Tuesday 12 March 2013

Snow again in UK - daydreaming of sun on my face in Italy!

Apologies it has been so long since my post but these few weeks have seen some exciting developments in our new Italian home and I have also just completed an intensive course to help me be a better English language teacher so the big move comes ever closer!

Incase you have ever wondered how to go about the re-construction of a many hundred year old Italian house in a protected area where you cannot change the outside appearance, here are a few photos of the stages of part of the roof terrace being rebuilt!  Kind of like a listed building in UK, they are very strict about retaining the original external structure so the roof terrace had to be rebuilt to the exact same height as is documented at the town hall!

Original raised roof terrace
First look at the 2 rooms below which will be the new kitchen


Supports for the new roof terrace (super-technical huh?!)

Roof terrace structurally sound again

Dividing wall taken down in my new kitchen - woohoo!
While we're on the subject, below is a photo of how the roof terrace progresses, with the surrounding walls being built up.  I am glad we are allowed to build them up a little as the existing wall was no higher than my knees and being 4 storeys up and hoping we may receive visits from children and alcohol-imbibing adults, the safety aspect was a concern!  We are not allowed however to build them up very high and so from there we can only put in place something less permanent and only to a certain height.

Privacy is important to me and I hate the idea of being overlooked but will it be a shame to put in fencing to head height around the whole terrace?  To me the surrounding buildings are on the whole rather dirty and unkempt (such a building snob!) so I won't mind them being out of sight but I think for some people there's a huge appeal in seeing all the other roofs around you.  What do you think?  We'll still be able to see some fancy buildings which tower above everything!


Safety first!

Sunshine on a romantic Italian tower - bliss!



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