Column: our departure to Italy

It all started in December 2016. Or no, it originally started in 1977. That year we, Lammert and Alie, were dating for almost 10 months. We were 21 and 19 years old and we could take on the whole world. we thought. But as is often the case, courtships get 'out'.

After years, and with different partners, we meet again in 2008, and guess what? The pilot light has never been extinguished. In short, we get a relationship again.

After many holidays in France and Italy, the passion for Italy grew. Lammert had been working at customs for 40 years and Alie had a job at the municipality.

In Tuscany we had already seen a very old building on the coast with a lot of space around it. In our minds we already saw ourselves running a bed & breakfast annex camping site.

Little chance of success

The property turned out to belong to a Baroness and we didn't even know if it would be for sale. After taking a good look at our brains, we came to the conclusion that at our age, in our late fifties, this would be too big a project. Restoring premises, arranging permits, competing against a large campsite there. Little chance of success probably. So back to our daily desk.

But it still kept simmering in our heads. A few years later I, Lammert, came across a campsite in Italy on the internet in The Marches (Le Marche). Called Alie in, and she immediately said: that's it!

At first we thought it was a bit strange that the campsite was called Sensazione delle Marche. Sensation is it sensational? So no. It means feeling. So: 'The feeling of De Marken'.

We then made an appointment with the broker, booked a flight to Ancona, and viewed the campsite. This was in July 2015. The campsite also belonged to a Dutchman, and it had been for sale for a few years. He already lived in the Netherlands again and only ran the campsite in the summer months.

That could also be seen. There was a lot of overdue maintenance and a lot of mowing, pruning and refurbishment had to be done. But the foundation as he had set it up was exactly what we had in mind. We wanted to grow old here.

Farmhouse

The campsite is a so-called agriturismo. Camping at the farm, so to speak. The campsite has twelve large pitches and an apartment. At the time of the previous owner there was no electricity at the campsite and only tents were allowed. There was a nice swimming pool.

Negotiations could begin. That in itself was a special experience. If you make an offer on real estate in Italy, it must be accompanied by 10% of the offer you make. You do indicate a term, for example two weeks, during which you want to know an acceptance or rejection.

When the offer is accepted, that money must therefore be transferred to the seller. That amount is, however, 'fixed' in the seller's bank account. We had, of course, made it a condition that our own house had to be sold within a certain period of time. This was achieved in January 2016 within one week.

But with the condition of the buyers that it had to be delivered in mid-March. However, the completion of the campsite was not planned until December 2016! So we had to rent a house in the Netherlands for almost a year.

exciting

A preliminary purchase contract has been drawn up in Italy. In Italy there is a regulation that if a preliminary purchase contract has been drawn up for real estate, the surrounding owners have the first right to purchase. They have three months to do that. So that was quite an exciting time. Sold your own house, waiting three months with the chance that someone else will steal your dream from right in front of you.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. The definitive transfer would take place on 12 December 2016. Canceling jobs, canceling subscriptions, canceling insurance and everything else involved. A moving company had to be arranged, because transferring everything with a trailer was not an option. As it turned out, we had 53 cubic meters of household goods.

After everything was arranged, and we had a farewell party, we drove to Italy on December 9, 2016. To our dream in De Marken. On the way to Arcevia, our municipality.

The exact address is Frazione Caudino 54 in Arcevia. A so-called 'fraction' of Arcevia. Two churches and ten houses. And we went to live another six kilometers from there.

The session with the notary lasted about three hours. Several people were present from the notary, but also from the bank and the broker. Also, two people had to be present who spoke both languages. Finally we were outside and it turned out that the key transfer had been forgotten. Fortunately, everyone was still present and this was quickly rectified.

Help

Our first night in our own Italian home. Because there is an authentic Italian house on the campsite that is great to live in.

Two days later the removal van arrived, which we all emptied. Both my sons and their partners had traveled with us and helped us a lot. After a week they left for the Netherlands again. One son in his own car, and the other in my car that I had already sold in the Netherlands under the restriction that he had to go back and forth to Italy one more time.

I have two motorcycles that I absolutely wanted to take with me. One is a Benelli, who has now moved to live 75 kilometers from his hometown of Pesaro.

Then everyone was gone and for the first time we were alone in our new place. It took about Christmas 2016 before we had unpacked so many boxes that the house was somewhat habitable.

In the meantime we had to try to get the registration number of our 'new' car, which was included in the sale, in our name. For that I first had to be registered with the municipality in Arcevia. After I finally found an open counter at the town hall, where there was also someone who was authorized, I got my identity card.

In the meantime, we had arranged insurance for the house and camping at the bank. But that of the car could not yet be put in my name. Asked if they knew if there was a car for rent somewhere. At one point there were three people on the phone for us. One bank employee had her husband, a Dutchman, on standby via a mobile phone to translate between the car rental and us.

