Since writing this post I have received some interesting feedback from Monia di Giulmi, one of the better presenters at the conference, which I feel adds an important dimension to what I said. With her permission I am reproducing her comments below . . .
“I agree about almost everything you have written…but there is one point you have completely misunderstood:
…”but we had also come to understand why housing there can be cheap, and why the locals were so eager to bring in foreign investment.”…
“Are you sure that local people are kind to “foreigners” because they have some economic interest?
“You really have misunderstood this point!
“When you bought the vegetable at the local outdoor market in Torino di Sangro, you have spent 1,00 euro of cherry tomatoe and the vendor has given you more than 1.00 euro extra gift of other products to try. Celine, was impressed, she said that this in California would never occur.
“You should investigate this point a little more…
“The nature of the locals…
“The welcome party in Colledimezzo was spontaneous and not planned.
“There are more than 15 families of foreigners from all over the world that have bought in Colledimezzo.
“This makes the locals very pride of their little town in the middle of nowhere.
“The mayor has not any interest in selling houses or bring in foreign investments, on the contrary, sometime foreigners give him more trouble than anything else.
“In addition, I can say to you that Abruzzo might seem poor, but it is not really that poor, almost every family owns two or three houses…sometime four.
“In my opinion you hadn’t enough time to relax, stop for a while your journey across the world and start to enjoy what Abruzzo has to offer.
“Abruzzo can’t offer lot of culture and art like Umbria and Tuscany.
“Abruzzo can’t offer glamour and VIP events like Sardinia or the Lake region in the North.
“Abruzzo is a region where you have to stop and where you have to open your heart.
“If you have time you can read the blogs below:
“The first one is a client of mine, she writes her blog because she loves writing…(no other hidden interests):
“The second one is related to a family I never met, but I met many other families like them:
“Reynolds the man who was talking at the conference has a blog too:
“I think it’s not easy to understand a region in just one week…especially one week spent at a conference and attending a guided property tour.
“I hope you will have time to comeback on your own, to enjoy the beautiful places the region has to offer (for sure not Pescara) and the very welcoming people that are just so happy to meet foreigners!
“My best regards from Abruzzo!!”
These are very valid comments and I am grateful to Monia for making them. We were indeed in Abruzzo for only a very short time and it was unfair of me to make any sort of realistic judgement. However, I can say for certain that the region has some very beautiful countryside which deserves a second, more lingering look.
Celine and I have been trying to see a lot of Italy in our ten weeks here trying to find that perfect place. In many ways we have probably tried to see too much and have been nothing more than whistle-stop tourists. Only now as we come to the end of this tour are we beginning to come to any firm conclusions, some of which may come as no surprise to my readers who are going through the same process. In my next post I will try and synthesise our experiences and draw my own conclusions . . . Will we decide to come back to Italy? And if so when, to where and with what objective? I wish the answers to those questions were already jumping out at me!!