We moved to Italy

Meet our new house in Sicily

The house, near the tiny village of Presa and just a little bit down a small road from the small town of Piedimonte Etneo, on the slopes of Mount Etna, isn’t nearly as old as it looks.

The house hidden in the trees.

Susanna, the owner of the house, tells us it is only about twenty years old. But it’s surrounded by fields studded with the ruins of much older houses. And that makes it seem older.

The ruined house across the road.

And like them, it’s built out of the black blocks of basalt that were once lava from the volcano. Proudly Susanna told us that they don’t build them out of boulders anymore.

The corner of our house and its “boulders.”

Notice that the builders didn’t use very much cement.

The back entrance though gives away the game. Unless they had this thing for canvas sling chairs two hundred years ago that historians have forgotten to mention.

And everything is in bloom here. I water all the flowers twice each week.

The pool, where in the Middle Ages squires used to bring the knights their beverages. The terrace looks toward the ocean. That’s Taormina to the left on the coast just below the mountain that is said to look like a sleeping giant.

And then, of course, the interior gives it away completely replacing Etna lava with painted concrete.

This photo is shot from the living room toward the dining table and the kitchen.

It’s not all lollipops and rainbows, of course. These are in bloom around the pool and Jim is very allergic.

Caio,

Jim and Marie