What Lago di Garda is for sailing, Lago d‘Iseo is for motorboats! What Lago di Garda is for Germans, Lake Como for Americans, Lago d’Iseo has its own tourist group: Italians. And all of them are beautiful.

In the 1950s several companies around Lago d‘Iseo built wooden motorboats. Competition was tight and that leads to better quality. And better quality means that lower quality companies have a hard time to survive. In the 1970 there were only two companies left. Riva was famous for building top notch wooden motorboats, Bellini right up to par, but when Bellinis founder died at a young age, his son had to make a hard decision: stay in competition with Riva or change the business model. He decided to change. His idea: Restauration of Riva wooden motorboats! And what a great idea that was! During the 1990s Riva went through a big transition: no more wooden boats, fiberglass was the new material that all international competitors were using, so did Riva. Was this good or bad for Bellini? It turns out good, no more wooden boats were built, so people who owned one would rather go through with a remodeling than buy something made of fiberglass! Ever since then, Bellini is busy taking on up to 15 boats for restauration at the same time, with winter months more busy than summer months. There is a waitlist and waiting you have to like: it takes one whole year to finish one boat! But boy do they do a good job!

Ted had booked a tour to Bellini, that’s where all the magic happens. In an industrial area in XXX we finally found the place and went inside. The first floor is the workshop with nine boats being restored right now, each in a different step along the process. The second floor is dedicated to Bellinis private collection of Riva boats.

Everything is there, from the wooden row boat (1920) to a double engine 2×350 hp Aquarama, a stunning beauty. You can find boats that were produced 139 times and only 1 exists. And that 1 is right there, in Bellinis private collection. Another boat was a collaboration with Chris Craft! When Ted heard that, he was in heaven. He felt like somebody had announced that he is related to the King of England! Which makes his Chris Craft being a Riva cousin, which makes him royalty!

I’d highly recommend visiting this place! Exquisite in craftsmanship combined with classic Italian design. Although I’m not a boat person, my heart beats faster; this definitely a slice of heaven!

By the time we made up our minds and chose the house we saw a year earlier, it was officially on the market, meaning you could find it on real estate listings and a real estate agency had been chosen by the seller to take care of all necessary steps and paperwork for a sale. Daniel Boesch was the official agent, working for Engel & Völkers, an international agency with offices worldwide.

Daniel Boesch, a native Swiss who had also lived in the US for a few years, turned out as a perfect choice: Ted speaks English, I speak English and German, and Daniel speaks English, German and Italian.

In the US it is common practice that an object is represented by the seller’s agent and a buyer hires another agent to represent the buyers interests. Usually the seller and the buyer don’t communicate directly or meet, any contact is done through the agents. In Italy things are a little different: the seller chooses an agent and that is automatically the buyers agent as well. “So what about a conflict of interest?” we wondered, but we liked Daniel, we would have chosen him ourselves I guess, so it was no big deal, just a little unusual…

Working with an international agency like Engel & Völkers is more expensive; they charge a higher percentage of the sales price, but it has also a big advantage: they’re used to working with people from all over the world. Applying for a “codice fiscale” for example, the equivalent of a social security number, was already applied for by Engel & Völkers before we even knew that we needed one. In Italy, a codice fiscale is your identity number. You need it for opening a bank account, applying for Internet, getting accounts for utilities, property taxes and house insurance; and of course if you buy property there. At one of our meetings Daniel just mentioned: “Oh, by the way, here are your codice fiscale numbers! They are very important, don’t loose them.”

By that time we had a partner joining our house purchase. We briefly met her at our weekly hikes with the Paso Robles Newcomers group and once she heard that we are about to buy a house in Italy, she approached us and asked to be a partner in our adventure.

We met a few times to define all possible scenarios and agreed to do this together, then made a contract with lots of „what ifs“.

The biggest advantage to have a partner is of course the financial aspect, the biggest disadvantage is the discrepancy of experience and expectation. The advantage shows up right away, the disadvantages slowly show the more decisions you have to make. Our partners lack of experience (having been in Italy only once on a guided 10-day tour and never travelled abroad much, slowed down our decision making a lot. We had spend a month last summer together (Verona and Salò) before signing the papers, then a few more weeks in winter at our house, trying to buy the basics and make it work. Lots of „yes, buts“ and resistance from our partner about what we need or want, what we think is necessary vs just a plain luxury complicated the whole process, so in the end, we didn’t get as much done as we hoped for, and when we left, we were looking forward to spending all our future travels to Muslone not together, but separate.

I think our big discrepancy came from our different expectations. She wants to use the house for 2 or 3 weeks a year as a hub to travel other places; we want to spend way more time there, 3 or 4 months, during which we connect with the locals, invite friends, have family stay with us. We like to enjoy this little slice of heaven, sit in the garden, read a book, cook fresh pasta, sew a dress. We love markets, swimming in the lake, writing, gardening, sitting in front of the house and drink a glass of wine.

Her biggest challenges are renting a car, driving through narrow streets, stick shift, parking, paying, buying a ticket, finding groceries, winetasting rooms etc. For her, life in Europe is so different: how do I switch on the washing machine, dishwasher, why do I need a €1 coin for a shopping cart, and why are all stores closed from 12-3pm? She just did not realize that life on another continent is very different! Being on a group tour with Americans only, everything is organized to accommodate Americans of course. Living in Italy is very different. I moved from one continent to another 28 1/2 years ago. I experienced that culture shock before and I had the advantage of being younger, more flexible and very curious.

This summer Ted and I stayed at the house by ourselves and we enjoyed it A LOT! All in all we are ok to have our partner, but as I said earlier, keeping the traveling separate is key!

Our garden with walnut, cherry and olive tree, grape wine, herbs and lavender (more photos next time)

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!

We finally found the American consulate! No wonder nobody knows it, it is well hidden, almost like a rash under your armpit. No flag, no sign, no obvious security. It is a one-woman operation, charging $200 for a notarized signature.

Oh well, on another note we had fun for the rest of the day: floating through the narrow alleyways of Oldtown, staying hydrated as good as we can, eating delicious food, shopping (my favorite) and people watching (Ted’s favorite). Life is good!

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