Shopping, day two

Linda, the agent who's been showing me around the Val d'Orcia for two days, is a gem. Efficient, on time, good driver, cheerful--everything one would want in a RE agent or a friend. I have enjoyed my time with her.

Yesterday we looked at six more houses, starting in Pienza with a townhouse owned by an American restaurant and hotel owner. The house had one nice feature--a great rooftop terrace, but the rest was a charmless pile of boxes.

Then in Montepulciano we looked at two more. One was very interesting and located on a relatively flat residential street and the other was actually two small apartments, next to each other, with a common entrance. They were both cute, but it was hard to visualize how one would live with two kitchens, and neither one was big enough to live in without the other. There was no outdoor space at all at either location. This has been the hardest thing to find.

After lunch we saw a small free-standing house in Montecchiello--too small and the town doesn't have any regular grocery shops. Then a very unattractive apartment with a large and beautiful garden in San Giovanni d'Asso. The garden had an olive grove that overlooked the castle on one end of the town, but the apartment was up four flights of stairs. Just not for us.

And then there was a cute house with a garden in Castiglione d'Orcia, which is the town just to the south of Bagno Vignoni. This place needs a little renovation, but it has a lot of potential and the town is extremely charming.

Here's a pic of the medeival piazza in Castiglione d'Orcia:

Here's the entrance to the house, under a grape-covered pergola:

Here's a view of the ground floor, which is kitchen/dining/sitting area:

This is the garden, which has nine olive trees, some grapes and roses:

Now Joe and I have to decide if this is "the one," or do we keep looking???

Stay tuned . . . .