By way of a bit of background, what you see in this photograph used to be a stand-alone bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.
Buying a property in Italy is rarely simple and when we had arrived at the point where we wanted to make an offer, our geometra looked into the property in more depth and discovered that the building had been illegally erected some years ago. Hence, we would be advised not to purchase the property unless the vendor dropped the price and demolished the extra building.
The vendor, therefore, duly did the minimum required to make the site legal again by removing the roof to make it inhabitable. He also did us a favour by not demolishing the walls and leaving in place the basic fixtures and fittings.
What you see here is the beginning of the process of turning the building into an external kitchen and dining area complete with barbecue, fridge and bathroom. From now on known by the builders as ‘the illegal building’ or ‘l’edificio illegale’. It will have a bamboo roof (which is allowed) for shade and shelter from the Puglian sunshine. It will also be entirely re-plastered and re-clad in matching, sympathetic stone to create something really special from what might at first have been a bit of a white elephant.
We are really pleased with this development and feel it will add enormously to the enjoyment of our future guests. They will able to take full advantage of the warm climate by being able to enjoy cooking and eating in the open air in an area that has it’s own facilities but is very adjacent also to the main house and swimming pool.
Watch this space.