Let the Hard Work Commence!
Finding out more about our local area and choosing our team!
Still over the moon from yesterday's victory, we woke up early as there is a long list of appointments in line for today. We arrived at the farm at 9am, the previous owner, Andrea, was already there. He took us on a walk around the farm, displayed us all the rooms, facilities and made sure everything was alright before he handed over the keys to the property. The farmhouse was pretty run down, as we remembered, but we plan to do a complete renovation, so we didn't mind so much.
We started our meetings at 10am. First, we met a local geometra, he was the previous owner’s geometra and also helped us as a witness during the transaction. He grew up in Gambassi and he also knew the planner in Gambassi commune very well. As he wasn’t able to speak any English, he brought a friend along to help translate as well as an engineer. We walked through the property together and expressed our ideas on how to make it our dream home. The meeting went well and was great for us to go through the items with a local professional to help understand some limitations.
The second appointment was with a project manager from Florence, he did not seem to be too interested in the project so the meeting finished much quicker than we expected.
Around midday, we went for lunch in Gambassi Terme, the town our farm is situated in. On the way there, we saw two guys who had stopped at the top of our farm and went into the bushes. We stopped to say hi, turns out they were our neighbours, who ran a horse stable next door, they were picking up some wild asparagus for salad! Handy to know that we have asparagus growing in our farm! We continued to lunch and went to a bar (in Italian bar means cafe) for some freshly baked pizza - it was delicious!
In the afternoon, we met with an agronomist and oenologist. Whom are those you may be wondering? An agronomist is an expert in soil management and crop production; an oenologist is a specialist in wine making.
In layman terms, the agronomist helps us to look after the farm, to ensure the vines are healthy and give effective production. In Italy and the EU, there are also a lot of grants to help farmers, including planting new vines and replacing old farming equipment, he would be an expert to help us to apply for such grants. The oenologist, on the other hand, helps us for the process after the grapes leave the vines. He helps to form the blend of the wine we desire, based on our taste, and to ensure the quality (production, bottling, labelling etc), is all controlled and up to scratch. As we plan to rebuild our own wine making facilities, he will be helping us to design the equipment and cellar as well. The first step he suggested was that we arrange a date for wine tasting to design our wine! The agronomist and oenologist were very friendly and knowledgeable, so we got them on board straight away!
The last meeting of the day, we met another project manager - hoping that he would show more interest in our project in comparison to the first project manager! He is from Ireland, yet has lived in the area for over 20 years. His works have mainly been based in Tuscany and he had his own team of professionals including architects, geometras and interior designers. He also gave us two books that he wrote regarding buying and restoring properties in Tuscany, the meeting went well and to be honest a lot easier with a fluent English speaker (we know this is our downfall of not being able to speak the language).
The big question is...do we want someone with a local connection or someone with good communication? Our project is going to be quite large, with a lot of money being spent, so this is a very difficult decision for us.
After a long day of introductions, meetings and decision making, the best way to award ourselves is to have a great dinner! We went to San Gimignano, a famous medieval town that is only 20 minutes away from our farm. Our favourite restaurant was unfortunately closed, so we decided to try a new restaurant and it did not disappoint! It was a Japanese and Italian fusion cuisine that served the best tagliolini with truffles we have ever had!
