Product Description

This breathtakingly photographed volume offers an inside, and outside, look at twenty-two lovingly restored homes, labours of love by people whose passion for Italy just couldn't be ignored. Owners and designers share anecdotes about their experiences with local artisans, vendors, and bureaucracy, while offering real-world advice on the tactics of restoring a house in a foreign country. Whether the plan is to embark on a complete redesign, begin a restoration, or just move in and let the house evolve on its own, home owners and dreamers alike will value the information and thrill to the dream of Restoring a Home in Italy. This is a book at once lush and beautiful, and invaluably practical.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182239 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Educational and inspirational
A great blend of practical advice and food for the imagination, this book has been a constant guide and companion for us in the process of buying our own run-down country house in Italy.

There are 22 chapters (one for each house featured) covering a range of geographical areas and types of houses, from an apartment in Venice or Rome to farmhouses throughout the country. Each section also features very practical advice and information around a theme, such as rebuilding a roof or how to choose, lay out and use terracotta tiles. Examples are selected from the houses featured.

Fabulous photographs surround the text, which help to fire your imagination and keep you going during the difficult times, when the finished result is hard to imagine and you're hundreds of miles away. These are also useful for proving to doubtful relatives and friends that you haven't gone completely insane and your overgrown ruin can indeed become a real home!

In addition, at the back there is an extremely useful list of architects, restorers, stores etc built up from the houses displayed to help you get started or find out more information. We have used some of these contacts and they have proved very handy.

Buying and restoring a house in Italy requires imagination, patience and determination and is a labour of love. This book is based on a wealth of experience. It has helped to inspire us and show us that our dream can become reality.

A Rustic Dream!
The photographs are stunning, the properties which have been restored are a feast for the eyes. A marvellous coffee table book for times when we want to transport ourselves from the humdrum of life into the beauty of the Italian countryside. Envisage a stone house, with centuries of history behind it, just sitting there waiting to be restored.

Every one of the couples has restored, decorated and furnished their properties in a way which is sympathetic to the lines and feel of the place. Windows open onto landscapes which haven't altered for hundreds of years. Terraces covered in flowers, kitchens with ancient rustic style, bedrooms like fairytale castles.

Bravo to all of those who have turned these houses into living, breathing, beautiful homes.

We all have a dream, and this book is the beginning of mine.

My Bible
I am involved in restoration of old property in the Abruzzo region of Italy, this book has become an indispensable guide that I use for ideas and inspiration, it's also a great way of showing clients how their beaten up old farmhouse can look! www.abruzzoproperties.com