Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Big Adventure

versione italiana sotto
I haven't posted since March, so let's see if I can remember how to do this.
A lot has happened since my existential musings on the meaning of life as I walked through Golden Gate Park, in fact I am no longer living in the United States. Two weeks ago I moved from San Francisco to the town of Ceglie Messapica in the region of Puglia, in southern Italy.
I spent my last two years of high school in a nearby city, lived in a house in the countryside outside of Ceglie from 1974 to 1977 and visited this area every time I came to Italy on vacation, which was probably on an average of every two years.
The house that my father had built on land he and my mother purchased in 1972 is still standing but has not been lived in since 1987, and is in pretty bad shape. It's not the one in the photo. The one above is of a place nearby and it's a "trullo", the cone-shaped structure that the region is known for.
So for years I thought of the house and pined over it every time I visited, wondering what I should do about it. Finally in May I decided that I would come here spend some time alone in the town and make a decision once and for all.
Since you know that I have moved here it's obvious what the decision was. However.........I am now wondering if I will be able, psychologically and financially to do what I would like to do, which is make it livable, and maybe even profitable.
As you can see the surrounding area and the land the house is on are beautiful.





It's the house that's the big problem........

In italiano
Non scrivo qui da marzo, quando passeggiavo nel Golden Gate Park e mi ponevo questioni esistenziali, vediamo se mi ricordo come si fa......
Molto e` cambiato da allora, infatti non vivo piu` a San Francisco e da pochi giorni mi sono trasferita a Ceglie Messapica, in Puglia. 
Il luogo non mi e` nuovo perche` ho trascorso gli ultimi due anni di anni di liceo a Brindisi e da allora durante ogni visita in Italia, in media ogni due anni, sono sempre venuta anche a Ceglie. 
Nel 1972 mio padre fece costruire una casa su del terreno che lui e mia madre avevano comprato nella campagna cegliese, dove sono rimasti fino al 1987. A quei tempi la casa era splendida, bianchissima e circondata dai fiori che mio padre cresceva, ma da allora non e` stata abitata e adesso e` in pessime condizioni. Non e` quella in cima alla pagina, ma si trova nelle vicinanze. 
Per anni ho avuto nostalgia per questa casa e per questi luoghi e cosi` a giugno di quest'anno ho trascorso alcune settimane a Ceglie e ho finalmente preso la decisione che mi ha riportato qui. 
Il tetto e` stato gia` ricostruito, ma non so quant'altro riusciro` a fare per la casa, perche` non so se avro` le necessarie risorse psicologiche e economiche. Si vedra`. 
Come potete vedere la campagna circostante ed il terreno intorno alla casa sono bellissimi, ma e` la casa che e` un gran disastro..........


4 comments:

Alice Joyce said...

How exciting! The house's architecture appears quite fascinating.
I'll look forward to following your 'adventure' ...
Will be thinking of you, from my home in the Bay Area.
Alice
aka Bay Area Tendrils / Alice's Garden Travel Buzz
p.s. my heritage is Southern Italian, too.

andimaxx said...

Good luck and may all your dreams come true.

anna maria said...

thank you Alice and Andimaxx,
it is proving to be quite an adventure and, except for a few complications, I do not regret the big leap!

Anonymous said...

AMS

IF YOU HAVENT REACHED A DECISION PLEASE CONSIDER
'destino" SINCE HE IS OBVIOUSLY A DOG OF DESTINY..call me ASAP PLEASE

Patrick Eden Joshua