March 

The renovation of the Rusticò is still in full swing, and scaffolding is also being erected around our house. Construction project number two: over the next three months our house will be transformed into an energy-neutral house; with a new, insulated roof, new windows, insulation plates on the outside walls and solar panels. While insulating our house was not immediately our topic when we moved to IT (we had not yet experienced winter and there was no energy crisis in any field or road), our great wish was to renovate the entire house from the outside. to paint. The great thing about this method of insulation is that the house is finished in a color of your choice. So two birds with one stone. We are so curious to see how the house will emerge from under the scaffolding. But first we go to anthracite (color of the insulation boards), white (color of the front plaster) and then finalmente the final color. The date is July 1, so exciting!

May

Four pairs of eyes stare at me completely glassy from the floor in our cleaning cupboard. A few days ago Nadia called me because she heard chirping in the fan: a litter! And now the young ones are ready to fly out, but they chose the wrong route, namely inward. One is frozen on his side and the other is completely still on his bottom and if you didn't know any better, you would think they were no longer alive. But I know from experience that they are often frozen with fear and I very carefully, with a cloth, pick one up. Fortunately, the initially limp body starts to make fluttering movements. I take it outside and place the little feathery ball high on a windowsill, so that our Maw, or any other predatory creature, cannot reach it. I do the same with the sister or brother who has now come back to life and is also starting to make flying movements. And then they fly out for the first time. The wonder of nature. How wonderful to be able to experience this.

Our tenants of the Mulino, Yvonne and Remmo, also have a special bird moment: on the terrace of the Mulino they discover a very special bird. It's also suspiciously tame. Yvonne uses her bird app to see what kind of special bird this is. This one is short and sweet: 100% canary. To be sure, I also ask our bird watcher and friend Hans van Oosterhout. He also reports that it is a canary. Well, someone somewhere is of course waiting at the open window until he comes back...

Juni

It's the beginning of June and they're already starting to apply the final plaster layer! How fast! On June 12, the last part, at the front of our house, will be plastered, but purtroppo, That evening we get a huge storm with an accompanying downpour, causing the plaster on that side to flow off a large part of the wall over our terrace and into the garden. The contractor is fantastic, they come immediately that evening to assess the damage and early the next morning there is a whole team that works hard to clean and rinse everything around the house. And then they just start plastering again. Sander also thinks it's a bit of luck. Because on that side of our house, the north side, the wall always suffers a lot from moisture, so the paint always tends to peel off there. Now our house is getting an extra layer on that side, as it were (the part that remained after the rain shower plus the new layer). Every disadvantage….

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It is June 22 and well before the deadline, so the scaffolding is being removed. How wonderful: instead of looking at shelves, we can look outside again. And what nice light it is in the house. Our house will be further completed in the coming months. There will be two pergolas and our new windows will be installed in the autumn. These can be mounted from the inside, so scaffolding is not necessary. The outdoor taps and outdoor lighting are currently being replaced. Much of this is done with the help of our local ironsmith: Paolo. Cappoti (the insulation material that covers our walls) cannot simply be drilled. For example, a special iron construction is made for the sinks and outdoor taps that rests on the ground. Nice to mention, the white sink moved from our friends Pieter and Inke on Texel (a gift) to our house on Kerkstraat, then to our house on Regentesselaan in Baarn and now it 'hangs' in Italy. Replacing the outdoor taps is timed just right, because so far we have had 1 to 2 days of good rain every week, now the summer temperatures are also starting to arrive here and it is time to manually water trees and plants again. But what a difference from last year, when it was so dry and warm from the beginning of the year and we had to water every evening for months around this time. Now Pian del Nasso is still green even in July and the rivers are still babbling. Siamo fortunati.

In the meantime, Sander continues to work hard in the Rusticò. He tiles floors, makes window sills, installs the kitchen, paints, cleans and waxes the wooden beams, seals walls and also tidies up the garden from a construction site to a landscaped garden. I'm really proud of him. And it's so exciting, because we have one scadenza: The first guests arrive for the Rusticò on July 8…. (aiuto). But we think it will be beautiful. In the meantime, I try to ensure that everything runs smoothly at Pian del Nasso as much as possible. Mow the garden, paint the fences, take care of our guests and ensure that all items are ordered and delivered on time and all the administrative hassle involved. Very nice to be able to do that together again soon.

Juli

Your hour is approaching. We still have a week to go before the guests of the Rusticò arrive. What a stress, because the interior doors were delivered way too late and now they still have to be installed. The last thing you want is for guests to arrive and there are no doors in them, especially the bathrooms. The original plan was for Sander to install the doors himself, but the walls and frames are so crooked that he does not dare and calls for help from our door specialist. He lets us know that he is doing what he can to find an opening for us. But in the meantime we don't know whether that will work... (mama, mia what a stress). On Monday, July 3, we will receive the redeeming news: they will arrive on Wednesday! Normally installing a door takes about 20 minutes according to the door specialist, but with these 3 doors it takes him almost all day (the walls are not only crooked, but also crooked in some places: how rustic do you want it... and very wise that Sander did not dare). We are more than relieved when the doors are hanging. Yay! After a year of renovations, we can start furnishing the Rusticò! Nadia will come tomorrow at the end of the day with her associates to help us move. That is not an exaggerated luxury: our hall and conservatory are full of boxes and furniture and we can carry them all up the hill. But things turn out differently…

On Thursday afternoon, July 6, moving day (2 days before delivery), it starts to storm, pour and incredibly hail. Within half an hour, 20 cm of water falls. As suddenly as this storm arises, it is also gone again. The devastation he left behind però is significant. For example, there are holes in our garden cushion box because the hail went right through it. The garden, the swimming pool and the surrounding terrace are completely green, because they are covered with leaves that have blown from the trees. I always pray for a green Pian del Nasso (well: be careful what you wish for...). There is mud on the paths and around the Rusticò it is a water ballet (fortunately the Rustico itself has remained dry: the ultimate test). And we are very lucky, because in the surrounding villages and in fact from Turin to the coast, entire areas, including the famous wine region!, have been hit much worse. Do we have hailstones the size of chewing gum balls? In several places, hailstones ranging from the size of a ping-pong ball to a tennis ball fall, which, as in Cortemilia, prove to be very destructive to cars, but also to e.g. solar panels. Anyway, there's work to be done, rolling up our sleeves to make Pian del Nasso presentable again and especially the Rusticò. We have one day less and extra work. It means we can't move today, because it's impossible in that mud mess. I'm just about to text our guests in the Mulino to see how they are doing after the storm, if they arrive at all. Fortunately, everything appears to be going well with them and with the Mulino; just some water on the terrace (very relieved to hear) and so sweet: they want to help us! Wouter immediately calls out if we have a leaf blower and starts working around the pool and on the path between the Mulino and the pool. He also offers to help move the large furniture to the Rusticò the next day. We can say that without their help we would not have made it in time... Saturday July 8, exactly 3 minutes before the guests arrive, the Rusticò is ready.

Rusticò anno 2023: we made it!