lunedi, marzo 12
This spring and summer I have plans to make more progress on my house project list. I am now beginning my patio and pergola project. To the side of my front porch is a patio where I put my green iron table and chairs I brought from Minnesota. I decided I wanted to build a pergola or gazebo as they call them here, over the table. The more I researched I also decided I wanted to tile the patio as now it was just ugly concrete with weeds growing in the cracks. Here are some before pictures. Note the palm behind the table for later. Also note the view of the sea in the other pictures - should remove any doubt why I want to improve this outdoor space. You can't really get a feel for the size but it is quite a large area.
So a few weeks ago the tile work started. The worker (Mariano) is the son-in-law of my cousin Nicola. Mariano is a stone mason/tile worker by trade. He and his brothers are from Romania. They do amazing work - very detailed, clean and efficient - totally un-Italian! HAHA! This part of the project is so not Italian - as he came over on a Monday to review the job, came back on Tuesday to review again and give me the price, then started the work on Thursday, continued on Friday and finished the following week (only due to a rain delay of about a week. In total it was a 4-5 day project. I can't say enough about them. But as the project started I once again thought about "Under the Tuscan Sun" when she hired the Polish contractors. Well here they are Romanian - are really good looking and very talented. So really not the same - but the vision was fun!
The one part of the project that WAS Italian was the contracting/price negotiation. There were no contracts involved, no haggling over price. He told me the price, I agreed. No paperwork, no contracts, no attorneys, no lien waivers, nothing!!!! Now I'm not sure if that was because I am "family" but in all my other dealings there have been no contracts, paperwork, etc. So I believe that is the Italian way, at least in the south. I like it!
Here are pictures of the process:
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| The palm tree must be removed and hopefully relocated |
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| The new home for the palm in my garden The good news is it is surviving in its new place |
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| Prep for the concrete base |
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| The new concrete base |
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| Tile work begins Tile edging is first |
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| Even covered the former concrete steps Nice Look |
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| The main tile work in progress |
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| The finished product |
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| Can't wait to add potted plants and maybe some fun outdoor furniture |
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| This dirt area will be covered and become an area for my BBQ grill |
I have now starting working with my cousin Antonio, il falegname, (the carpenter) to design my pergola/gazebo. We have agreed on the design and now waiting for the approval from the Comune. Anticipated completion is early May. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the project.
