Italy’s Building Standards: Is your house safe?
The recent tragedy in central Italy has again highlighted the nation’s shortcomings in regards to building safety standards and the immense challenge it faces to protect its beautiful but vulnerable historic buildings, and those who inhabit them. Most of Italy’s buildings were in fact erected prior to the existence of building codes, often with poor […] Read More
Some alternative BREXIT thoughts and why Italy could be next.
The last few weeks entertainment have taught me that there are decades when nothing happens in the world and weeks where decades happen. I have bounced from anger to frustration and back again and I am still trying to understand the logic for the BREXIT vote. I am slowly getting to that place and thought […] Read More
Oily thoughts… oil prices at the dawn of Brexit
I have been around Italy a lot in the last few months. I hit a busy time and when the calls come I hit the road. However, one thing has struck me more than most in the last few months and that is that things, in Italy, don’t seem to be quite as bad as […] Read More
Buying an Italian Property at Auction: Pros and Cons
Property auctions are not such a common occurrence in Italy and are mostly the result of court or bankruptcy proceedings. As such, they can provide endless investment opportunities, especially in a more difficult economic climate like the present one. Competition among buyers is not normally high and it is one area where the offer generally […] Read More
Investing in Italy – bail-ins and bail-outs, what does this really mean?
I recently saw an article on Bloomberg, which gave me some cause for concern since I know that some people have invested in, or more likely were to invest in, the Bonds of banks in Italy as an alternative to cash. However, this may no longer be such a wise choice and to find out […] Read More
UK National Day – One GREAT Day at Expo 2015 on June 17
UK participation at Expo presents a special opportunity to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday The UK National Day will be celebrated at Milan Expo on 17 June. It marks the official birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It will be a “GREAT” day linked to the British Government’s GREAT Britain campaign. This will […] Read More
