Italian Healthcare, Up Close and Personal

The birds here in Volpaia start singing at 4am. I probably shouldn't know this, but I've been awake since 2:30am, wondering if I should do anything about a stabbing pain in my calf.

Type A response: "No, I have appointments this morning. Take 2 aspirin and go back to sleep."

Sleep alludes me, but I go on to my meeting with the pool contractor at Casi di Sotto. Shared owners of this home will want a pool in the summer, but it is not a trivial project. We discuss the intricacies of obtaining a pool permit, and he explains that in Gaiole, it should not be too bad...only 5-6 months! But his idea of the pool location and a surrounding terrace will blend well with the design of Casi di Sotto, and it's a very simple and cost-effective design. And, the work itself would be done by next spring. So this is good news.

In Volpaia we discuss a water feature that will enhance what is already a beautiful terrace.

Alas, the pain persists. I drive to Castellina and am scheduled to meet Valeria, our onsite property manager, for meetings in Siena. But by lunchtime, I am getting a tad freaked out. Enough to suggest to her that I was not up to getting lost (the last time I drove in Siena I ended up being photographed illegally driving through the Piazza del Duomo), and plan on going back to Radda to see a doctor, just in case.

Many travellers wonder what would happen if they or a member of their family were to get sick in Italy. You hear stories. You wonder how you will find the hospital, or how to call for help. So, it works like this.

We are in the countryside, and the doctors in the area float from town to town, and share duties like an on-call system works in the U.S.

I wait for Valeria at Pizza Pie (obviously a favorite). Luigi forces me to eat (of course), and Valeria makes calls around to locate the nearest available doctor. Today there is a doctor in Radda, between the hours of 4 and 6pm.

Going to the emergency ("Pronto Soccorso") is always an option, but I resist, so we go to the local office and wait our turn. Italian healthcare is socialized, and there are no questions about insurance, how you will pay and no HIPA forms. A welcome experience, but strange.

By 5pm, the doctor as well as the paramedics next door have recommended that I go to the hospital in Siena (on a Friday night!), and I resist. A quick call to my internist back home convinces me that it is the best course.

Let me define a friend. One who tells you the truth. One who understands (and listens) to the reasons that you want to be stupid. One who puts your needs above their own and waits SEVEN hours in the lobby while you get poked, prodded, and left to succumb to TB amidst dozens of hacking, elderly women late on a Friday night.

A full 17 hours later, I have been diagnosed and medicated for a blood clot in my leg. Again, at no cost. Even as a foreign national. And yes, it took a while, but there was no question about being properly cared for, despite the language problem.

And this is how I spent Friday. I was lucky. And I have good friends.

Ciao for now!

About Carrara, LLC

Carrara partners with owners of luxury vacation homes in Italy, managing the conversion and marketing of these beautiful homes to fractional, shared ownership vacation properties. We also represent buyers seeking the lifestyle of a European home and the convenience of a professionally managed, shared investment.

For more information about our properties:

Casi di Sotto

Casa in Volpaia

A Wild Llama & a 12-hour Workday

Another beautiful walk this morning at sunrise, and warm enough to shed one layer of fleece. Down the road, I encounter some tracks, assuming that they are deer or "cinghiale" (wild boar). I round a curve, and startle…a llama. Not fenced in. Not, according to Paola, even claimed by anyone. A remnant of some former park, this one is friendly, but, evidently spits in your face if you get too close. I think I'll keep my distance.

At the Internet café in nearby Radda, I once again avoid the wonderful, but dreaded "cornetto". My favorite is filled with custard, so you can imagine the calories. I feel deprived enough to have a second cappuccino, and map out the day.

Valeria and I meet at Casi di Sotto where our job this morning is to tidy up the pantry

and reduce the glassware to make it easier to do inventory.

