump.

Flight is at 6. Airport only about 15 minutes away, plus gas up time. Even though I know the airport is small, I figure I should arrive by 4:30 or so. Lufthansa makes you check any bag over 8kg, so I need to check mine. I don’t want some bureaucratic problem to make me miss the flight.

At the pump. I put in a 5. Only will take 1.25€, about a liter’s worth. So I was really close last night, even though the gas gauge didn’t show it.

I take the keys back into the building where I arrived. No one there, so I just put them on the drop box at Hertz.

After about 15 minutes, there’s still no one else in the building. Hmm. I don’t see check in desks, either. So I go exploring.

departures-153136_640Finally I discover another building, a couple of hundred yards away, not connected to the other except by an outside sidewalk. It’s for departures. Two buildings. No signs pointing from one to the other. Only 3 departure listed for the morning, maybe for all day. L’Aeroporto delle Marche.

I start the day with a croissant and espresso. 2.00€.

First stop is Munich. Nice airport, but it’s 7:30 and a two and a half hour layover. Too early for beer for me, even in Germany, but I see a couple of guys who disagree. I opt for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Total: 8.50€. I love these airport prices.

Frankfurt next. It’s not as nice as Munich and has one very annoying practice. You’re told that your gate is in the Z concourse, but no gate number. Concourse Z is one big duty free mall. I assume they don’t tell you your gate right away so you mill around and buy stuff that’s no cheaper than at home. Now it’s time for that beer.

My flight is supposed to start boarding at 12:20. About 12:15 I check the monitor. Now it’s not just no gate number. No flight to Chicago listed. Did my watch stop?

I spot another United flight from gate Z20. I figure my only option is to go there and try to figure out what happened. On the way, I see a crowd at Z15. Chicago flight. Who knows why it wasn’t listed and how everyone else knew where to go.

Finally, off to home. Across the aisle from me are two women, a middle aged one and I assume her mother. They spend the entire flight mostly yelling at each other in a language I don’t recognize at first, but finally realize is some Italian dialect. I’m hearing capisc’ and be’ and a few standard Italian words.

On this flight, the economy section is packed. No empty seats. But the economy plus section is almost empty. But if you want to move there, it’s $129, but I’d bet some people were booked economy and “upgraded” there. No luck for me.

Once we land, I take advantage of Global Entry to go through passport control quickly. But then the bags take forever to come out.

Finally, about 6 on Halloween night, I arrive at home, about 22 hours after I woke up.

Overall, a good, but scary, trip.

Image source: www.pixabay.com License: CC0 Public domain. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.

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Prepare for Departure

Ed Living in Italy, Traveling in Italy 0 Comment

The day before my return home was spent in Falconara Marittima, the town on the beach just north of Ancona, where the airport is.

Poster advertising chestnut sagraI’d planned to go to a sagra and to visit some furniture and home goods stores, but the big earthquake that morning changed my plans. I didn’t do much besides watch earthquake news on TV and have lunch and dinner.

I ended up having both at the same restaurant, Il Paradiso, about a half-mile walk from the hotel. You go down a steep hill to the beach, across, and then back up the hill. Good place. Lunch was a great spaghetti with clams and mussels, followed by a great lemon chicken scallopini. I was then treated to both a local amaro and a local coffee liqueur by my waiter.

The most fun time to go to a restaurant in Italy is Sunday lunch. Whole families go out together and eat and drink and laugh. It really makes you feel good.

Despite the quality and the hospitality, I didn’t intend to return for dinner, but I had a change of plans. I decided to go out and fill the car with gas, so I wouldn’t have to do it the next morning. Italian gas stations these days seem to be just gas pumps. No people there, no convenience store. :-). First station I stopped at had a sign that the card reader wasn’t working. At the next one, it wouldn’t take my credit card, since while we’ve started using chips in the cards in the US, I didn’t have the PIN number I needed.

Italian gas station or pompa di benzinaWhat you do is insert euro notes to a machine, which then sets the pump to deliver the gas. That’s fine in general, but it makes it hard to use when you need to fill up a rental car before returning it. So I try a 20 euro bill. I return to the pump — and it won’t work. I ask a local who happens to be there, but he can’t figure it out either. Finally I try putting the nozzle back and removing it again. Bravo!

But 20 doesn’t fill it up. So I try 5 euro more. Close, but still not full. All I’ve got left is a 20 and I figure the penalty from Hertz will be less than that. So back to the hotel. But by now it’s dark. And even with Google maps, I can’t seem to get back to the hotel. Up the hill. Around. Down. Up.

