The Montalcino House

Construction is finally underway

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If you are just tuning in, check out our past newsletters to catch up on our adventure of finding and buying a 100-year-old home in Montalcino.

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Montalcino and the Val d'Orcia in the early morning light.

Demo Begins

Montalcino is seven hours ahead of Minneapolis, and over the past few weeks, we’ve woken up to WhatsApp messages from Gabriele and his assistant Mirco. First, there were documents to sign, copies of our passports to send, and wire transfers to make to the city of Montalcino to secure the permits. Then, there were voice messages confirming the project start date. Finally, a few days before our arrival, Gabriele sent a video of guys with hammers banging away at the floors and walls and one worker carefully cleaning and setting aside the terra cotta floor tile we wanted to save and reuse. Demo was finally underway!

Back in Montalcino

We arrived in Montalcino yesterday early afternoon after spending a few days in Rome. With a tray of pastries in hand to offer to the crew, we went straight to the house to meet our construction team. A few workers were on site when we arrived, but the team was still on their way, so we did a walkthrough to have a look.

Upstairs was demoed, and the crew was in the process of building new walls to create two new bathrooms out of the original large one. As we stepped into the primary upstairs bedroom, Stefano’s mom, Maria, who is spending the weekend in Montalcino with us, noticed a problem - the location of the door to the new en-suite bathroom left no good spot to put the bed.

Stefano jumped into action and asked the workers to stop the construction of that wall so that we could re-evaluate the location of the door.

Unlike in the US, where walls are framed and drywalled, in Italy walls are made of porotherm blocks and plaster.

Gabriele, our geometra, arrived soon after with his uncle, Massimiliano, the owner of the construction company we’d selected to oversee the work, and Mirco, his assistant. Marco, the plumbing subcontractor, showed up next. He is a big, jovial guy who looks every bit like a plumber. Lastly, the electrical subcontractor, also named Marco, arrived.

After a quick meet and greet, we all went upstairs to evaluate the bathroom door. If we relocated it to the far left, the bed would fit against the new bathroom wall and look out over the valley. But that would require rearranging the bathroom layout. Could that be done? All four guys stepped into the small en-suite bathroom and began problem-solving in rapid-fire Italian with their Tuscan dialect. A few minutes later, they emerged triumphant. It could be done.

Problem number one of who-knows-how-many-more solved!

Demo debris is sent out an upstairs bedroom window, thorugh a big chute and into the yard below. Eventually it will be loaded into trucks and taken off site to be disposed of.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

From there, we went room by room, floor by floor, taking notes and jotting down decisions to be made.

• Do we remove the upstairs ceilings and recreate them in the original Tuscan style? It’s a big expense; let’s evaluate where our budget lands.

• Yes, let’s lower the floor at the entryway to bring it level to the living room, but we want to preserve the original vaulted ceilings in the foyer.

• Where should we re-use the terracotta that was removed from the bedroom floors? The terrace, perhaps? Or maybe the kitchen?

• Where should the stairway to the downstairs go? If we tuck it away into the corner, we need to cut through the enormous log beam. But if we avoid the beam, the stairs will take up more of the kitchen space.

• What is our best water heater option? Gas powered? Electric? One for each bathroom or one large one to serve the whole house? We want to ensure adequate hot water for all three bathrooms.

After several hours of animated discussion, we had uncovered more questions than answers. It was Friday afternoon, and we were all tired. We agreed to reconvene in separate appointments with each subcontractor next week to fine-tune our plan.

The Wheels are in Motion

We left our house with a range of thoughts and emotions - pressure over the decisions that needed to be made soon, worry about the challenges of managing the project from abroad, but mostly, enormous relief that, finally, renovations were underway.

As we walked down the road back to our Airbnb, our phones buzzed. It was Gabriele sending us the contact information for Ugo, the local gentleman who has been taking care of our yard. We want to reach out, to meet and thank him in person, and formalize the arrangement for his services. We also want to ask his opinion about the two olive trees in the backyard. Should we prune and try to save them, or take them down and plant new ones?

We want Ugo's opinion on the two olive trees in the back yard.

Photo Album

A new discovery: we have a mini pomegranate tree. Marco, our plumber, tells us that they are edible.

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Stay Tuned…

Next week’s update will be from Montalcino, as we experience our first Sagra del Tordo.

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About Montalcino

Montalcino is a medieval town of approximately 6,000 residents, located about 25 miles south of Siena, 85 miles south of Florence, and 145 miles north of Rome. Perched on a hill in the heart of the world-class Brunello di Montalcino wine-producing region, Montalcino has scenic views of the olive groves and vineyards of the surrounding countryside. Visitors come from all over the world to enjoy the town’s cultural events and to experience its wine tourism. It’s long been one of our favorite places to visit.