Our New House

Hey Everyone! Check out the great view of the Med from our new house!!! Isn't it great! This is our favorite thing about our place, it has a very grandious view of the bay below us. We were previously trying to get a location that was more in the touristy old region with lots of history around us but in the heart of the city of Pozzuoli near Pete's work. That house was within walking distance of all the schools and many markets and shops for me. When the other "tile house" (that you may have seen in previous posts) fell through, we opted for our current house which has all the same features, but is not in the heart of the city. Instead we are located in a quieter area of Pozzuoli, called Monte Rucellio. (I'm still not sure that I'm spelling everything correctly.) Here is a look at the area from a little further off. Our house is at the top of the "mountain" on the street, Coste di Cuma. It's in a nice middle class italian neighborhood. We live in a villa which is actually one large building, split into a duplex. Our neighbor is a man from Equidor who is in the US Navy and we share the yard on his side of the house. It is mostly surrounded by black asphault and a large gate to come in and out of. The side of the house with the view is open (no fence) but has a large drop-off down to the next terraced level of homes. Our 2nd level is the same as the neighbors ground level, etc. So we have a nice view of lots of rooftops below us, clear down to the sea. You can see the pictures here that have been taken from our second level balcony. Here I am enjoying the view from our little window in the grande master bedroom! Hee Hee! :)

Another great thing that I'm really happy about is that I was able to pick a few colors for the walls. The construction in Italy is almost completely built with cinderblock and plastered, then whitewashed. The landlady was re-painting, so I gave the painter some colors to add to the house which does soo much more for the beauty of the place I think! Here is a picture of the kids in the girls yellow room. It is the brightest room in the house with two different sets of balcony doors on the north and west sides. The kids are enjoying a new bunkbed set that we bought from a cool second-hand italian furniture store.

In total, the house has 4 bedrooms on the second floor: one for Pete and I, one for the two girls, one for the two boys and one for Jessie and her dog. We all share the one bathroom on that floor and we also have a nice bonus which is unusual for Italian homes...a closet. It is large and in the hallway centrally located and is really really appreciated since it is the only one in the house!

On the first floor we have a large front room, kitchen, bathroom and what is probably meant to be a dining room which we will use as the office/guest room. My washer is in the main floor bathroom and the dryer is on the balcony off of the kitchen (a few steps across the hallway).

Then we have a full unfinished basement which is bare cement cinderblock walls and dirt floors. There is a lot of storage space down here which we are filling up with all the junk that doesn't fit in the house! The garage is what comes out onto the ground level, so it is kind of like a walk-out basement with the view from the garage and the front door on the opposite side of the house and one level up.

In our garden we have one lemon tree, a fig tree, and a clemontine tree to eat from. There are also lots of other flowering plants and I hope to plant lots of yummy fresh herbs to cook with! This picture is of our yard, with our neighbors house in the background. Our own house is in bad need of a re-plastering re-painting job which the landlady is supposed to finish before next October. I'll have to get more pictures of the outside at a later time.

Hope you enjoyed the semi-virtual tour. Of course, these pictures were taken with the navy temp furniture in it, and now the entire house is filled with boxes everywhere! AAugh! Anyone want to come help me unpack?

After a hard day's work of unpacking we like to enjoy a fresh Italian meter pizza. Actually this is a half meter pizza, but divided into quarters with the chef's special assortment of whatever he wants to put on it is what we always tell him to do. Believe it or not, these pizzas bake in about 5 minutes in their cool brick ovens and always get an extra drizzle of olive oil on top just to make sure that nothing is too dry! It is always delicious! Come on over and we'll treat you to pizza that never tasted this good in America!! It's great!