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~ The ongoing saga of turning a crumbling Italian ruin into a home

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Monthly Archives: January 2012

Crazy Quilt Properties

08 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by Shelagh in Beginnings, Community

≈ 4 Comments

Everything from the wall out was Umberto's

One of the reasons so many lovely Italian ruins are rotting away has to do with the division of property amongst siblings when parents die. Frequently the structure is owned by many family members who can’t agree on whether to sell it, or for how much. In our case, the house, and the land on two sides of it, was owned by one person. But if you put your hand out the west windows you were in a neighbour’s airspace. Likewise a small blob of land against the north wall – the entrance to the property – belonged to someone else again.

In order to own all the land around the house, we had to cobble together three different real estate deals with three different sellers.

For Sale: house with (some) land

The map at left shows the deal; the green parcel came with the house (which is the dark green square in the middle). The pink bit was Umberto’s and the pale blue bit was Antonio’s. Since we’re used to the neat rectangles of Ontario’s seigneurial land system, we still have trouble figuring out exactly which trees are ours. But our neighbours know. They can’t understand why we find it so difficult.

One of the most interesting aspects of the land deal, given our North American ‘this land is mine and that land is yours’ perspective, was the yellow bit. It’s land held in common with Gino, who  happens to be the landlord of our apartment up the road. We have to get each other’s agreement when we want to do something with it, such as putting down gravel to make parking easier. I’ve discovered this doesn’t mean you always get to share costs. Gino can say yes to an improvement but declare it of no value to himself and decline to help pay. This could be treacherous, but I’ve noticed my neighbours have a pretty good fairness barometer. It’s part of their community balancing act, a continual tit for tat with each other.

Howdy, neighbour

In line with this balancing act, Umberto’s land was being kept clean by grazing cows, and after we bought the land we asked him to keep the animals there because they were the easiest way to keep the vegetation under control. They have since been replaced by another neighbour’s horse.

I like these bonds of community. I believe that every co-operative gesture on our part will come back to us, and so far it has. In Toronto, as a landscape designer, I frequently watch clients argue over 1 inch along a fence line. The people of Varese are also keenly aware of which piece of sod is theirs, and which half of the tree they own  – but between ownership and usage they apply practicality and communal good. You scratch my back, at some point I’ll scratch yours.

It may be a Catholic country, but they really get karma.

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The Learned Priest

02 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Shelagh in History

≈ 4 Comments

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museo contadino

Not long after buying the villa, I was up by the local church trying to get enough cellphone reception – it’s either that, or hang out the window at an alarming angle –  to call our contractor. When I got through I identified myself as ‘Shelagh, the Canadian who owns the Torre’. Shelagh is a name Italians don’t remember easily, since there’s nothing like it in their language. But the crazy Canadians who had inexplicably bought a ruin in Scurtabo were unforgettable, so in the early days I always introduced myself that way.

Don Sandro, the learned priest

The church’s priest happened to be outside at that moment and overheard me. When I was finished my conversation, he approached and introduced himself. Priests are good at knowing what’s going on in their parishes, so he already knew who I was.

Don Sandro Lagomarsini, it turns out, keeps a museum of local farming and settlement history just up the road in Cassego and is a top notch historian. The museum provides a rare glimpse into a side of Italy that’s not often shown off. A far cry from the fabulous treasures of the Uffizi or Vatican, it’s a touching memoir of the unbelievable effort involved in scratching a living out of the challenging hills of Varese – without power tools.

The Museo Contadino at Cassego

Don Sandro had some interesting facts about our house: the original structure, remnants of which remain, was built as a lookout tower in 1362 – hence the house’s name through the ages of ‘torre’. It was one of three such towers built on either side of the valley by the ruling Fieschi clan in order to keep out the marauding armies of rival families.

So the view we find so tranquil was once used for popping off enemies who were trying to creep their way up the valley. We like the idea. Now we don’t just own a pile of rubble, we own a piece of history. And that makes it even more interesting.

A ruin even more ancient than we thought

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