Enjoy the journey ahead. For a carpenter in his 60's this looks like a dream come true with all the beautiful doors and other details. So happy you will preserve these elements.
We will be glad to get there permanently and be able to help with the renovations a little more. Being from the US, it's hard to believe that there are these 300 year old doors and tiles just lying around!
yes, you definitely see all the shutters shut in the daytime. As someone who doesn't mind a dark house, it sounds wonderful. We hope we can be faithful to the house's history. Luckily our contractor cares about his town.
The beautiful brick covers of the ground in your future kitchen are made by hand. In the renaissance people on their knees polished these bricks one by one by hand with oil and wax until they were shiny. Unthinkable today. Your house is marvellous. Very good choice!
Stumbled across your video, love that you are keen on keeping the original features. Looking forward to watching your journey. Kindest regards Lynda, Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia
Absolutely beautiful house! I love its layout, it's so exciting, surely it wasn't made with a cookie cutter. Hope you'll have a wonderful time in your new home!
The house speaks to my soul! It is just amazing. Such good fortune to have such a well maintained historic “home”. Enjoy every square meter. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Been living in Italy now on 2 years. The restrictions are too much for me to buy and restore but I hope that you enjoy your project! If I was going to purchase, it would probably be on the west coast Tuscany region.
Lovely place. It will be interesting to see how you restore/renovate it. I don't know about Italy but in the UK people (way back years ago) bricked up windows because the Government declared a "Window Tax". It might have had a different name but that is essentially what it was. They believed that the more windows you had the richer you were the more tax you paid.
@@ericgray6625 I have just finished watching the video. The original features are fantastic. I am sure you will have found plenty of old market & restoration places to get things such as original tiles, cupboard doors even light fittings from. This is going to be an exciting project. I'm not sure why it has only just popped up for me to watch but I will be subscribing and looking for back videos as these are my favourite sort of entertainment.
Ciao Eric and Sandra - congratulations, your home is beautiful! My husband Paul and I bought an "earth and sky" in Loreto, too (on Via Degli) - I hope we get to meet over a glass of Montepulciano d' Abruzzo in the future!
Ciao Pam! We're on via Gerardo Rasetti. We will be here permanently at the end of August. Would love to get together. We're actually here this week checking on things.
The idea for the cantina is awsome... In Spain they are called Bodega's where a person could go buy anything from wine, to cheese, to perfume...I used to take an empty bottle and have it filled with channel #5 for 25 cents.
If I were you.... I would not take out the first bathroom. keep it for your guests since that first room will be for your guests. Otherwise your guests will have to go upstairs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The small hallway bathroom downstairs will be removed but the downstairs guests will have an en suite bathroom in what used to be the small kitchen downstairs.
Hi Leigh! Many Aussies in Italy. For the entry the door will be restored. It's original and not going anywhere. The floor in the entryway inside the house will be antique terra cotta tiles. We both love old world charm. Of course the bathrooms and kitchen will be more modern but even the tile in the bathrooms will at least have an antique feel.
Pipped me to the post. I was going to say something about those "hooks"... The hooks (loops) on the ceilings were to hold light fittings way before electricity came along.
Hi, I’ve been watching some of your older videos hoping to learn how you arrived at the decision to move to Italy and how you decided which region/town, if you took house finding trips, did you have referrals to an agent, did you sell or rent your home in the US, are you concerned at all about being able to unwind your decision if you ever want to go back - I wouldn’t expect you to give out private “non-of-my-business” type of information - and honestly, I guess it might all be none of my business but I am curious because my husband and I sold our house to move to Italy and we travelled over in early March of 2019 and….well…COVID…so we came back, didn’t have our house anymore, and weren’t at all sure what to do. Fast forward to 2022, we went back to Italy, got residency for my husband (I have dual Italian/CDN citizenship so I didn’t have any residency concerns) but after getting that all done, everything seemed so hard, we couldn’t find a house we liked, our apartment was dumpy/frumpy, we were on ‘everything is hard’ overload and we threw in the towel. Now, I’m still watching other people’s videos and feeling regret and disappointment about coming back…anyway, I’m enjoying watching your updates sharing your renovation/restoration of your house. I hope you’ll forgive me putting you on the spot, it’s not my intention…I looked for a DM option on your home page before posting this comment. Happy New Year…it’s Jan1,2024 as I write this comment.
