Christopher Nation

Here comes the party-pooper. My 3* are for the scenery, the genuine sequences of Italian life, as opposed to the scripted ones - a shop door opens and the camera op already inside films Am & Al walking in. And the excellent Scott, managing the work. I have restored tatty places in UK, Spain and now France. I am competent and have completed work in most of the 'building trades' - tiling, plumbing, electrics etc. And I have managed building teams to do this work, too - a la Scott. The 4 vital elements that I have not heard any mention of are: The roof. Is it sound? Any work needed on a roof - and a sound roof protects everything done below it - is extremely expensive. It's the first question I ask when contemplating a property. I doubt that the roof of the house in Tuscany was sound. Electrics. These old buildings will have electrical systems that do not comply with modern standards and will be totally inadequate for modern useage, not to mention unsafe. To sell a restored building will require the electrical system to be totally renewed and signed off to present day spec. This, as I know from a pain in the wallet, is also extremely expensive, costing €1000's. The house of friends in France burnt to a pile of smoking ash due to an electrical fire in a system put in in the 1960's. Water supply. The same goes for present day expectations for water use. Those lovely bathrooms and showers need plenty of water at good pressures. That costs. Drains and sewage. Not something that Amanda and Alan would care to discuss but without a system that works and complies with the water authority specs, you have a non-starter. I note that the agent for Sotheby's International Real Estate - why not a local agency? - commented that almost all the €1 houses have been bought as holiday homes or rentals by foreigners, especially Brits. She commented that the idea of rejuvinating local communities was not working but restoring these buildings for foreign 'second homers' was better than having them fall down in ruins. The programme lacks another vital element. It states, in the credits, that the 'net profit' will be donated to charities. What I would expect to see is the bottom line of the renovation and the subsequent amount donated to charity. The Sicilian property was listed by Sotheby's for €147k. I wouild be very surprised to learn that the renovation came in under that sum - unless all those cushions, vases, knick-knacks were paid for by Am & Al.