I feel for this couple, but I don't think they researched quite as well as they claim to have in making a hugh life changing decision. Daily Mail article I was glad to read that they still own the farm, so haven't severed all links.
It doesn't sound like they even spent a Slow Travel-style trip there before buying a place! A week in a country house in that area would have given them a taste of the silence and farming lifestyle that so surprised them. We definitely encountered people who thought that Italy was all sunshine, no winter, and "easy" and were very surprised to find out otherwise. We love it there (especially Le Marche but it's definitely not for everyone.
Geez, maybe I'm an unsympathetic curmudgeon but this couple appear to have an unusual combination of arrogance and ignorance. All that's missing is the cameras for the reality show.
Originally posted by Marian: this couple appear to have an unusual combination of arrogance and ignorance. All that's missing is the cameras for the reality show.
ellen
Posts: 3675 | Location: mahwah, new jersey, usa | Registered: 10 December 2003
Thank you Marian! I couldn't have said it better and I shouldn't have said it at all since coming from a "Marchigiana" it might have sounded like I was defending Le Marche... Very interesting to read anyway!
On a general note, tourists are often mistaking Italy for a tropical climate country and I often see a lot of them dressed too lightly for Italian autumn and winter.
Italy is not Russia, but in November may rain a lot. Around here, almost everybody knows that harvesting olives is a miserable job, as you have to do it in November in the (possibly) few days when it is not raining, but it is still damp and cold. The idea of harvesting olives in sunshine is, frankly, so odd that it makes me think about those two fellows. What were they expecting?
Originally posted by Sinead: I feel for this couple, but I don't think they researched quite as well as they claim to have in making a hugh life changing decision. Daily Mail article I was glad to read that they still own the farm, so haven't severed all links.
My wonder is that they expected anything else from farming. By and large it is a solitary unromantic life - your wife your children the occasional fete. I felt from my childhood that it is a terrible life for anyone gregarious. When we moved to Italy the one thing I did not want was land. Sometimes during the year I dip back in by buying a few lambs from a local sheep producer or a couple of geese (we used rear our own until two seasons ravages by hunting dogs convinced us otherwise) other then that I would choose to hack off my head (rather than those of the creatures). And as an aside I can't believe that any serious money can be made from 1000 olive trees.
Posts: 220 | Location: Tuscany | Registered: 08 April 2008
Trust the Daily Mail to produce an article based on the exception rather than the norm! To add to the very valid points already listed by ST posters, I would add that this couple's expectations seem to be far too high. How can you succeed with an attitude like this?:
I know the area in which they settled extremely well (we have a property a few kilometres away). It is a stunning area, the people are fantastic (especially when you can speak a few words of Italian) and the weather wonderful in the summer and varied in winter (yes - it does get cold and Loro Piceno is just above the snow line).
You do have to be patient - it took us about two years to complete our major structural work (although we were able to live in it after a few months), but then the standard of workmanship is generally outstanding and it was well worth the short wait.
At least these boards attest to the success of most people's experiences...
Originally posted by pjdscott: At least these boards attest to the success of most people's experiences...
...and the absurd expectations of others...
I know people that come here, rent a place in farms and then complain that they can hear the people going to work in the fields and..."OMG, they use TRACTORS at 7AM!" As Luca said, Italy is not a resort type of place, rural and largely agricoltural areas are.... well... rural and agricoltural...
...complaining for the silence?...this is plainly stupid. Where did they think they were going? You are right, not enough research.. I am glad they went back to UK.
Ah yes, Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor in alternating lyrics, c. 1965 American TV comedy. Great analogy for this situation. Now you have made me have this song stuck in my head!
Green acres is the place for me. Farm livin' is the life for me. Land spreadin' out so far and wide Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I'd rather stay. I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
...The chores. ...The stores. ...Fresh air. ...Times Square
You are my wife. Good bye, city life. Green Acres we are there.
Their research does not seem to have included any of the numerous experiences of moving to Italy related in books such as those written by Tim Parks and Annie Hawes. I don't think I will read their book.
It took me a couple of years to settle in Australia after coming from the UK.