Happy New Year! The move is not easy, that's for sure! We don't regret it but it can be very overwhelming. We narrowed our search to Abruzzo, which we picked in a very unscientific way. We wanted to get the Southern Italy tax benefit, and Abruzzo was the most northerly region that gets that benefit. That way we were more centrally located and could travel to the rest of Europe more easily. We looked at houses online for months, picked out a bunch and made a house hunting in 2021. We were pretty determined and knew we wanted something in a centro storico and with character. We knew we didn't really want an apartment. We were pretty naive about how long it takes to renovate a house here. They told us they could finish it in no time, and here we are, still waiting. We're not too worried about unwinding because we don't have just a ton sunk into this house, but one of our 2 children lives in Europe and will probably be here forever. If we ever have grandchildren they will be in Europe...not Italy but still easy to travel to where she lives. Don't beat yourself up too bad. It's still possible. If you want to discuss more, we'd be happy to give you moree details. I'm pretty easy to find on Facebook to PM me. Take care!
Hi J! We picked out about 25 houses we wanted to see and set up appointments with agents. Then we came in the summer of 2021 and looked for 2 1/2 weeks. There were certain towns we really liked, but we had to see a lot of villages/towns to know what was right for us. You can message me on facebook for more questions.
@@Sagi56668 there is a bis but it probably only runs on a limited schedule. We'll definitely have a car because we love driving trips where we can stop in small towns.
🤣Luckily they don't get snow all that often, which always seems odd to me since it's about the same latitude as Chicago. We do have to carry snow chains but our town, from what I've heard, gets snow about once every 4 years. If it gets icy, we'll be staying at home!
Hi Patricia! We are not of Italian origin and we're in the process of learning the language. We'll make a video someday about our process for choosing, but we chose Italy because we love the lifestyle there and it's very inexpensive if you're not in a big city.
@@ericgray6625 Thanks for the response. We've only been to Abruzzo once, to the city of Pacentro. That is because my neighbors came from this town. It is extremely beautiful and very friendly. We haven't decided if we want to live full time in Italy. We both have citizenship, but because we are older, we may need to be close to a competent hospital. We love these smaller villages, and also the countryside, but we would need a car. Now we live in NYC and we don't drive anymore. Buona fortuna!
@@patriciasandler3964 Pacentro looks beautiful! We've not been there but will soon after we get there. Everyone in Abruzzo will tell you that Pacentro is Madonna's ancestral home 🤣. Public transportation is very limited in Abruzzo. We'll be living about 30 minutes from Pescara which is roughly a metro area of 300,000 so I think healthcare is decent. We do have a bus that runs from our town to the city, but the bus only runs a few times from our town. Driver's license in Italy is a topic that deserves its own topic!
@@ericgray6625 We really depend on the Metro when we are in Italy. Puglia along the Adriatic coast has decent public transportation. That said, we would probably opt for city life. Actually, Milano, Napoli and Roma are less expensive than NYC, so we think we can lower our costs by about 35%. However, the other thing is US taxes and Italian taxes. If that situation was more equitable for ex-pats, we probably would have moved already.
Not sure if you seen the long comment I made about the house that my parents used to own 2 doors down from You I can’t seem to see it in the comments loreto is a beautiful little village I would love to come back One day
@@benjames4063 I didn't see your previous comment. That's so awesome they lived here! It really is a beautiful place and the people have been unbelievably kind and patient. Hope you make it back someday!
🤣Cantinas are kind of like basements, but often on the ground floor. They were used for storage of wine and oil, animals, etc. We need to show ours in a video again but we almost never go down because it just overwhelms us with how much needs done. We need the main house finished first!!
We actually have one about 30 minutes away! We discovered it on trips there because everything shuts down at lunchtime and we needed somewhere to eat! Also, you just occasionally need some American bad food.
Enjoy the journey ahead. For a carpenter in his 60's this looks like a dream come true with all the beautiful doors and other details. So happy you will preserve these elements.
We will be glad to get there permanently and be able to help with the renovations a little more. Being from the US, it's hard to believe that there are these 300 year old doors and tiles just lying around!
The shutters are also used in daytime to keep the heat outside. Nice house. I hope you restore it like it was about 200 years or more, ago.
yes, you definitely see all the shutters shut in the daytime. As someone who doesn't mind a dark house, it sounds wonderful. We hope we can be faithful to the house's history. Luckily our contractor cares about his town.
