It had some feet in the ground, but this piece of land with a trullo and lamia in southern Italy is ours.

It is still a bit cold. The last few days it has rained a lot. Puglia is the vegetable garden of Italy for a reason, so rain is part of it. On the other hand, the most sunshine hours in Europe on the other hand. We are going to renovate our trullo and make it sustainable and self-sufficient. We want to make a pit and use the sun as an energy source as much as possible.

The house stands on a hill, nice in the sun and the meadow has been an old river bed, so there should be water. The special thing about the trulli is that they are all built in the same way towards the sun.

200 symbols
The trulli have something mystical with the signs on the roof. We grew up in the 70s, so that hippie feeling lingers on us: peace man, ying yang symbols, the sun, the moon and a heart, it's just a selection of more than 200 symbols that often adorn the trullo roofs. They are often primitive Christian symbols that offered protection against the devil or provided you with a good harvest.

Habitable
For the first time we open the front door of our home in Martina Franca ourselves. The trullo that is sold to us is alstrulli abitabili, habitable, so. This is just different from dantrulli rustici, the real refurbishers.

Our trullo is completely plastered on the inside. Today we are starting to free the limestone stucco from the 70s. We have taken two impact drills with us and will get to work.

We do not know exactly what we have purchased
Fortunately we have electricity in house, this has been arranged by the broker Pierdonato. We have not yet taken up any geometra (architect, engineer and supervisor who takes care of permits and checks the work), because we actually do not know exactly what we have purchased. The two previous visits were with the broker, and he was always in a hurry.

The stucco flies around us when we let the beater chuck, after a few minutes we get the skill and we see that there is indeed a beautiful light stone hidden under the stucco. This is what we have been looking forward to for months.

Moisture spots: this is the reality
After the first euphoria, we face reality. There is a damp spot in the ceiling vault of the lamia and the back wall of the house is also quite wet. A carrot even grows inside, a point of attention. The elements of nature have had a hold on the house, which was only used for a few weeks in the summer months. Such a trullo is nice and cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but can also feel moist in the winter when it is not inhabited.

No septic tank
We also discover that there is no septic tank present when we flush the toilet. The broker was already very vague when we asked about it, but it is no wonder that the blackberry bushes are so lush in the vicinity of the house.

Our trullo is around 150 years old and consists mainly of stone, with the exception of a few iron doors. Below the house is the cistern, a water cellar. As soon as the toilet is flushed, the water pump starts noisily under the house. For the time being we have the water transported by a truck that fills the cistern. We will replace the pump later.

Brick by brick
By removing the stucco, we get to know the house brick by brick. Tonight we will sleep again in the Genovese masseria by Gianfranco, who has also renovated his castle farm brick by brick into a B&B. Perhaps we should make drawings and arrange a contractor or request quotes because, in addition to the language barrier, the other building regulations will also play a role.

Even though we have just removed a few square meters of stucco, the Italian dream is only getting stronger.

Drilling day
After another day of drinking, we sound with a glass of primitivo, the full spicy Pugliese red wine. We say to each other, buona notte campione, nice dreams about the dream house.