Think On It

THIS APARTMENT IS BEING PAID FOR EXCLUSIVELY BY THE PEOPLE LIVING IN IT. DADDY’S MONEY WAS NOT USED TO PAY FOR OR FURNISH IT. THEREFORE DUE RESPECT SHOULD BE PAID TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED OWNERS FOR THEIR TENACITY AND CAPACITY TO BUDGET, FURNISH AN ENTIRE APARTMENT, AND STILL PAY FOR TWO CHILDREN IN DAYCARE/PRE-SCHOOL AND THEIR MORTGAGE.

November 8th, 2007

I could have written pages and pages of the pain and desperation I’ve heard from young Italians and their struggles to have a home away from their families, but Spaghetti Mamma has done it better than I ever could. Read Dream Home and you’ll learn what the traveler never knows.

An Italian home is overwhelmingly an apartment. It is expensive when compared to the Italian salary. Mortgages are hateful to Italians, but necessary these days.

On the other hand, most Italians don’t want to buy old homes and fix them up, much preferring new or as close to it as they can get. They don’t get romantic about inadequate plumbing and electricity that come with ancient tiles and beams. It keeps the prices of rural housing down, so we foreigners can swoop in and go nuts trying to get the work done that these old homes need to be livable. Fortunately, there’s enough romantic impulse among us to save a great many crumbling homes from disaster.

Entry Filed under: Italy