When we first bought Godzillavilla it was actually a little more habitable than it became once reconstruction started. It had running water (cold only), rudimentary electricity, and actual opening and closing windows instead of just holes. It also had a functioning toilet.
This was the hygienic part
Based on these luxuries we decided to camp out in the house for a couple of weeks in the first summer. We slept on cots on the middle floor and let the bats keep the top floor, while the squirrels held firm to the bottom level. The squirrels were, in fact, so angry about us being in their house that they used to come out at night and cling to the beams that held up the floor under our beds, chattering their displeasure at the top of their ferocious little lungs. Apparently squirrels are highly territorial.
Being no strangers to real, outdoor camping, we found this fun. So it was a most unfortunate day when we decided to make a garden table out of a slate slab that had been lying on the ground beside the wall of the house, in the area we were clearing for the garden. It was a lovely slab, thick and nicely rectangular; why would anyone have left such a nice thing on the ground? We prised it up carefully and discovered the answer: it was the cover to an otherwise open cesspool that by then contained two weeks of toilet dumpings. The toilet drained directly into it.
Gives new meaning to the term 'bog garden'
That’s when we decided to rent the little apartment up the road. It has a real toilet – and no squirrels. Add a septic system to the list of Godzilla’s needs!
Godzillavilla 
Hi Shelagh, I’ve recently bought an ivy covered ruin to restore in Tuscany and camped out in it last summer and suffered sleep deprivation due to squirrels. They would hang upside down and gnaw away at the ceiling boards at 2am just to show their displeasure. However, they turned out to be ghiro/ghiri, an edible dormouse, a delicacy enjoyed by the Romans (they are protected now). Mine live in the walls of the house and terraces and only come out at night (unlike squirrels) and were incredibly cheeky by the time we left!
Yes, they are ghiri, that’s what the locals say – although they look an awful lot like squirrels to me, they do only emerge at night. Occasionally I’d go into the room below and turn on the light in midst of their tirades. They just yell at me from the ceiling beams even louder. Brave souls! Very funny to hear you have the same story.
Hi Shelagh, I’ve recently bought a pile of stones in Tuscany and camped in it last summer. I, too, experienced sleep deprivation brought about by the night antics of the ‘squirrels’. They’d hang upside down on the ceiling and gnaw away at the boards for hours it seemed! However, I think they are called ghiro/ghiri, and are also known as an edible dormouse (apparently the Romans considered them a delicacy?). Unlike squirrels they only come out at night. Ciao Steve
PS your blog is a source of inspiration only recently found that I can direct my doubting friends!
It’s a long slog and definitely not a zone of the rational brain that drives us onwards!
An encouraging story for all the brave would-like-owners who will surely find similar surprises: in the structure, in the wiring, in the plumbing or whatever, often really unexpected.
That was my experience too.
Secret of success is probably to be able to smile and be ironic toward oneself, as apparently Shelagh and her mates were.
One surprise that we did not find ourselves was the mummified animal in the attic; the contractors discovered that one, thank goodness.
Not surprising! I just received a copy from the Notary regarding the previous purchase of our property by the builder who renovated it (fortunately, he had the good sense of not wrecking the original features, although I would have loved him to choose another colour for those bathroom tiles!!!!). The place had no electricity, water or cesspool… nothing. And it was supposed to be “habitable”…
That ‘habitable’ moniker on houses that are for sale can indeed be a little misleading, and of course as soon as you start to renovate you’re required to bring everything up to today’s code. Not that I don’t agree with the need for a code-worthy septic system!
Oh dear!