No snow? Try Carnevale!
This month’s Blogging Piemonte Group theme is Carnevale. Now I have a small confession to make before I get started… Carnevale is not something that has ever interested me. In […]
Category Archives: Life in Italy
That was 2015
2015. It’s been, erm… well, it’s been a year. It’s safe to say there have been some ups and downs, so many in fact that this feels more like a […]
September events in Piemonte
It’s the start of September and everyone is back from the beach, which can only mean one thing… the sound of 80s cover bands echoing through the hills as the […]
The Power of Positivity
Don’t worry, I haven’t gone all new age, motivational blogger on you (although I hear there’s a lot of money in it, so maybe watch this space…), but as of […]
How to become authentically Piemontese in five easy steps
I’ve joined a blogging group, #Blogging Piemonte. They gave me no choice. A group of women can be really very persuasive. Every month we’ll all write something on the same topic, […]
What a week!
Who needs words when you’ve got photos… Instead of rambling on, I thought I’d just share a few images from the past week here in snowy, sunny, occasionally rainy, but always […]
Snowmageddon
It’s been an interesting week… Last Tuesday it started snowing and it just didn’t stop. By Wednesday afternoon we were well and truly snowed in and by Thursday morning we […]
The Langhe staycation
These past three weeks we’ve taken something of a holiday – a staycation if you will – as we’ve welcomed a constant succession of visitors, all eager to get stuck […]
11 steps to buying your dream home in Italy
Sorry to break it to you, but it’s nearly the end of the year. Which means it’s time for people to start dreaming about new starts and fresh beginnings… just […]
The good, the bad and the Italy
There’s this thing about Italy… it likes to build you up, show you how amazing it is, makes you think that everything is good in the world and then, just […]
Annoying Europe one traveller at a time
I’ve spent the past month annoying people, and for once it wasn’t even by forcing them to read my blog or boring them with my absurdly thorough knowledge of Italian building […]
The story so far: Part 3
As you might expect, buying a house in Italy is very different to buying a house in the UK. As you might not expect, the whole process is actually considerably more straightforward in […]
The story so far: Part 2
Having decided we were definitely moving to Piemonte, a region in which we’d spent just three days between us, we thought we’d probably best leave Google alone for a bit and actually […]
The story so far: Part 1
Last week, we celebrated the anniversary of buying our house here in the Langhe. Actually, celebrated probably isn’t quite the right word… we noticed it had been one year since […]
Congratulations, it’s an Italian!
So, fate and a lax attitude to family planning have combined to leave you expecting a baby in Italy. Here, with the help of my lovely wife, Allegra, is what […]
Welcome to the world, now sign this
I come bearing amazing news; My wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week. Beatrice, Bee for short, is just perfect and we’re both so happy. Her introduction […]
Looking Back
It’s the end of the year. Time to look back at what I’ve learnt over the past 12 months before setting some frankly impossible targets for the year ahead. The […]
A Year in the Langhe
We’ve had an amazing time this year.. in fact, words can’t really do it justice. Instead, I thought I’d post a few photos that, to me at least, sum up […]
The Pop-Up Pandemic
When I was growing up there was a shop on our local high street that was forever closing down and then reopening the following week selling a slightly different collection […]
A first time for everything
Someone who clearly knows what they’re talking about once said you should try to do something new every day. It’s a nice sentiment, one I’d love to live by, but […]
Goodbye autumn, bring on the winter!
It’s been a while since I last wrote anything. So long, in fact, that we’re now in an entirely different season. Everything was autumnal back then. The vines were changing […]
The Italians are coming: Part 2
I’m not a very adventurous eater. I once ate turtle, but only because someone told me it was beef. And then of course there was Wontongate, where I was viciously […]
The Italians are coming!
Not a phrase that has instilled fear into too many people over the years, granted, but right now I’m terrified. My wife’s cousins are on their way, eight of them, […]
People power
The more astute among you (who am I kidding…) might have noticed that I was slightly angry when I wrote my last post. I hid it well I think, but […]
This blog is not a blog
As you’ve no doubt all noticed, it’s been about a month since I last blogged. We’ve done a lot in that time, there’s loads of things I could write about, […]
Not quite living the dream
Autumn is an exciting time of year here in the Langhe. For a start, it’s harvest time and everyone is talking about how good this year is going to be. […]
The Night of the Emmental Bandits (aka The Photoless Blog)
We had a great night out on Saturday. It was Novellando, Novello’s answer to Mangialonga. Basically, a stroll around the village, with seven stops for food and wine, a live […]
An appointment with the Italian health system
Italians are a poorly bunch. The slightest breath of wind can lead to three days of bed rest, air conditioning can cause pneumonia and an overly-chilled drink can kill a […]
Meeting the neighbours
I think we might be bad neighbours. Not like Channel 5 documentary bad, we’re not “From Hell” or “Who Kill”, we’re just not very good. We don’t do neighbourly things. […]
Have we made the right choice?
“Do you think you made the right decision?” It’s a question that I’m sure anyone who’s upped sticks and moved country hears a lot. I’ve been asked it on three […]
Piemonte sunset over magnificent Monviso
It’s been a long time coming, but it appears spring has finally arrived… the sun is shining, the dog is panting and the grass is growing faster than we can […]
Blogger dating in Bra
I have a confession to make… I’ve never really got social media. I’ve been on facebook for years but never actually done anything on there. I mainly just use it […]
Speaking Italian is bad for you
I’m pleased to report that my Italian is coming along nicely. I spent Easter Sunday reading books with my two year-old Italian cousin and I understood almost as much about […]
Language troubles
I’m pleased to report that my Italian is improving. I haven’t opened any of my multitude of “Learn Italian the Easy Way” type books in several months, but being surrounded […]
Great Italian expectations
I came to Italy with certain expectations. Nothing grandiose, just everyday, stereotypical things, such as everyone will drive like madmen, I’ll eat way more pizza than can possibly be healthy […]
“You’re moving to Italy? Are you sure that’s a good idea!?”
No, we’re not sure it’s a good idea, and yes we’re doing it anyway. If I had a Euro for every time an Italian has questioned us for wanting to […]
