Almost one year ago we bought our little slice of heaven here above Lago di Garda. We’ve been busy finding furniture and kitchenware, and this & that to create our Italian nest.

Beside nest building (my favorite hobby as an introvert), meeting the neighbors (Ted’s extrovert specialty) is another great way to feel home here.

Fausto and Josefine for example: he was born and raised here when Muslone produced charcoal, burning trees from the mountains surrounding us, which was a hard way of making a living right after WWII. Josefine grew up in Piovere, a village 1 hour away if you hike along the mountain above Lago di Garda. You can also drive for 45minutes, down to the lake, go north through a few tunnels and up and over a windy street till you reach Piovere. Hiking there is beautiful, one of those perfect hikes in the area that are not too difficult, because there is not much elevation gain!

Fausto invited us to their house for a glass of wine, we returned the invite a few days later, he wants to take Ted up to the mountains with his tiny, but super strong Suzuki jeep, a vehicle lots of locals drive around here. They are very narrow – perfect for maneuvering the narrow cobblestone streets in the village – and also super strong to go up the mountains for hunting or to cut firewood for the winter. Fausto speaks German and has a lot of stories to tell about Muslone. He also sings English, having been a guitarist in a band what seems to be a hundred years ago!

Our neighbors Giancarlo & Assunto, who live between Fausto & Josefine and us, are a very sweet couple: right after we arrived, he came out his back door, which is at the entrance to the tunnel underneath our house, and told us about his “Chianti collectione” and a few other things, which we didn’t understand. He can only speak Italian and that is the language we do not understand 🙃. It doesn’t matter, another day he came over, grabbed my hand and took us over to his house into a dark, caved room, that used to be the village jail! There he put shelves on every wall, filled with different bottles of Chianti! They invited us for a glass or two, talking a lot, and we invited them for dinner a few days later.

A few days later we met at Paradiso, a restaurant halfway up the hill to Muslone, that has good food and a breathtaking view over the lake to Monte Baldo where we watched a picture perfect sunset.

Despite not speaking the language, we had such a great time with them! We used hands and feet for communication, we also consulted our smartphones for translation and a few glasses of wine and a grappa for the guys later, we were best friends!

One guy I should not forget to mention here is Enzo (I call him the mayor of Muslone), whom we had already met at our first visit a few years ago.

Enzo has the little Alimentari store in Muslone, he knows everyone and everything, he in in charge of all things necessary to run this mountain village. And if you need something? Enzo either has it, he can tell you where to find it or – for example when we came here in December and January and it was freezing cold and it usually takes a few days to warm up those thick walled houses and we froze our a….es off – he just organizes things, for example electrical heaters from another house, because Enzo has a key to almost all houses here in Muslone. People trust him, he is helpful and kind, a very sweet and gentle soul. When the grass in front of our house gets too long, Enzo shows up!

Since we don’t have Internet, Enzo gave me the login at his store, he put a chair outside and today he even had a little table for me and made me an espresso to keep me awake after sitting there and working for several hours! It’s my official office here, sometimes a little tight when people have to drive through those narrow streets, but it works! Thank you, Enzo!

We also keep engaged with a few expats, Who we invited for dinner, sharing all the latest news and catching up from since we last met. In return we are invited to dinner and / or afternoons at the pool, we go out to restaurants together and enjoy our life here in our quaint little mountain village called Muslone!