There is a wonderful old cabinet in the house, now used for glassware and storage, that once served time in selling dry goods. We've filled the glass-fronted drawers with all types of pasta and beans…

A quick lunch at Ristorante Galletto Briaco in Gaiole…the nearest town and Valeria's home. In the summer I love this restaurant, the proprietress is friendly and the piazza is a great way to spend a lazy summer day. Today it's locals and workers…Valeria and I laugh with each other as a table of young men plows methodically through pasta, meat and side dishes…and then dessert.

We then take the winding road down the hill to Montevarchi, where most of the serious stores are. Here you will find OBI and Bricco (both Home Depot type stores), nurseries, terra cotta yards, electronics, car dealers and the IperCoop. This is a gigantic, WalMart-type store, but with the most amazing produce, meat and cheese, along with everything else. I've been told that many Italians won't shop here because of its Communist-era beginnings. But I still find it worthwhile and fascinating. We buy curtain rods, coffee cups, pasta, zip-ties and fruit for publicity photographs.

The day seems young, so we unload at Casi di Sotto and continue to sort things out. I have plans to lay low in Volpaia tonight, so we work until Valeria needs to go home to her daughter.

La Bottega is one of 3 places to eat in tiny Volpaia, and is a 2 minute walk from Carrara's home there. Owned by Carla Barucci, it is always a delight, but this time, Carla has just returned from an extended visit to the U.S., taking courses in English and falling in love with California. She greets me warmly and sits at my table and we commiserate about the difficulties of learning languages. Carla is warm, engaging, and a great cook! Her restaurant is run like a ship, and such a tight and successful one that her wait staff returns year after year. The secret? Time-tested, local dishes. Fresh ingredients. Hand-made pasta and desserts. Reasonable prices. Beautiful views and ambience. I will eat here 2-3 times this week. I top off the meal with a panne cotta with berry sauce. A special treat after a long day.

Ciao for now!

About Carrara, LLC

Carrara partners with owners of luxury vacation homes in Italy, managing the conversion and marketing of these beautiful homes to fractional, shared ownership vacation properties. We also represent buyers seeking the lifestyle of a European home and the convenience of a professionally managed, shared investment.

For more information about our properties:

Casi di Sotto

Casa in Volpaia

Dieting, dry cleaning and Italian banks

Ah, the first day with jetlag. And having just recently lost the weight I gained on my visit in November, I am determined that on this trip I will be more conscientious about my health… rising early, taking walks, and watching what I eat! I actually brought my bathroom scale with me. Seriously pathetic, but I have no inherent will power when it comes to Italian food. Absolutely bankrupt on that score.

So at 6:30am, after a very early, very animated conversation with my almost 11-year-old twins back home, I leave the house, turn the corner, and walk out…into the clouds!

Carrara's home in Volpaia lies above the clouds this morning! Only skiing have I experienced this sensation. The streetlamps are still lit, and the village of Radda is the only other thing that rises above. It's chilly, and I'm wearing 2 layers of fleece, but what a sight.

After a wonderful walk and a frothy cappuccino "alla Gina" (NO PASTRIES OR CAKE!), I hurry to Castellina to hit both the laundry ("lavanderia"), and the infamous bank.

Note: Here is my final word on the subject of dry cleaning in the Italian countryside. Don't do it. It will be late. It will shrink. Period. This is a manageable downside to life in the Tuscan countryside, but one you want to know about before you shrink your new Max Mara pants! (no, it was not due to weight gain).

It's then off to Casi di Sotto to solicit bids for some landscape enhancements. Casi di Sotto welcomes me like an old friend and the time since my last visit simply melts away. Well, maybe not "melts", per se. We have yet to turn on the utilities for the spring. But after spending almost two months with my family here last summer, I truly enjoy my homecoming.

Two meetings and a lunch away, my colleague Valeria and I grab lunch and a coffee and return to Volpaia to walk through the house and make notes on things that need to be done this week and throughout April and May. Where Donika, our caretaker and resident expert, has told me the heating system has a blockage due to the "calcare" in the water in Volpaia. I grew up with "hard water". Anyone else? As a kid, this made no sense, and it still cracks me up. But the water in Spokane, Washington has nothing on Chianti. When they say "hard"…they mean hard. This means that water softening (with salt, or "sale"), is a necessity. The calcium deposits are otherwise a nightmare to clean and a hassle to clear out of plumping and heating systems. And this, folks, is why we do a spring cleaning trip!