Bravo on your intelligent ideas and for saving heritage
Thank you so much Patricia!
The antique tiles are beautiful! So happy you are going to keep them!
We love them! We want to keep as much of the original charm as we can.
The beautiful brick covers of the ground in your future kitchen are made by hand. In the renaissance people on their knees polished these bricks one by one by hand with oil and wax until they were shiny. Unthinkable today. Your house is marvellous. Very good choice!
Thank you! I'm pretty sure we won't be waxing by hand!
@@ericgray6625 😂😂😂👍🏻
Stumbled across your video, love that you are keen on keeping the original features. Looking forward to watching your journey.
Kindest regards Lynda, Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia
Thanks Lynda! We are keeping as much original as we can. We arrive in Italy permanently later in August so we'll post more videos then.
Oh that original floor in the kitchen / diner is just beautiful!
Thanks, we think so too! We're very interested in how they'll look when they're cleaned up and restored.
Nice house, thank You!!!!
Love those tiles and floors. Good luck on your future in this cozy home.
Thank you!
Absolutely beautiful house! I love its layout, it's so exciting, surely it wasn't made with a cookie cutter. Hope you'll have a wonderful time in your new home!
Awww, thank you so much!
The house speaks to my soul! It is just amazing. Such good fortune to have such a well maintained historic “home”. Enjoy every square meter. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you! Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy it someday!
Thank you so much for sharing your adventures. Good luck have a good time.🤗🤗
thank you Patricia!
So many beautiful features!
Thank you!
Been living in Italy now on 2 years. The restrictions are too much for me to buy and restore but I hope that you enjoy your project! If I was going to purchase, it would probably be on the west coast Tuscany region.
There were a lot of reasons we chose Abruzzo. Hopefully we'll like it!
Lovely place. It will be interesting to see how you restore/renovate it. I don't know about Italy but in the UK people (way back years ago) bricked up windows because the Government declared a "Window Tax". It might have had a different name but that is essentially what it was. They believed that the more windows you had the richer you were the more tax you paid.
That is so interesting! That could be the case.
@@ericgray6625 I have just finished watching the video. The original features are fantastic. I am sure you will have found plenty of old market & restoration places to get things such as original tiles, cupboard doors even light fittings from. This is going to be an exciting project. I'm not sure why it has only just popped up for me to watch but I will be subscribing and looking for back videos as these are my favourite sort of entertainment.
Very excited to follow your progress, such an interesting and lovely place. Janice from Arkansas USA
Thanks Janice! I was actually born in Arkansas, so glad to hear from someone in my home state!
What a great adventure. So jealous.
I hope it's a great adventure! Right now, about 10 days from leaving the US it's just stressful and scary!
Looking forward to this restoration project of yours!
Thank you Sue!
Beautiful house!
Thank you!
We are looking at some property in AP. Your renovations are beautiful. Hope our paths can cross some day soon.
In Le Marche? That's not far at all!
@@ericgray6625 via Lauro and via risorgimento
Ciao Eric and Sandra - congratulations, your home is beautiful! My husband Paul and I bought an "earth and sky" in Loreto, too (on Via Degli) - I hope we get to meet over a glass of Montepulciano d' Abruzzo in the future!
Ciao Pam! We're on via Gerardo Rasetti. We will be here permanently at the end of August. Would love to get together. We're actually here this week checking on things.
Four glasses would be a lot better.
That cantina looks perfect as a wine, cheese, prosciutto cellar maybe with a cafe table and chairs
Thanks! We're definitely thinking along those lines. That may take the contractor some time!
The idea for the cantina is awsome...
In Spain they are called Bodega's where a person could go buy anything from wine, to cheese, to perfume...I used to take an empty bottle and have it filled with channel #5 for 25 cents.
@@joanalcala7303 that's awesome!
What a beautiful home!
Thank you!
Nice! Did you guys get a stipend for buying a reno?
If I were you.... I would not take out the first bathroom. keep it for your guests since that first room will be for your guests. Otherwise your guests will have to go upstairs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The small hallway bathroom downstairs will be removed but the downstairs guests will have an en suite bathroom in what used to be the small kitchen downstairs.
Amo Loreto e ci vivo
We are so excited to move there!
@@ericgray6625 sono italiana ma è un paradiso è bellissimo 🥰
What a cool place! I love it.
thank you!
LOVE IT~!