John "There are two types of problems: those that solve themselves, and those which you can do nothing about" Isabel Allende's grandmother
Posts: 1710 | Location: Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia | Registered: 26 March 2003
Originally posted by Marian: Geez, maybe I'm an unsympathetic curmudgeon but this couple appear to have an unusual combination of arrogance and ignorance. All that's missing is the cameras for the reality show.
LOL!!!!! Well said!!!! I don't think I'll read their book either.....
Posts: 749 | Location: Berkeley, CA USA | Registered: 07 August 2003
I think the real story is that they bought the property on impulse. I personally know people who have invested a significant slice of their income on an Italian property without any research.
Of course if they would have done all the research they claim they would have checked the climatic data and they would have found out about the bureaucratic problems of Italian living.
It would have been enough to check popular expat forums like Expats in Italy or the very many blogs of the innumerable foreigner who live here.
The remark abut the short hairy men is unforgivable but than it's a common mistake of many expats, not only those living in Italy to think that a local is a "noble savage". On the other hand they feel they are the clever city people who go to another country to teach them the tricks of civilization.
This reminds me of a chapter of "Under the Tuscan sun" when Frances Mayes is so complacent with the local carpenter because she wants a primary yellow garden table. The poor looser cannot understand such a metropolitan finesse and wants to make it of a traditional color.
After that I just wanted to throw the book down the bin. Pity I had borrowed it and had to return it.
I found the article nauseating; the condescending remarks about the other olive farmers, the snide comment about how the other men actually shower after football, the shock at the bad weather, the complete lack of self insight. They must have had some very romantic visions of farming...
And Letizia, I so agree with you - if they had done all that research, how come they didn't know it was going to be cold and that life would be quiet???
We have a place called Greenacres in Ferndale - it's a "memorial park" - that's a fancy name for a cemetery. I sing the Green Acres song every time we are nearby, as my (short, hairy, half-Italian but under 65) husband rolls his eyes at me...it does take on a different meaning.
PS - Greenacres is owned by the Moles family, bTW.
Posts: 814 | Location: Birch Bay, WA | Registered: 02 December 2002
I guess I can't add a whole lot, just my amazement at their naiveté and then their condescension. Foreigners seem entranced with this fantasy of "Italy," where it's all centered on what they did on their summer vacation. It's all scenery, food, landscapes, etc. What's missing? People, and their lives.
To me, the scenery, art, etc., is all very nice. But it's the people--my friends, relatives, the shopkeepers (even the nasty ones at the alimentari down the street) that make living there part-time fun. I even like having to work, bustling around in a cold drizzle doing my errands, then heading back to work from my little kitchen. Why? Because when visiting hour rolls around, about 7 pm, I'll walk up the street and hang out with Italian "mother," and dish, or have a serious talk, or play cards. Sorry, nothing romantic here--just strong personal attachments. Isn't that what life's about?
Beppe Severgnini said it pretty well, something like, "sorry, your 'Italy' is not my Italia."
New York/Perugia
Posts: 41 | Location: New York and Perugia, Italia | Registered: 21 April 2008
Letizia and I have discussed this and have come to the conclusion that they should be driven once and for all out of Italy in the shovel of a large backhoe -- you know-- the kind they use to dig holes for olive trees?
Can you imagine that an olive farm is hard work? I can hardly believe it myself, because there is absolutely nothing to running an inn in this country and caring for the grounds. I barely have to lift a finger. How much harder can a few silly trees be?
Oh and those quaint locals. I am still waiting for a book about Italy that does not turn the neighbors into a cliche.
Whenever someone says to me "OH! You're living my dream", my reaction is always the same. This lifestyle is not a dream, it is a choice, and all choices have consequences, both positive and negative. And unless someone is interested in hearing about what a self determined life in Italy is really all about, I stop there.
I've been thinking about this story, and maybe I'm as much a cynic as a curmudgeon. Because it occurs to me that the only sensible explanation for this foolishness is that the couple already had a book contract when they left. That is, it was never about becoming olive growers; it was about writing about becoming olive growers.
but it's definitely not for everyone. 
