Casa Fontanelle - Sant'Angelo in Pontano

We first came across Le Marche in the summer of 1999, when we stumbled across estate agent Greg Page in his Castellina estate agency Alfa Immobiliare, as we were cruising Chianti country from our holiday base near Florence. Greg's sideline was acting as salesman for Omega, offering fixed price country house restorations in Le Marche, a then little-known region on the Adriatic side of Central Italy.

On the spur of the moment - the day of the solar eclipse, which was total in the UK but spookily partial in Italy - we decided we would go and have a look at Le Marche and visit some potential properties. A couple of weeks after returning from our Tuscan holiday, we flew out with Ryanair, arriving in Sarnano around midnight on the last Saturday in August.

On the Sunday morning, we were gobsmacked by the view from the hotel. We found our way to the meeting place in Gualdo where we were to meet the Omega team: Greg (one time South Australian agricultural salesman), Rainer Mueller (former Luftwaffe pilot), and two Italian geometra - Mauro Rieti and Roberto Dari

We spent the Sunday charging from property to property - we saw four or five wrecks and one completed example. That night, we debated the two vital questions: which house did we like, and was the whole thing just an elaborate scam? After a deep intake of breath, we decided to take a chance on the pretty little house nestling a short (though steep) walk below Sant'Angelo. We signed the contract on Monday morning.

They promised the project would be complete on 1st August 2000 - just eleven months later. And do you know what? It was.

We had a wonderful time at Casa Fontanelle, getting to know Sant'Angelo and the neighbourhood better each time we went out. Italian lessons back at home helped - it's so much easier to make friends if you can at least say hello. The house slowly settled into the landscape, the garden matured, and everything was great. Just a little cramped on a rainy day. So eventually (in 2003) we decided to look for somewhere bigger. But that's another story. We sold Casa Fontanelle in late 2006 and finally vacated in spring 2007.