This was our first experience with the friendliness and helpfulness of the Italians. In short, we had transport again.

Fiat Multipla

Because I was now registered in the population register, I went to the ACI to transfer the registration number. This was a 16 year old Fiat Multipla diesel. Cost of the transfer: € 536.  Never complain about the RDW again, eh?

My colleagues in the Netherlands laughed at me with my Fiat Multipla. I said: wait, it will become a collector's item one day. Well, here in Italy they still drive around in droves. And I must say that the car suits us very well. After this one we want another one. He is only seventeen years old now, and he can live another ten years!

Snow

Then it was January. January 16 to be exact. It started snowing. Nice. Snow is always fun, right? But it snowed on and on. The next day there was thirty centimeters of soggy wet snow. Clearing some snow. Nice too, right?

More snow fell. The next morning we awoke to a kind of dull thud. What time is it? No alarm clock that worked anymore. No power? Get out of bed quickly, and guess what? From one side of our roof, which consists of solar panels, all the snow had slid down at once. Panels on failure, no power and what was worse, the snow and a few roof tiles had hit the head of the internet dish. No internet and no more telephone. Moreover, we could no longer reach the road by car.

There was too much snow on our 400 meter long access road. We were totally cut off from the outside world. But with enough food in stock and enough wood for the stove, we got through those few days. A very special experience coming from a country where code red is given after three snowflakes. After switching off the solar panels, the power could also be switched on again.

The first spring

Anyway, it was spring and the weather was nice. In February we were already having lunch outside.
The real work could begin.

First we installed electricity at the tent pitches. At first I had the bad idea to dig the trenches for the cables with the shovel 'just for a while'. In the Netherlands that might have been successful, but digging a 300 meter trench here in soil saturated with stones was an impossible task.

A Dutch boy who had lived here for years and helped us knew a contractor with a tap. That was a godsend. He has also dug an access ramp for us so that caravans and folding trailers can also come to the campsite.

The man who operated the tap also made a steel bridge for us from scrap metal. We have a stream in the middle of our site, and if we want to get to the back of the site by car or tractor, we had to cross it.

We now have a bridge that a Leopard tank can cross. And that for € 100. You have to honor these kind of guys, because that comes in handy quite often. And one knows someone else, who knows someone else. In this way you also come between the local population.

At the beginning of April, the geyser in the toilet block was no longer working. The previous owner had forgotten to drain it, and hadn't told us so either. In short, frozen. Called the installer, and he ensured that a new one was installed. He also replaced the thermostatic knobs on all radiators in our house, because where we wanted heat there was none, and where it was not needed it became warm.

After a busy but beautiful spring with a lot of preparation work, we dived into our first season. What a different life. How nice it is to give many nice guests a nice holiday.

We even received a cup from one of the guests with the inscription: Best Startup Camping 2017. And after the season at Zoover at 8,7 standing did us very good.

Agricultural

The agricultural part of Camping Sensazione consists of a field of lavender. We mowed this at the beginning of August last year and we went to a distillery with the lavender.

Passing hot steam through the lavender in a kettle for an hour released the lavender oil. The mixture of water and oil was separated by distillation, and we got back both the pure lavender oil and the lavender water.

We now sell this in our camping shop. We now also have a regular baker who brings the ordered bread to us seven days a week and we also have a permanent local winery where we buy delicious and affordable wines.

Our first season is now over and we can't complain. The campsite and rental units were almost full throughout the high season.

wood stove

In our apartment there was a wood stove with a rickety pipe through the wall for the chilly evenings. Actually not familiar. Something had to be done about that. And in the land of the pellet stove, good advice is not expensive. The fact that when you replace a wood stove with a pellet stove you get about 95% subsidy is of course a very nice bonus. Only the installation costs were for our account.

Then we had to arrange it all ourselves. Take pictures on all sides of the old stove and the new stove. Take pictures of the specifications of the new stove. Invoice with proof of payment of the stove. Proof of payment of that invoice at the bank. Everything had to be handed in to an engineering firm on site. And let's just hope that one day that subsidy will be credited to our account. That too is Italy.

In the autumn we had 7.000 kg of firewood come in for heating our house. We have central heating in our house with a gas-fired combi boiler. Only then will your dab per month in the winter be about 500 euros further.

Result: this CV can also be fired on wood. Outside on our veranda is a wood stove that heats the central heating water. And that is significantly cheaper. It is some work, but then you are nice and warm. By the way, we only do this in the evening from about five o'clock. During the day we work nice and warm.

Preparing for the second season

It is now spring 2018 and we are already busy working on our second season. Very relaxed. Doing something for a day, day trip to a beautiful old town nearby, day trip to the sea. What a life!

So you see that as a civil servant you can also change your whole life if you want to.

Feel free to take a digital look at our campsite.

Photos: Lammert Kosters