Oh Cheryl, your home sounds absolutely charming! And your garden is beautiful. Also, great questions for folks to consider when relocating.
I have 2 questions:
1. Where did you learn Italian? or how? Online is only getting me so far and when I'm in Italy, Italians always want to practice their English. Where I am buying property, this will be different (Selinunte in Sicily) and I absolutely need to get MUCH better. (Part of how I apparently charmed the seller was by saying - in Italian - that while I could learn Italian before moving, I knew I could only learn Sicilian by living there. He became very animated as he was pleased I understood that Sicilian was a language, not a dialect. :) I'm considering that I may need to break down and spend the money for an immersion class of 2-4 weeks, though they certainly are pricey.
2. Did your apartment need renovations? I expect it did. And if you've already written about this, forgive me... lead me to the post(s) and I'll read them.
Someday when I am settled (which will undoubtedly take years!) I look forward to visiting you. Pigeon exorcist - who would have imagined?
Hi Jan, thanks for the kind words! I studied Italian piecemeal over lots of years, never more than a few months at a time due to cost and workload. I did several kinds of in-person classes, a mostly useless conversation group, and I'm a huge fan of workbooks and such. But now there are so many more options. I'm not a hug fan of online courses, but I do like several podcast/YouTube channels, particularly Learn Italian with Lucrezia and Vaporetto Italiano (his stuff really sticks with me). Podcast_Italiano is also good. But speaking is essential, so I recommend finding either a tutor or a community teacher (usually not credentialed) on iTalki or a similar site for regular speaking practice (it's quite inexpensive). You can find proper teachers who will teach you grammar or someone just for conversation (and of course you can ask them grammar questions too). Right now, my Italian friends are my best "teachers" (most people around here don't speak English, and if they do, they still prefer Italian, which is good for me) but I still study on my own. I don't know if such a short immersion course would be useful or not. You really have to study the language consistently.
As for apartment renovations, I'm not the one to ask because my place was renovated about 7 years before I bought it. I'm sure others have written about their experiences, though. Rule of thumb: everything will take longer than you thought and will come with surprises.
Good luck with everything and let me know how it goes!
Ah yes, I have repeatedly heard that about renovations! Which is why we, too, have chosen to purchase a place that needs very little.
Forgot to mention earlier, your sunset views are spectacular. At least certainly from your last place. Wow.
Thank you for all the info on language resources. I'm not familiar with any of the ones you mentioned. I do frequently watch Easy Italian on YouTube, however.
Oh, I think that'd be an exaggeration, but I'm learning! But yes, he'd be proud, I think (and my parents too), while telling me everything I'm doing wrong! ;-)
Designated Pigeon Exorcist? Quite a responsibility for a foreigner to be entrusted with, I imagine. Congratulations on earning the trust of the locals so quickly. 🤣
Thanks for your stories of life in Perugia and the old convent. Hope you visit my substack, dedicated to the palazzo I recuperated in Vetralla, someday Ill be back in Perugia to visit friends from Arizona who recently bought a place there. Bravissima !
Oh Cheryl, your home sounds absolutely charming! And your garden is beautiful. Also, great questions for folks to consider when relocating.
I have 2 questions:
1. Where did you learn Italian? or how? Online is only getting me so far and when I'm in Italy, Italians always want to practice their English. Where I am buying property, this will be different (Selinunte in Sicily) and I absolutely need to get MUCH better. (Part of how I apparently charmed the seller was by saying - in Italian - that while I could learn Italian before moving, I knew I could only learn Sicilian by living there. He became very animated as he was pleased I understood that Sicilian was a language, not a dialect. :) I'm considering that I may need to break down and spend the money for an immersion class of 2-4 weeks, though they certainly are pricey.
2. Did your apartment need renovations? I expect it did. And if you've already written about this, forgive me... lead me to the post(s) and I'll read them.
Someday when I am settled (which will undoubtedly take years!) I look forward to visiting you. Pigeon exorcist - who would have imagined?
Hi Jan, thanks for the kind words! I studied Italian piecemeal over lots of years, never more than a few months at a time due to cost and workload. I did several kinds of in-person classes, a mostly useless conversation group, and I'm a huge fan of workbooks and such. But now there are so many more options. I'm not a hug fan of online courses, but I do like several podcast/YouTube channels, particularly Learn Italian with Lucrezia and Vaporetto Italiano (his stuff really sticks with me). Podcast_Italiano is also good. But speaking is essential, so I recommend finding either a tutor or a community teacher (usually not credentialed) on iTalki or a similar site for regular speaking practice (it's quite inexpensive). You can find proper teachers who will teach you grammar or someone just for conversation (and of course you can ask them grammar questions too). Right now, my Italian friends are my best "teachers" (most people around here don't speak English, and if they do, they still prefer Italian, which is good for me) but I still study on my own. I don't know if such a short immersion course would be useful or not. You really have to study the language consistently.
As for apartment renovations, I'm not the one to ask because my place was renovated about 7 years before I bought it. I'm sure others have written about their experiences, though. Rule of thumb: everything will take longer than you thought and will come with surprises.
Good luck with everything and let me know how it goes!
Ah yes, I have repeatedly heard that about renovations! Which is why we, too, have chosen to purchase a place that needs very little.
Forgot to mention earlier, your sunset views are spectacular. At least certainly from your last place. Wow.
Thank you for all the info on language resources. I'm not familiar with any of the ones you mentioned. I do frequently watch Easy Italian on YouTube, however.
Addio per ora!
Loved your discovery story, and since you clearly perv real estate porn as much as I do, have you visited lionard.com? Oh, my!
Thanks! And no, and I think I'd better not!
Via Cavour by any chance?
Nope! (I left the location vague intentionally.)
Yep. I figured.
Come by sometime and I'll give you the grand tour!
A spendid idea. But, let's wait until the heat wave breaks.... otherwise I'll have brisket for brains.
Oh, absolutely.
I really love these posts!
Thanks, Steven! I'm having fun with them, though spending waaaaay too much time doing it!
Does that come with a title? Something medieval sounding?
Proud that you are part of an interesting and important borgo. It’s all about participation.
What, you don't like Pigeon Exorcist? ;-) Ok, ok, I'll work on a better title!
I see you inherited Grandpa's green thumb, Cheryl! I'm very envious :) He'd be proud of you for the beauty you've created.
Oh, I think that'd be an exaggeration, but I'm learning! But yes, he'd be proud, I think (and my parents too), while telling me everything I'm doing wrong! ;-)
Designated Pigeon Exorcist? Quite a responsibility for a foreigner to be entrusted with, I imagine. Congratulations on earning the trust of the locals so quickly. 🤣
Ha! Never could I have dreamed of holding such an exalted position!
Thanks for your stories of life in Perugia and the old convent. Hope you visit my substack, dedicated to the palazzo I recuperated in Vetralla, someday Ill be back in Perugia to visit friends from Arizona who recently bought a place there. Bravissima !