Moving to Italy: A relocation rollercoaster

Fantastico! I am a tough critic and have nothing but kudos for this book. It is well written which is not always the case in this age of self publishing. I could not put it down. The characters come to life and the culture of Italy shines through. It is unpretentious and a great experience of Italian life. After six trips to Italy I felt like this was trip number seven. Buy this book!!!

Excellent read if you like to learn about new culture, Italian people and European lifestyles. The author goes into insightful detail from firsthand account experience living in Italy as a university student and tourist. Then he decides to become a permanent resident and buy a house. In first-person narrative, this is a very informative book on what to expect and issues that might arise like public bathrooms, buying a house and hiring a real estate agent, interacting with natives when they don't speak English, the food, and the long process of becoming a citizen. The book is long but an easy read. Highly recommend if you like memoirs and travel blogs! This novel is similar to an Americorps ebook, "I Wanted Sunshine but Ran Sideways" by Jenn Ruben

What a delight this book was to read! It's the story of 2 Dutchmen, Stef and his husband Nico and their dog emigrating to Italy to open their B & B, Villa Due Padroni in the Pavia area. It's down to earth with the realistic stories of their trials with the bureaucracy that are resolved in true Italian fashion.The characters are all people you can identify with, Torti the dictator, is the one that I found to be the most amusing, but can't leave out mention of the shady real estate agent, the crazy neighbors, the owners and staff of the wineries, all charming in their own ways. I loved the ravioli story in particular. Makes me want lessons from Lena.We come to know Stef quite well, but I wish more of Nico's personality came out in the book.I really enjoyed Stef's writing style, it was as though I read short stories from his individual style, but he brings it all together so well that it also seems like a book.At the end a link is provided for the B & B, make sure to look it up and see what a beautiful villa it is and like myself, be tempted to book a trip to Italy and enjoy the beautiful B & B and area that they are living in. Thank you for the goodreads giveaway book Stef. I will think back on it often.

Stef Smulders and his partner Nico have a dream and a goal-moving to Italy from the Netherlands and crafting a B&B in the hill country near Pavia. They have apparently no experience in the hospitality or building trades and learning Italian is a work in progress. As with most dreams, there are hurdles before a relatively happy ending.There are good and bad people everywhere. It is their misfortune that they wind up with a real estate agent and a general contractor who have, shall we say, multiple character flaws. Fortunately, there are good people, workers, an architect, restauranteurs, some tradespeople and neighbors, who help them overcome setbacks and chicanery.Stef skewers the lazy academics at Pavia University that he briefly and theoretically works with. The massive work project turning their semi-abandoned hulk of a house into an attractive tourist destination seems an almost daily nightmare. If you are an HGTV addict, this is a Fixer Upper with a builder who is not your friend. The line between humor and revenge is a thin one. From my legal background, they come close to defamation. But getting back at some folks whose professional and character flaws are both annoying and almost comical may be fair game. Whether it is entertaining or not is debatable.The book is well written and affords some interesting perspectives on the problems ex-pats face. There are chapters on what they do love about Italy. The bulk of the book is focused on the nearly daily tribulations. Whether that is painful or insightful depends on your point of view.

Netherlands author Stef Smulders is a Dutch expat who moved to Italy in 2008, accompanied by his husband Nico and dog Saar, to start their bed and breakfast Villa I Due Padroni in the Oltrepo Pavese wine region, just south of Milan. Originally published in Dutch in 2014, Emese Mayhew has translated this fresh version into English.As Stef explained in an Interview, ‘I moved from The Netherlands to Italy in 2008, originally for what was supposed to become a 6 month study period at the University of Pavia for me and a sabbatical for Nico, my husband. But we had another, more or less secret, plan: to find a beautiful house and start a bed & breakfast! What happened was that within two months we came across a perfect house, meeting all, I mean ALL, our requirements, located in a beautiful region on a panoramic position. At that point we had to decide: do we take this chance or not? If not, we might just as well forget about the whole idea of emigrating, as we certainly would not find a better house than this one. Better sorry than safe, we said and jumped blindfoldedly into the dark. From the start we kept a blog about all our adventures (finding the house, buying it, reconstructing it, dealing with the real estate man, the builder, the notary et cetera). After having settled for a few years I decided to convert these stories into a book.’ And there is no better synopsis than that!What is placed before the reader in this deliciously entertaining book is a series of vignettes of the shared experiences between Stef and Nico and the Italians, stories (or former blogs) that are not only entertaining and filed to the brim with robust humor, sly innuendoes, and some practical struggles in adapting to a new country and people, but it also is an education we all could use in making life changes - the dos and don’ts.It is the flavor of Stef’s writing that makes this little book musical – ‘For the last few weeks, we had lived in the quiet, historical, university town of Pavia. In the next 6 months, I was going to continue with my MA in Medieval Culture, and my husband, Nico would enjoy his well-earned sabbatical. He was going to hoover, do the shopping and cook, whilst I could immerse myself in times gone by. But there was this secret, unspoken wish that didn’t leave us alone: could we…, what if we..., imagine if...? And already, just a couple of weeks into our stay in Pavia, we started looking at properties, with the intention of permanently settling down and setting up a B&B!’There is more of the flavor of Italy in this book than in its close cousin, Frances Mayes’ ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ – aspects of the Italian manner of speech, actions, dealings, and passion that are irresistible in Stef’s practiced hands. He even leaves a glossary of Italian words and terms for us to explore. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 16