Since an afternoon espresso made by Luigi at Pizza Pie did not do the trick, I break a personal rule and bale on work at 5pm in favor of a 2-hour nap. Then, having promised my friends at Pizza Pie that I would return for dinner, I head there to work on my month-end reporting. Or try to. Luigi keeps walking by, shutting my laptop and telling me to "manga". No wonder I gain weight.

Ciao for now!

About Carrara, LLC

Carrara partners with owners of luxury vacation homes in Italy, managing the conversion and marketing of these beautiful homes to fractional, shared ownership vacation properties. We also represent buyers seeking the lifestyle of a European home and the convenience of a professionally managed, shared investment.

For more information about our properties:

Casi di Sotto

Casa in Volpaia

Spring Cleaning

This trip is going to be a flurry of activity, as we prepare our Tuscan homes for the spring. We have several rentals booked in both Casi di Sotto and Casa in Volpaia, and scheduled inspection tours for potential shared owners.

Arrival in Firenze in early April to beautiful clear skies. Driving south to Chianti, I notice that the flora is much the same as in Portland. Fruit trees are just beginning to bloom, and although not prevalent, the occasional splash of yellow forsythia is a welcome sight. The oak trees are still bare of leaves, but climbing ivy provides enough green to satisfy my senses. The fields are green as well, and the ever-present Italian birds are singing up a storm.

My car this time is a little Lancia 5-door, and although it is not a great handling beast, it has clearance, is small and maneuverable, and doesn't shake too much on the highway. Thank you Hertz, for always having what I need!

Hungry and knowing that I will need to stay awake, I stop in La Piazza at Osteria alla Piazza (www.osteriaallapiazza.com), which always seems like a welcoming ritual. A bit too chilly to sit outside, I settle at a window table with a view of the vineyard.

As one of only 5 clients for lunch, I am amazed by the difference between the out-and-out professionalism here versus the viral apathy in the restaurant business in the U.S. This place is fully open for business, even though faced with the probability that their lunch crowd has maxed out. You have to be on your toes in a "foodie" culture and tourist destination like Italy. Flowers in pots adorn a patio not quite warm enough yet. The full menu is offered, but with an interesting variety of cold prep specials. Deciding to order one of these, I have sliced duck breast on fresh fennel slices. It was incredible.

I feel fortified enough to visit my bank in Castellina on the way to the house. As I walk up to the door, at precisely 3:34pm, the door is locked. Closed at 3:30pm? It can't be. My banker, Claudio, is visible through the window, and I wave. He walks over to the door and points at the sign with the operating hours, mouthing at me to come back tomorrow. Instead of being peeved (well, okay, I am a bit put out), I resolve to be reincarnated as an Italian banker. I swear, they work about 3 hours per day. And that is not counting days prior to a holiday, when it may be 1 hour.

Stopping first at the Coop for bottled water, a bit of cheese, and some salume, I arrive in Volpaia in time for the social hour. Gina and Lina are talking outside of the bar. I wave, get two big smiles, and drive to the house to unload. Then I hightail it back to the piazza to sit with Oriano and complain about the bankers. He tells me that until today, the weather has been "bruto"…with hailstones the day prior as big as "footballs". Right:)

Today is crisp, clear and gorgeous, and I'm back.

Ciao for now!

About Carrara, LLC

Carrara partners with owners of luxury vacation homes in Italy, managing the conversion and marketing of these beautiful homes to fractional, shared ownership vacation properties. We also represent buyers seeking the lifestyle of a European home and the convenience of a professionally managed, shared investment.

For more information about our properties:

Casi di Sotto

Casa in Volpaia