ancora 2 mese

and yet it's been another 2 months (plus) since the last post which was titled "2 more months". We are now winding down September already and have just been passing the time, not idly mind you, but passing it nonetheless in regards to the house situation.

milky September sunset

I've been lazy at writing updates on here as I wavered between the feelings of it not quite being real (yet or at all) and the feeling that I should just act as nothing is happening and let go rather than have it constantly in my head so that the pieces fall into place when they should.

However, I was inspired to finally type once again as this past week seemed to be the passing of a big hurdle. For a moment, however, I'll catch you up on what's transpired thus far since spring.

In February I signed the initial contract to acquire the land and building volume from two different sellers, and combine these for one sale. (This is a story with many many details for another day). Because the volume allowed from the sale was less than the size of house I want, there was an opportunity to expand the allowance by a certain percentage if one meets the eco-certification requirements of a high grade (either B or A).

This started a long procedure of gathering all of the specs from not only with what materials the house would be built and what eco-friendly implementations would be made such as solar-panels and water retention tanks, but also how close the lot is to the nearest bus-stop, school, and hospital, as well as how far the builders will be driving and how fuel-efficient their vehicles are. This took a couple of months to complete with a team of engineers and my architect. The file was finally submitted to the ARPA (eco-certification committee) sometime around May. But after a couple of weeks it came back that we were 1 point short of making the grade and an additional provision would have to be made. (This entire certification comes on a point-system where each material, etc is given a point value which raises or lowers the overall eco-impact). So another engineer stepped in to suggest an additional (somewhat expensive) "acoustic" report that I could have done which should give us the extra point. I gave the thumbs up, the calculation and report was completed by another engineer, and it succeeded in offering the additional point. The plan was then resubmitted in June, during which time I had been sent photos by my geometra when the complete folder had been turned in, basically to show how large he file was and that it included around 250 pages of reports.

And then on July 23 I received word that the "parere" (opinion) of the ARPA (eco-certification committee) had been approved. This was a very big deal.

To me, other than the annoyance of having to do this at all at such detail and the fact that it already had taken several months to complete, I was thinking pretty positively that if we did what they said, then we'd get the points and thus an approval. It wasn't until after we received the final "si" that the engineers confessed their dubious frets throughout this entire process thus far, recounting how commonly this process at the ARPA is rumored to take 1-2 years, and how other people they know have gone back and forth so many times during a nightmare ordeal. I'm grateful they spared me these details before.

All I knew what that it was one big *check* off the list and it was time to move forward to the next big step.

That meant finalizing a few forms for the final building plans that included the newly approved ARPA certification before it was ready to turn in to the city commission. On July 28 "la practica" was completed and dropped off to the city offices ready for their next commission meeting which was slated for August 6. Of course August in Italy is one of those months that slides into the black-hole of existence as most businesses are closed, people are gone on holiday, and those that are actually in town don't schedule too much work as no one else is around to either collaborate or patronize. So I was surprised that there was even a meeting that month at all, but we were told it was too late for us to be included. I asked why, since we turned everything in on July 28 and was told that the technico at the city who has to look over everything first was on vacation until the 5th and wouldn't have time to do this before the meeting on the 6th. So it was a waiting game for the rest of the month. The next meeting we found out was not until September 12.

On September 4 we found out that the technico had reviewed our plans and there was an issue with the height of the roof so it wouldn't be approved as is and we'd need to revise. This send us in to a slight tizzy as the architect was saying to change that would change the entire design and we'd need to come up with a new vision, and I was asking if there was a way they could make an exception or something else we could do, or even making the changes they wanted since we still had 8 days before the meeting. Then the engineer said that the technico again was on ferie until September 12, and therefore couldn't give us an idea of what they would require to move forward until the same day as the next meeting, which at this point, we would certainly miss again.

another view of the lake from nearby

*sigh*

Yes, this has been the way of the last few months.

But then, after finding out that the next meeting now is set for October 8, the architects and geometra made an appointment to meet in person with the technico at the city offices this past week to talk face to face and try to come up with a solution together in time for the October meeting. They were a bit doubtful as to how it would be received, plus being a well-known architect from the city, one has to be careful as not to come across as overbearing, but instead sensitive to the processes and culture in the countryside. I asked if we should also be there just to continue to put a face to the project, but they assured me it would all be technical talk so there wasn't need.

We met them outside the commune as soon as it finished and they greeted us with smiles and a slight look of disbelief of how well they thought the meeting had gone. They called the technico "bravissimo" and were relieved and uplifted with how much he seemed to understand, appreciate, and back the project. They said that the city seems to "want to see this project be realized" and also gave practical suggestions for a small fix that would keep the integrity of the design while satisfying the technical requirements. Very unexpected, very appreciated, and yet somehow not as surprising to me as it keeps affirming my absolute belief that this is happening.

As we quickly headed to the nearby bar to sit down and chat, the geometra (who tends to be more of the pragmatic and less emotional one) said that we can have a coffee to celebrate but a coffee only. The prosecco must be saved for later when the official stamp was given. Now we will wait with all fingers and toes crossed until October 8. Where then we can open a good bottle.