A charming book about the experiences of two Dutchmen settling in Italy, and their attempts relocate to the Pavia area and renovate an old building to run a B&B. Clearly two highly organised and meticulous people, we follow their fortunes as with great forbearance they wend their way through inexplicably complicated regulations and officialdom and have to grapple with the vagaries of Italian services. This is all described with great humour, and although what I have said might make the book sound condescending – it isn’t. The author is plainly devoted to the country, but he has a keen eye for the oddities of human nature, which means the book is full of entertaining stories.The book consists of a series of separate tales, but it hangs together as a whole. I think a fierce editor might have come in handy to reduce the length of the book, as the detail with which the building works are described is sometimes lengthy, but it reads very easily. It is one of those books that you can pick up and read a chapter when you have time. It is also a joy to read; it is crisply and stylishly written, and the translator has done a splendid job in putting this over.Above all, it should be read by anyone thinking of relocating to Italy

Wow, what an adventure that was! I actually felt like it was me who bought a house in the beautiful wine region of Oltrepo in Italy and developed it into a Bed and Breakfast! I felt so involved in all the stages of the intricate procedures and building activities! "Living in Italy - The Real Dream" written by Stef Smulders is a self told book about two Dutchmen and their dog, who wish to emigrate to Italy to buy a house with the intentions of turning it into a B and B.I loved the way this interesting story was told with humour, showing how Stef and his partner were able to keep their sanity during probably the most tense and worrisome times of their lives. I really can't imagine staying that calm and stress free myself!The author has a brilliant way of describing each of the complicated stages from choosing the house to finally completing their dream venture in full and colourful detail. So many complicated Italian regulations, bureaucracy, procedures, language barriers and culture changes to take into account when you undertake a project like this is quite unbelievable. The amount of obstacles that was faced but overcome just showed how strong and determined Stef and Nico were in ensuring everything still went to plan whilst staying so passionate towards their adopted country.This is a really charming book to read, fully enjoyable and very interesting. So many quirky chapters that will have you laughing to yourself. I particularly thought the library and the toilet chapters very funny and their crazy contractor....well, you need to read the book to find out!I highly recommend "Living The Dream", I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and hope you will too. It's light and easy, full of fun and truly entertaining.5 stars.

I always read my Kindle in bed for about an hour. Unfortunately I was enjoying this book so much I carried on reading making me really tired the next day. One of my son's always says I am easy to buy presents for as anything German Shepherd Dog or Italy/Italian will always be very welcome. I loved reading about their house renovations and their dreadful builder and his long suffering workers. I enjoyed the Italian phrases scattered through the book. I was sorry when the book came to an end. It was a thoroughly entertaining read.

Lost in translation!!!! Am really struggling to find any humour, just a lot of whinging. The book would be half its size were it not for the repetition of Italian phrases followed by their translation- feels like the author just wants to show how good his Italian is!!!! Very boring, going to abandon it now.

I accidentally came across this book while scanning through my collection of e-books, looking for something interesting to read.As I love Italy and everything Italian, the language, the culture, the food and the beautiful country as a whole, I thought this could be something for me.And I was right. I found the story about fulfilling a dream after relocating to Italy really lovely and I loved the fantastic sense of humour the story was written with.

Maybe the Dutch sense of humour is different or maybe the humour got lost in translation. I can see that some of the situations they found themselves in could be amusing but just not written in an interesting way.

I am struggling with this book. I want to like it but its so boring and without humour.

I looked forward to reading this book but was soon disappointed with the way it was written.A bit disjointed and difficult to get a time scale.Also annoying to include Italian phrases repeatedly.Overall a disappointment.

Really enjoyed reading this book. It is informative and humorous. A great read for anyone whether contemplating a move to Italy or just interested in reading about the experiences of others.

A boring read

Sorry, I just couldn't get into this book and I gave up......

I found it boring, didn't hold my interest.

Very boring. I deleted it from my Kindle before I had read 10% of the book. Completely devoid of humour. My shopping list is more exciting.

Great read found it an easy read and funny

Fantastic read loved it