BUYING A HOUSE IN ITALY - DECIDING WHERE

It wasn't easy for us to verbalize what we wanted when we first decided to live in Italy. It's easy to say "I want to live in Italy!", but a little harder to decide where. The big city will offer different options than country living. Life in southern Italy might be a little cheaper than life in northern Italy, but what are the trade-offs? And for new retirees like us, what would we do to fill our days? Art worked two jobs for more than thirty years, and never had the time to develop any hobbies. Although I only worked part-time, I didn't really have any special hobbies either, so we were at loose ends.

During our first trip to Italy we'd really fallen in love with Umbria, and it seemed much more affordable than Tuscany. Additionally Umbria is halfway between Rome and Florence, two of our favorite cities, with Orvieto, another favorite, at the edge of Umbria near the Tuscan border. the location seemed to be right in the heart of everything we loved about Italy.

Because travel has always been what we enjoy most, we decided that Umbria would be a great fit. We were within an hour's drive of so many fantastic places: Assisi, Perugia, Todi, Bevagna, Orvieto, Cortona, Lago Tresimeno, and on and on. We could be in Rome in about two hours, and Florence in a little over two hours. We could explore Umbria, Le Marche and Tuscany by train or by car....take day trips or spend a night or two for a more in depth visit. Once the Perugia airport started service with RyanAir we could easily (and cheaply!) visit London...and beyond, or Barcelona. The ocean was about two hours away in either direction. We could arrive in Italy at Fiumicino airport in Rome and be home in just a few hours.

Although the whole of Italy offers history, tradition and a variety of options, we knew that Umbria was the perfect fit for us...and we'd like to suggest that it might be a perfect fit for you too! You can read through our blog to see what we've been doing over the past five years...to learn about our town and the people we've come to know and love. Umbria is called "the green heart of Italy", but for us it's where our hearts are.