She is gorgeous. Of course you have to keep the tiles. Will you make the entrance way a little more old looking?? Hi from Australia
Hi Leigh! Many Aussies in Italy. For the entry the door will be restored. It's original and not going anywhere. The floor in the entryway inside the house will be antique terra cotta tiles. We both love old world charm. Of course the bathrooms and kitchen will be more modern but even the tile in the bathrooms will at least have an antique feel.
I think the hooks are for pulley-ed chandeliers in the upper rooms...
Thanks for the info!
Pipped me to the post. I was going to say something about those "hooks"...
The hooks (loops) on the ceilings were to hold light fittings way before electricity came along.
Hi, the hooks on the ceiling were used to hang lamps and chandeliers 🙂
Thank you! I think one of them must have been for pots because it looks like fires were lit in that small corner.
@@ericgray6625probably 🙂
Bellissima; siamo vicini di porta!!
Ciao!
Just subscribed! We will be house hunting in JAN 2023… would love to chat with you about Abruzzo! We are considering this area as well
Hi! Eventually we'll do a video about our process, but feel free to message me here or on Facebook with questions. Abruzzo is lovely.
old floor tiles - terracotta tiles get their old shine back after cleaning and drying by rubbing them with linseed oil
Hi, I’ve been watching some of your older videos hoping to learn how you arrived at the decision to move to Italy and how you decided which region/town, if you took house finding trips, did you have referrals to an agent, did you sell or rent your home in the US, are you concerned at all about being able to unwind your decision if you ever want to go back - I wouldn’t expect you to give out private “non-of-my-business” type of information - and honestly, I guess it might all be none of my business but I am curious because my husband and I sold our house to move to Italy and we travelled over in early March of 2019 and….well…COVID…so we came back, didn’t have our house anymore, and weren’t at all sure what to do. Fast forward to 2022, we went back to Italy, got residency for my husband (I have dual Italian/CDN citizenship so I didn’t have any residency concerns) but after getting that all done, everything seemed so hard, we couldn’t find a house we liked, our apartment was dumpy/frumpy, we were on ‘everything is hard’ overload and we threw in the towel. Now, I’m still watching other people’s videos and feeling regret and disappointment about coming back…anyway, I’m enjoying watching your updates sharing your renovation/restoration of your house. I hope you’ll forgive me putting you on the spot, it’s not my intention…I looked for a DM option on your home page before posting this comment. Happy New Year…it’s Jan1,2024 as I write this comment.
Happy New Year! The move is not easy, that's for sure! We don't regret it but it can be very overwhelming. We narrowed our search to Abruzzo, which we picked in a very unscientific way. We wanted to get the Southern Italy tax benefit, and Abruzzo was the most northerly region that gets that benefit. That way we were more centrally located and could travel to the rest of Europe more easily. We looked at houses online for months, picked out a bunch and made a house hunting in 2021. We were pretty determined and knew we wanted something in a centro storico and with character. We knew we didn't really want an apartment. We were pretty naive about how long it takes to renovate a house here. They told us they could finish it in no time, and here we are, still waiting. We're not too worried about unwinding because we don't have just a ton sunk into this house, but one of our 2 children lives in Europe and will probably be here forever. If we ever have grandchildren they will be in Europe...not Italy but still easy to travel to where she lives.
Don't beat yourself up too bad. It's still possible. If you want to discuss more, we'd be happy to give you moree details. I'm pretty easy to find on Facebook to PM me. Take care!
@@ericgray6625 thank you 😊
Bravi,c'e' del lavoro da fare pero' avrete un gran bel posto per vivere!🙂👍
Grazie!
Hello! I'm headed to Pescara from the US in a few weeks to shop for houses. How did you choose your town? Love to get in touch with you, if possible.
Hi J! We picked out about 25 houses we wanted to see and set up appointments with agents. Then we came in the summer of 2021 and looked for 2 1/2 weeks. There were certain towns we really liked, but we had to see a lot of villages/towns to know what was right for us. You can message me on facebook for more questions.
I really love the house! Is this village well connected to major cities?
Thanks! We're about 30 minutes from Pescara, which has a metro area of about 300k. It has pretty much everything you need.
@@ericgray6625 cool thanks! but getting to Pescara? gotta have a car no?
@@Sagi56668 there is a bis but it probably only runs on a limited schedule. We'll definitely have a car because we love driving trips where we can stop in small towns.
