Tutto bene!

The 170 metres deep volcanic Lake Albano with the town of Castel Gandolfo on the opposite side. The Pope's summer cottage is located there. This lake is seven km away from our house.

Cactuses have been blooming the whole month and in August they should bear fruits:

If I'm not mistaken this one can be seen in Finland too, in a smaller form?

A beautiful evening in the beginning of June at Vermicino that is located on the root of the Tuscolo hill:

It is rather embarrassing that we promised to keep you updated on how we proceed with the Italination but didn’t post anything for a month. The truth is that after the moving truck brought our possessions from Finland we haven’t experienced many lazy days.

Luckily we already had three family members visiting us, giving their input on our project. Elina’s sister Minna is a construction engineer and assessed what kind of renovation the house needs. She told about our house to her employees and surprisingly there were volunteers who wanted to leave Finland to work in Italy for a week or two. So, at the moment we have construction-renovation under process :D
Riitta and Minna by the volcanic Lake Albano:

Riitta’s son visited us together with Minna, and Elina’s elder sister was here for a week. The garden looks quite different now that Jutta was here: roses and hortensians are blooming and we use herbs from Jan’s garden plot for cooking.

Next members of family arrive after two weeks and then some dear friends of ours will honor us with their visit. We are determined to have the house in some kind of order then.

It took four days for the truck to drive from Helsinki to Rome. Moving somewhat 60 cubic meters of various stuff is ‘financially demanding’. Oh well, we tried to be careful and to choose only the necessities. Yet part of the stuff didn’t fit in the truck but will appear afterwards.

As you know our plan is to establish a centre for art and culture, and at first we plan to concentrate on activities that Riitta will hold. Therefore the priority on selecting what to bring to Italy was on the tools that is needed for implementing the courses. Prior to the move we rented a storage space in Helsinki, where we gathered these carefully chosen items from four different addresses.

Naturally, we brought all the equipment that is needed for painting and making glass works, in addition to a carpenter’s bench, a loom, three sewing machines and maybe a ton of various fabrics. The best thing is that we’ve got a gramophone with plenty of LP's, and a piano that I can finally play as noisily as I want. Here is Riikka's son Miguel playing the day after we got the piano in house:

Someone could say we exaggerated with books, but those are in our collective interest: books of art, history, culture, health etc. We have thousands of books here, and passing the library is such a huge temptation when there is no time for reading now. It’s impossible to list everything we brought because honestly I have no idea what the boxes hold inside, but this far I have noticed we haven’t got a lack of kitchen equipment, bed sheets or carpets.

Packing all that was a nightmare, for Jan especially, who had to flex his nerves and explain why we cannot bring all the things we want (Riitta misses her old TV but I stubbornly brought my sauna stove here) and that it is not a joke when he says the space in the truck is limited. Unpacking it is rather a puzzle we are completing; in this box I found an item X, where could be its other half? Where shall we place these fifty coffee cups? And we get fit carrying fabrics to the third floor, where Riitta’s maiden tower is located ;)

Imagine a house that has been empty for two years. This is it. It was so dirty with no water, no gas, no electricity. Still, the Finnish logistics guy who moved our stuff here walked through the house and concluded: well here we have a house with soul! We agree, and we like to think it as the castle of the Sleeping Beauty, waking up after being abandoned for long. And yes, we brought the spinning wheel as well.

In Italy you won’t just call the gas company and ask them to switch everything on. No, you must call them ten days before you want to use electricity, for example. I remember the moment when the hot water finally began running, what a joy it was!

Currently we are expecting an electrician’s visit because when I turn the oven on the electricity is cut from everywhere else in the house. Then, we have faced challenges on painting the walls. The air is very humid, so when in Finland cement or stain dries in an hour it takes a day here. Italian’s don’t seem to know what is the stuff we use to initialize the wall or floor in Finland (praimeri). Now we just painted a stone wall without it and the fresh painted layer came down with the old layers too.
With Estonian friends on the way to the top of Tuscolo hill:



Then is this thing with the cat. A gray cat-lady appeared in the garden quite soon after we moved in the house. She was dirty, thin and depressed and obviously in a terrible need for human contact. Riitta says she doesn’t like cats, but this cat approached Riitta again and again even if Riitta tried to avoid her. When Riitta was sitting outside the cat came to sit right next to her. I already wanted to adopt her but Riitta was strict and said we have to get rid of the cat. Well, this cat was persuasive and somehow melted Riitta’s heart; she lingered in the family and is now known with a name Lyllerö/Lyyli/Lyllis. We noticed that Lyllerö’s picture is painted in one of the wall-frescos we have in the house so for sure this has been the home she lived in. We wonder if she’s been here for two years, alone, waiting for the return of her family.

We cannot let the cat inside for if allergic people will reside here, but Riitta’s chair outside is now covered with blankets and the cat sleeps there. Moreover, Riitta ‘the cat hater’ is already designing a nice, warm nest for Lyllis. Riitta is the one who wants to give vaccinations for Lyllerö and brush her hair, and Riitta is the one concerned if Lyllis has gotten enough food. Nevertheless, she emphasizes that she is absolutely not a cat person. ;)
Now that the hot days have arrived the ice cream consumption has increased:

In general, everything is fine here. In this situation we could apply the old proverb no news is good news :) We just got literally handful of things to do, plan and organize and in the evening we fall in bed being tired but satisfied. Besides working we have gotten to know Grottaferrata which is very charming little village, and we participated in a wonderful Mid-Summer party organized by Riikka and Luca. As this festival is unknown here they organized it Finnish way with typical foods and bonfires.



Jan is unfortunately still in Finland but we are eagerly wishing he would be able to arrive this week. Best wishes for you all, I aim to post here as much as possible. Believe me, every day is already a long story itself, and wrapping up a month like this is not easy. The best way for you to experience what we are experiencing is to come and see yourself, but I warn that you may fall in love with Rome the way we have. Welcome dear friends!

Kisses and hugs,
Elina&co