Natural Sources of Light for a Bathroom & more

The latest accomplish rate was 13.55% as of November 30, 2007.
More than 10% in one month... maybe we can make it until the summer holidays? - I am just kidding. I will be more than happy if we make it according the plan - until November 2008.

My son (4 y.) asked me today: Who is fixing my Italian house in Pizzo? (my !) And then he asked: Do they know how to repair it? - I said, Angelo knows and he is there.

It is so important that he is on site, as there are tons of additional questions to answer and new decisions to make.

Today, Angelo and I, have been writing a lot of emails back and forwards. He most of the time in Italian and me most of the time in English.

The longest was about natural sources of light for the new bathroom. As we re-located the bathroom in piano terra (ground floor / first floor) we got a bigger space for the kitchen and of course a new bathroom. The old window of the former bathroom belongs now to the kitchen. The new bathroom will get a new window. The window will be small. So I had a thought once, about glass bricks (Glasbausteine) in a certain height towards the neighbouring storage area... I never mentioned this idea until about two days ago - when it was too late. Angelo and Pino, the architect, apparently liked the idea right away. But, ups, the new wall was already perfectly finished. Remember the working speed?

The wall can be demolished partly, no problem (only extra costs). So now, we discuss via email about the size, the height and the position of the glass bricks. The glass bricks come 20cm x 20cm and in many beautiful colours to choose of. And the question was asked if we want to use them on the opposite wall towards the kitchen as well.

However, I cannot picture where this could probably be. In the niche of the shower? I suggested see through glass, so we could have sea view from the shower (through the kitchen) - hey, why not? There is a technique with a certain liquid that runs over the glass and turns it to not see through... tricky. But I think I will place the fridge there. On the side of the kitchen, not in the bathroom... confused? Me almost.



This is the new space for the kitchen after cleaning up the debris (the light area, behind the yellow bucket - before the yellow bucket is the dining ares).


This is the new bathroom. The shower will be in the left niche. Looking at the picture, I think the bathroom is smaller than I thought. We plan 2 sinks, 1 WC, 1 bidet, 1 shower and 1 washing machine, maybe a 'working' sink for hand wash laundry (something Italian). Maybe we have to reconsider. I guess, when you split a big room into two, both new rooms always appear smaller than assumed.







Where is this hole? I know it is in the wall between the kitchen and the new bathroom. Can we please have a picture from the entire wall? Maybe this is a place for glass bricks? - Or, one window and one area of glass bricks are enough.




And the outside renovations just started as well. The first picture above shows the scaffolding on the sea side facade as of December 1st.

For those who worry about our cliff - the rock was professionally renovated a few years ago. The concrete plate underneath the house was part of the project.

New Drawings

An email from our young and talented Italian architect was forwarded to me. He had sent along two new drawings he had made from the house. One shows the view of the front facade with the main entrance and one shows the view of the house by the see.

First I thought, there is something wrong about the second drawing. But then I realized, I had never seen the back of the house in that way. - Remember? We are located on a rock. You only would see the house in that perspective if you would 'fly' by. Usually you are about 50 meters below and in that perspective the house looks different,... shorter, shrinked, somehow.

What about using the main facade as a 'logo'. I was thinking of designing a 'logo' for dishes we would use in the palazzo. Maybe also to be embroidered on bathrobes, maybe napkins, maybe pillow cases etc.

Should the 'logo' resemble more the new drawing (above) with all the nice details or resemble more the 'reduced' drawing below?


Let me know what you think and I will post a draft soon.

Point of Departure

When I was in Pizzo this summer, I posted that the house looked worse than last year when we bought it. Did you read that? Did you believe me? Those of you who still associate the Italian word palazzo with a glamorous palace got the wrong idea.

In Italian casa means 'home'. It can be a 'house' or an 'apartment'. A villa is a big house with a big garden. And a palazzo is a big house with no garden. Italians have nice sounding words for simple things and our palazzo is far from glamorous.

I reported that almost all window glass was broken. Probably kids threw stone at the windows. Of course some of the glass was broken before and all windows need to be replaced anyway.

Wild plants are growing on the floors of several rooms inside the house. Outside they grow on the walls as well as on the terrace and the balcony. Rain water is following their roots. We need to isolate the house well to avoid the penetration of rain water.

And last but not least more graffiti was on the doors.

I hope that all this 'wildness' will fade soon after we have the permission to start the renovation works. The permission is expected to be given in September. Let's see if the architect can keep his promise :)

Pizzo Picture Postcards

I love these two postcards!


I first bought them ten years ago, when I spent my first summer holiday in Calabria together with my husband ('il mio fidanzato' at that time). I bought them again last year. They are yellowish on the back. They must have been on stock for sooo many years...

The first one is really special. I wonder why they printed so many of it? This postcard wins a prize for 'unbelievable, strange' postcard and needs to be collected.

And the second one spreads so much charme. La Piazza Umberto has not much changed in these years. (Just a few more cars are parking on the right nowadays).

I think these two postcards show exactly why I like Pizzo. It is a picturesque, dozy little village in the South that has not been spoilt by tourism. And I hope that will never change.

Different Views

Today, for a change, I don't want to 'torture' anybody with too beautiful pictures from colourful magazines or websites. So I post two other pictures that show a bit more the real situation. I hope you still can dream of visiting Italy.


This is the basement or so called 'semi-interrato'. I call it Garden Floor, because of it's tiny green space. Nobody has lived here before. It was a storage for olive oil and handmade soap (probably not at the same time).
I like this floor best. But it also needs the most of the work to make it liveable.

And the next picture show you, why I had second thoughts...


The house hangs on the edge of a cliff, about 54 meter over the sea level...
The rock itself has been renovated and reinforced with European Community money. So I hope they did the right job. Maybe you can see from the photo that they insert a concrete plate under the house... The vulcano Stromboli and Vesuvio (Naples) are sourrounding us. It is an earthquake region, yes. Okay, the house is up there since more than 200 years. So, hopefully another 100 years would be fine for us (and our son's family).

Now, you can see what I mean by considering us crazy getting involved in this.
And this is one of the better pictures. I did not want to scare you off completely. Maybe you pass by one day and want to spend a night or two...