Well, sadly I've had to lower my expectations quite a bit (I’m sure this comes as a SHOCK to those of you who know me…!) ;-). I have had to come to terms with the fact that "Yes, I am living in SOUTHERN Italy, not NORTHERN Italy," so my idea of my fantastic dream villa/home/apartment has been shattered to bits. Having a good friend who works in the State Department, I have heard all of these wonderful stories of what huge houses, nice patios and gardens, proximity to work, etc., one can get overseas with the allowance provided. Well, apparently who I work for has different ideas…
Naples has had a problem with severe overdevelopment, so as a consequence many of the apartments are shoddily built, poorly maintained, and more than likely aren't wired properly (I've seen at least one that isn't - despite EU law mandating proper grounding, etc. - SHOCKING! yeah, right.). They build similarly styled buildings, in a sort of communist-blah style, and then only paint them approximately every 10 years when they are supposedly required to by law. So, while many buildings may have beautiful views of Sorrento, Mt. Vesuivius, etc., they also have their views severely blighted by the eyesores of hundreds upon hundreds of tenements. If only they would build them in a bit more attractive manner, then they would also get the benefit of looking at something beautiful – not peeling paint, rusty railings, and sometimes crumbling balconies that look like they’re just teetering on the edge of dissolving. Also, for some totally bizarre reason, the Italians down here complain about high heating and utility bills, but continue to construct buildings with NO insulation. Concrete does not count as an insulator. There’s a reason the Roman Empire built things several layers thick, with several types of masonry. Apparently the fall of the Roman Empire also led to the disappearance of decent architecture and proper civil engineering. It’s like everyone forgot what they were doing and said, “Hey, let’s just start from scratch here, and throw up some concrete pilings, cement ‘em up, slap one layer of paint on ‘em, and yep, wow, Marco, that seems right! That should last a few months or so.” Also, there are no carpets on the floors, only stone or tile, so you have to put multiple rugs down and have fairly sturdy curtains if you expect to keep any of the heat in! (This picture actually makes these apartments look decent... I'll have to take some more up-close. Then you'll be able to see the patios bulging with old toys, decrepit appliances, and granny panties drying in the not-so-clean air.)
In order to find housing here, you have to work through the "Housing Office." You can look at their database of available homes, and then they help you negotiate the contract, or you can call individual "Landlord Reps" and they drive you around from place to place. Some people have "the feeling" about a place early on, and some people much much later (after seeing 30+ places!) I think at this point I've seen about 20 places, and I've had a good "feeling" about three of them, and one in particular stronger than others. There are only a few places to live near the water that are considered fairly safe and have a more youthful vibe – Pozzuoli, Arco Felice, Bacoli, and Monte di Procida. The further you drive from work, the prettier, bigger (relatively speaking), and safer the places get. It seems you have to sacrifice quality to live closer to work, and in order to get a really safe and healthy-sized place you have to live a good 35 minutes away on the morning drive and an hour or so plus on the drive back in the afternoon/evening. Since this place has a 50-60% unemployment rate, I’m wondering why the HECK they’re all on the ROAD when WE who are EMPLOYED need to be! ;-)~
The Landlord Reps are an interesting bunch, and it seems to be a rather cut-throat business. They get very miffed when another rep has shown you an apartment already, especially when the owner had supposedly given them an “exclusive” right to show it to prospective tenants. My understanding is that they get the first month's rent, so they have a pretty good incentive to make your rent fairly high, rather than negotiate for a better rate. I’m hoping that’s what the Housing Office folks will help out with (yes, I’m remaining optimistic, while I pretty much feel that’s not what’s going to happen). While I was out one day with a rep looking at a place that's around 1300 Euros (my “cap” is 1400 Euros), I asked the rep how much an Italian person would expect to pay for this certain apartment. The rep stated, “Oh, around 800-1000 Euros.” I asked, “Why would I be expected to pay 1300 then?” The rep responds, “Oh, well, that is because the Americans want kitchen cabinets (this particular place already had them installed) and light fixtures (also already installed) and things like this.” OK, REALLY, I’m fairly sure I could pop down to the local Auchan (Europe’s version of Wal-Mart) and get some lighting fixtures, then pop down to whatever home improvement store was in the area and get some kitchen cabinets for MUCH less than a 500 EURO A MONTH overage. I’m hoping to nail down a place soon, and am going out with another rep tomorrow to see what they day offers…
Oh, and if you expect to get anywhere AT ALL around here, you need a Garmin or a Tom Tom. I’m currently figuring out which one is better. Apparently Panasonic has one as well, a CN-GP50N Portable Navigation System. If anyone has any suggestions of how I can find out which one really is better than the others, please let me know. :-)
