Movers arrive a week from today!  We just got our international drivers licenses this morning and stopped by our bank to let them know that we’d be banking from Italy for the foreseeable future.  For the really curious, below is a link to a video of our first apartment for 60 days @ 40 Euro a night in an old (as in Italy old) stone building in the historical center of Ascoli Piceno.  This is a holiday rental – fully furnished with everything you need, plus a weekly change of linens and cleaning.  It is one big room so the bedroom is an open loft above the kitchen area.  Notice the stone vaulted ceilings and how they must retrofit electricity through conduit on the stone walls.  There is no air-conditioning and it will be July/August, so we will test how well the medieval cooling system of thick stone walls works (with modern fans as back-up).   It is just a couple blocks off the main piazza so we can walk to everything.  If we end up liking Ascoli Piceno enough to make it our home base, we will search on foot for our next apartment with probably a two year lease.  The girl ( in her 40’s) who owns this rental lives next door and works in her family’s restaurant nearby – yes – our first restaurant connection! Once on the site, click on the British flag in the upper right corner to translate the site into English.  Click here to view silent...

Fortunately, our first 60 days in Italy will not just be all about setting up bank accounts and looking for a more permanent accommodation.  Luckily for us our arrival in Italy is just in time for all the summer festivals.  We are very excited to have just booked accommodations for July 19 & 20 in the ancient town of Gradara in northern Marche’.  This is the home of one of the best Medieval re-inactments in Italy, the Assedio al Castello, commemorating a famous siege on the castle in 1446  by Francesco Sforza.  I don’t want to blow our July post already but our accommodations are in the castle which at one time was owned by the Borgia family!  Since we just finished watching the 2nd season of “The Borgia’s” where this siege was recounted, we couldn’t pass this up.  This year is a one-off special event, but you will have to wait until July to hear more. Click here for a you tube piece on the castle – note – with sound and...