Housing...First Look at Private Rentals

Friday afternoon Tony and I met our translator, Fabio, and took a field trip to look at two private rentals. The first was in Cavazzale, slightly to the North of Vicenza proper. We loved the location; it was the center unit of a triplex on a dead-end street, near a small school. To reach the home we had to go past the school and loop around because there were a few one-way streets, and it was all very residential and proper. We pulled up to a beautiful little iron gate as a man in his 60s (or so) was walking out. White hair, cute soccer jacket, engaging smile. He said "Ciao" and spoke to the translator for a few minutes. As it turns out, that was the landlord's brother, and he is in one of the end units.

The first place, built in the mid-1980s, was pretty darn huge. Technically it had three bedrooms, but there was a bonus loft upstairs and a bonus room in the basement. That basement room was AWESOME. It had a sink, a long table set for twelve, and a wood-burning fireplace in the corner. Basically it's the "entertain and feed your guests" room. Poker room, maybe? Most areas of this house, including each of the bedrooms, had very ample balcony space with a nice view of the neighbors' houses. We're talking wisteria vines and brick arches and church steeples in the background. This place is walking distance to the train station and probably walking distance to the grocery store, though it might cross over into better biking distance. Anyway, in between the three rooms upstairs was kind of an awkward walk-through that was set up with a row of wardrobes to be a giant closet and dressing area. You see, houses in Italy don't come with closets, or even much room in the kitchens, for that matter. I keep wondering how they cook all that amazing food in those teeny-tiny kitchens! There was actually some cabinetry and shelving in the bathroom and a closet-sized storage room in the basement next to the laundry room though. Major cons of this place are the fact that it had no lawn or yard whatsoever, and was split into four levels with a very tight and twisty staircase. There is no way that our bedset and mattress would make it up those stairs, and even our dressers would probably be difficult unless they went vertically, and those things are damn heavy. We learned (and sumised) the big stuff would have to go over the balconies via a pulley system. The previous renters were American, as is the other non-family neighbor, and the house is already set-up for AFN satellite and internet.

On to the second place! It was only a mile or two away, in Monticello Conte Otto, and the ride out there felt like going into the country. This one was a lot newer, and in fact has never had any renters. It was a duplex also situated on a dead-end. It's really in a corner, with the duplex neighbor obviously attached and one other house in front of it. The other side was wide open and behind the home is a corn field. Well, actually the field was unplanted but Fabio is pretty sure it will be corn. We opened the car doors and heard yapping- a Napoleonic Chihuahua was announcing his presence in the yard next door. Behind us was an older lady hanging wash; I waved and her two dogs ran up the driveway to say hi, wagging their spotted tails. No barking from them, but we noticed they did leave a present right in front of the pedestrian gate. Nice. What a great welcome. Anyway, inside the gate is a gravel driveway (with a lot of weeds, I should point out), which makes a 90-degree turn into a pretty substantial carport. When we walked into the home there was a foyer with stairs, and the living room to the right. Under the stairs were cupboards (no shelves or hanging rods, though) and to the back was a long and skinny garage. In between the garage and living room were a bathroom and laundry room. Upstairs a very shocking teal dining area, with a very new-looking kitchen. It had a decent amount of storage built-in and a nice balcony. I think it had a retractable awning, but I can't remember - I know the first place had a few of those. Anyway, another bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs. The master would be big enough for the bed, certainly, but no room for the dressers or probably even side tables. Much easier to get everything up those stairs, though. And the other bedroom was probably normal-sized for Italy but on the small side for the states. This house had a nice little yard in the back, though it was quite overgrown. Good place for grilling, catching some sun, playing bocce ball...the layout of the house was a bit more typical than the first one, though I think it's kind of weird to have the kitchen upstairs. Layout would be tricky given our particular collection of furniture and stuff, but we could probably make it work.

So, that was our first foray into the private rental market! Two very nice options. Neither of them really sang to us, though we liked them both. The second one was very attractive, but we'd really have to play some Tetris to get a usable set-up with our furniture. Our next appointment is on Tuesday; we have a confirmation to see one place in the morning, and we have to call the second one tomorrow to double-check. The landlord wasn't home when our housing lady called on Friday; her son answered the phone and asked us to call back after the weekend. Hopefully we can set that up for Tuesday morning as well. We have a couple more options we wouldn't mind looking at, but are approaching the 5-home limit with an interpreter. Keep your fingers crossed!