At one point, I make an almost critical error. I pull over on a downhill to look at the map. Now I see what to do But I got too close to the next car downhill when I stopped. As soon as I put the clutch in to reverse, I go down the hill toward the car. After a couple of attempts and stalls, I figure I’m in a bad way. I’m a foot from the car and can’t back up.

Two choices I see: roll (gently) into the car, probably setting off an alarm, and then try to reverse, or put on the parking brake, rev in reverse, release the brake and hope to go uphill. I don’t like number one, so I try two.

Luckily, it worked, but the smell, from either the clutch or brake burning was really strong.

I was so glad to get to the hotel and out of the car that I decided to return to the restaurant I knew I could walk to. Pizza this time. And a half liter of wine to calm the nerves. Very good.

Second image source: http://www.alvolante.it/news/febbraio-consumi-benzina-salgono-303157

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Positioning the House

Ed Designing a House , , , 0 Comment

We don’t formally own the land yet, but I start my first day on the property, aiming to position the house and the other features on the property.

Kevin and I met the geometra, the builder, and the current land owner. Right now, there is only a farm track that leads down the hill to the land and the ruin, so we were in Kevin’s four-wheel-drive car. (Even after our access road is built, I think we’ll want 4×4 to reach other locations in the area, maybe even to reach our property.)

One of the reasons the land has great views is that it slopes downhill, fairly steeply in places. It’s also roughly a triangle, with the “point” on the uphill side. The main questions in positioning the house are to maximize the views while maintaining as many trees as possible, having flat areas for the house, a yard/garden, the pool, and parking, and “hiding” the pool a bit, as it will be covered most of the year.

As I’ve mentioned before, olive trees are apparently pretty resilient, and even larger ones can be cut back and moved. There is a large fig and two cherry trees that we need to work around or lose.

Edge of fig on left, cherry in center
Edge of fig on left, cherry in center

Kevin had sent us a couple of options, with the placement of the elements drawn on a Google Earth image. That way, we could see where the trees sit. One option had the house
positioned right on top of the ruin; the other had it farther up the hill.

Anne and I preferred the higher option, as it left more property on the “view” side of the house and we might be able to save the fig and cherries. Now, on the site, the five of us looked at the options. We put some stakes in the ground for the building footprint.

Property layout Click image to enlarge
Property layout
 Click image to enlarge

On the ground, I confirmed our opinion. My preference was for a siting near the higher option, where we could leave two olives in place on either side of the path from the parking to the front door. It also would let us keep the fig, though it would be closer to the house than might be ideal. (The fig and the cherries are all in need of serious pruning, as you probably imagine.) Four or five olives will need to be moved, but we can use them as a screen blocking the one imperfection in the view, that of some large agricultural building in the mid-distance.

After our discussion and the experimentation with placements, I asked the geometra to do a “side view”, so we could see the flat areas and the slopes. I’d say I like what I saw: a top level for parking, the level of the house with some yard, a third level of lawn and garden, a fourth level for the pool, and the rest just left as a slope. The levels will be joined smoothly and connected by paths, if possible, so we won’t need to build retaining walls or stairs.

Side view of slope Click image to enlarge
Side view of slope
 Click image to enlarge
An Update

Anne’s thought is that we won’t have enough level ground immediately behind the house, With the my proposed placement, we’re constrained on one side by the fig, but we may be able to make the other side, by the loggia, bigger.

On My Way to Buy the Ruin

Ed Buying a property, Living in Italy , 0 Comment

For this trip, I decided to trying flying into Ancona. It requires a connection somewhere, this time Munich, so instead of arriving in Rome in the morning, arrival is late afternoon in Ancona.

ancona airportGood call. I avoided Rome Fiumicino airport and its confusing set-up. Ancona airport reminds me of Nantucket or Asheville. You go down the stairs off the small plane, walk about 100 feet, pick up your bags, and leave. (I had entered Europe — the so-called Schengen zone — in Munich, so I just got a question about where I was going from the local authorities.) Rental car desk right there, car in lot about 100 feet away. Off plane and in car in 15 minutes.

Airports

Click to enlarge, zoom, and move
Pin A: Casa Avventura
Pin B: Ancona Airport
Pin C: Rome Airport

Click to open a larger map

I also shortened the post-flight drive considerably. Even with the new road through the mountains which was just opened, the drive from Rome is about 3 hours, compared to 45 minutes from Ancona.

I recommend this route for all our hoped-for visitors.

Map icon source: Maps Icons Collection https://mapicons.mapsmarker.com