@@ericgray6625 maybe one day you can share the process of buying a car in italy 😊
Ciao. How much you pay for this villa? Very nice palacio.
I'm wondering about why these old buildings were originally plastered over the exterior brick. Must've been some good reason or reasons for it.
I'm thinking purely anesthetics. Our contractor said only the rich had money for plaster so it was a sign of wealth.
What kind of range can you give for buying the house? (25k, 50k)?
Close to 75k, but you can easily find smaller houses or houses that need more work for 25-50k. Ours has very little structural repairs needed.
Do you use ice skates in the winter to go down that street?😀
🤣Luckily they don't get snow all that often, which always seems odd to me since it's about the same latitude as Chicago. We do have to carry snow chains but our town, from what I've heard, gets snow about once every 4 years. If it gets icy, we'll be staying at home!
@@ericgray6625 Had a feeling that was the case. Enjoy.. make it pretty👍🏼🥂
What made you choose Italy? Are you of Italian origin and do you speak the language.
Hi Patricia! We are not of Italian origin and we're in the process of learning the language. We'll make a video someday about our process for choosing, but we chose Italy because we love the lifestyle there and it's very inexpensive if you're not in a big city.
@@ericgray6625 Thanks for the response. We've only been to Abruzzo once, to the city of Pacentro. That is because my neighbors came from this town. It is extremely beautiful and very friendly. We haven't decided if we want to live full time in Italy. We both have citizenship, but because we are older, we may need to be close to a competent hospital. We love these smaller villages, and also the countryside, but we would need a car. Now we live in NYC and we don't drive anymore. Buona fortuna!
I am fluent in Italian and my husband gets by. This has made it easier when dealing with ordinary tasks in Italy.
@@patriciasandler3964 Pacentro looks beautiful! We've not been there but will soon after we get there. Everyone in Abruzzo will tell you that Pacentro is Madonna's ancestral home 🤣. Public transportation is very limited in Abruzzo. We'll be living about 30 minutes from Pescara which is roughly a metro area of 300,000 so I think healthcare is decent. We do have a bus that runs from our town to the city, but the bus only runs a few times from our town. Driver's license in Italy is a topic that deserves its own topic!
@@ericgray6625 We really depend on the Metro when we are in Italy. Puglia along the Adriatic coast has decent public transportation. That said, we would probably opt for city life. Actually, Milano, Napoli and Roma are less expensive than NYC, so we think we can lower our costs by about 35%. However, the other thing is US taxes and Italian taxes. If that situation was more equitable for ex-pats, we probably would have moved already.
Keep the en-suite in the guest bedroom.
We are keeping the en suite but ripping out the toilet/sink in the hallway outside the room.
The hook is for hanging lights
Thanks! They're definitely staying. BTW, we were volunteer ESL teachers forever and hope to do it again when we get to Italy.
@@ericgray6625 Good luck!
The Terese that’s you see down below when you open the window was ours
That's awesome!!
Not sure if you seen the long comment I made about the house that my parents used to own 2 doors down from
You I can’t seem to see it in the comments loreto is a beautiful little village I would love to come back
One day
@@benjames4063 I didn't see your previous comment. That's so awesome they lived here! It really is a beautiful place and the people have been unbelievably kind and patient. Hope you make it back someday!
The footage that is carved on the side of the built in bookcase are the height of the children.
We thought that could be the case as well.
Cantina = kind of a garage??😂 sure, the old ones had elevators for their cars….
🤣Cantinas are kind of like basements, but often on the ground floor. They were used for storage of wine and oil, animals, etc. We need to show ours in a video again but we almost never go down because it just overwhelms us with how much needs done. We need the main house finished first!!
Trap door in your bathroom….🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣…..I guess if you are full of it you might as well just fall through to the next floor down…🤣🤣🤣
😁😁😁
Culture Shock but WOW!!
It will be quite the culture shock. I hope we survive it!
Wish the lady was allowed to talk more
The lady says she talks as much as she wants 😏
@@ericgray6625 lol, no doubt the secret to a long and happy marriage. 😉
@@angier2289 exactly.
you ll probably start a McDonalds junk food there...
We actually have one about 30 minutes away! We discovered it on trips there because everything shuts down at lunchtime and we needed somewhere to eat! Also, you just occasionally need some American bad food.
You are mumbling
Thank you.