FROM TUSCANY TO UMBRIA

Cristian nearly fainted as the door to what was to become the flat we would move into opened. He hardly dared put one foot inside. The cobwebs were thick against all walls, even hanging from the ceiling like in Morticia’s house. Pigeon pooh caked the floor and most windowsills. No windows could be opened to let the light in as scaffolding blocked both sides of the building. The only free ones gave breathtaking views of the internal courtyard (a glorified way of saying a gap in the building to let light in) and its towers of bird dung, sprinkled with a variety of dead animals. After a bit of convincing, we signed the lease with the coldest and most bizarre landlords ever. I immediately called the renovation team from Switzerland and the cleaning began.