I'll have officially taken early retirement when I move to Italy next spring and I own a very large house and garden there. There is an unobstructed view of the entire Val d'Orcia from both. My plan is to live on the top two floors, turn the first floor into guest quarters and then.... The ground level has two cantine which open directly onto the only commercial street in the village. It's a one way lane that runs from the main piazza at the entrance to the village all the way to the exit at the other end. Most doors along this route are entrances to private residences, but interspersed among them are a bar, a hairdresser, the pharmacy, a geometra's studio, a flower shop, a couple of clothing stores, a fabric store, a grocery, a newsvendor and the post office.

I don't want to WORK but partly for pleasure and partly in self defense, I want to do something with the space. The self defense part came about when the rather unsavory proprietor of the bar five doors down rushed me upon my arrival this past spring and tried to pressure me into renting him the space for a - get this!!!- video game parlor. Che schifo! I said, very firmly, "No, serve di me!!!" (I need the space!)

I am thinking about creating an art gallery (open only seasonally) which could feature, initially, work by several of my very talented Italian friends- a painter, a photographer, a sculptor, a dollmaker (her work is exquisite in its artistry)....

My other notion is to explore the possibility of hosting a WiFi hotspot to one side of the gallery.

It seems to me that both endeavors would be positive additions to the village without being either intrusive or competitive.

posted by Joanna @ 6/12/2004 10:53:00 AM