After 20 years, she longed for peace and quiet, and Amelia Butler from the US says she was given to buying Sands at home in Italy.
The 57-year-old spends half a year in the village of Latronico in the deep southern region of Italy Basilicata, while the rest in Philadelphia, her hometown.
It is a dream for Butler, who likes the rest of the idyllic village, surrounded by mountains, and says she can finally “relax, enjoy life and people.”
“I like the beauty of the village. I like to walk a lot in the countryside and rural trails. It’s just very quiet,” CNN says Butler, who is currently working as a life and education consultant.
An idyllic village
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A former teacher of English and Mathematics High School decided to fulfill his dream of moving abroad after becoming more stressful at work and wanting to change.
“I gained weight, my blood pressure was growing, and I wanted to retire,” she says, adding that she was thinking about leaving the US for several years.
Butler meant several places and reviewed the property of various countries, including Costa Rica, the United Kingdom and Honduras. But there was one place where she liked to visit and always returned to Italy.
When she learned about the transaction housing scheme in the Italian city in Latronico, where the authorities from 2021 Sold and leased inexpensive real estate to revive the inadequate village, Butler looked more closely.
It was attracted by a quiet place surrounded by mountains as well as real estate prices.
“I wanted a place where I could be in and around nature,” says Butler. “I had no desire to live in a big city like Rome.”
Butler checked the online platform and was included in a photo of the property in the historic Latronico district.
“I knew it’s mine,” says Butler, describing an “unhumped” image from the Sinni Valley House with the Sinni River passing through it.
“When I saw the image of the window through the window, literally I put my tears in my eyes; it was so beautiful, it made me feel at peace.”
She later purchased a one -bedroom house, which also has a lower level storage area, without looking at the property in person or even visiting the countryside.
“I didn’t want something that was a complete intestinal work when I had to redo everything. I liked the fact that this property was essentially ‘to the end’.
Although the purchase price was initially € 14,000 ($ 16,240), Butler was able to enter into a transaction with the owners to buy the property with a balcony overlooking the district valley and mountains, for € 12,500 ($ 14,500).
Latronico’s local Vincenzo Castellan, founder of the dwelling platform and his partner Mariangela Tortorella, was ready to lead her during the purchase process, which took about three or four months.
“They managed all communication with real estate owners and notary, taking care of the collection and preparing the necessary documents for signing,” she says.
“Everything was done incredibly simple and I didn’t have to travel to Italy.”
Closeeknit community
Butler, depicted with a daughter, now spends half a year in Italy and the other in the US. – courtesy of Amelia Butler
Butler says the process was “smooth”, though she occasionally asked herself, asking, “Is I doing right? … Is that crazy?”
2023 May Butler first went to Latronico, bringing her a daughter who lives in the US.
When she arrived in the city, Butler was instantly fascinated by the old pebble alley and the silent corners of the Old District of Latronic.
“I like how I have to walk to my home through Alej, Silence,” she says. “That was all I wanted in the European house.”
According to Butler, the “soothing” area had a healing effect and a few days later she felt better.
It was particularly shocked by Latronico’s silence and noted that there seems to be no children around.
“We didn’t see the kids for a couple of days and wondered, ‘What’s going on?’ I think, the time we were walking at school,” says Butler, adding that she and her daughter were facing when she finally saw some children.
According to Butler, when the village has about 4,000 inhabitants, mostly older or middle -aged inhabitants, who say that most of the day there are very few people around.
“It was one of the changes because I see people all the time in the states where I go,” she says.
“At first, it was a kind of awfulness for me: ‘Oh, where everyone?’ I asked myself.
Butler’s arrival at Latronico did not go unnoticed. She jokingly remembers the “stars” from residents and listens to the store owner saying, “Oh, the American has just left” when another client entered.
A quiet place
Latronico is located in the province of Potenze, the southern Italian Basilicata region. – Vincenz Castellan/Casalatoronico.eu
Butler loves the sense of the rural community, describing how all “hospitable” residents leave eastern coffee and in the evening to go on vacation Piazza.
When it comes to food, it appreciates the freshness and lightness of different dishes and ingredients, but does not like the popular Crusco Peppers eaten in various ways in basilicate.
“I had to adapt a little to food,” says Butler. “I make my own food and have never had the dried pepper they (the locals) have, who are good, I think for some people.”
Butler now eats pasta regularly than before, but says she will probably never be accustomed to having them twice a day, as many locals do.
“I like the taste of Latronico noodles, not the US, where the pasta was recycled in the store, made forever on the shelf,” she says.
In the past, traveling to countries, including Portugal, Japan and Costa Rica, Buteler says it became very adapted and that there were no major “culture shocks” or challenges while living in the deep south of Italy.
One of its biggest changes was the shorter working time of local stores, which is sometimes closed for business in the middle of the day.
“(Philadelphia) in our market is open until 10-11 o’clock at night,” says Butler, explaining that she has to plan in advance when there is Latronico. “So when I need something from the store, there is a 24 -hour place where I need to get something.
“It was one of the main changes, knowing that I can’t just get up in the middle of the night and pick up a bottle of wine from the market.”
Butler has a digital Nomad visa, which allows highly qualified, non -EU remote workers, to live and work in Italy.
The quiet atmosphere of the Latronico allows her to concentrate without regular distraction she experiences in Philadelphia and is currently writing a book about her experience, as well as working remotely.
She has not yet begun to study Italian, but Butler was able to get independently and plans to conduct lessons in the future.
Meanwhile, she was engaged in renovation of her property, mainly with aesthetic and functional tasks such as the renovation of the electrical system, repainting walls and adding laundry equipment.
The renovation, including the donation of both the bathroom and the kitchen, has so far cost it a total of $ 18,000. Butler also works to redesign the assets at the bottom of the property.
So far, she has been happy to have broken the time between the US and Italy, but hopes to move to Latronico in the future.
While in Italy, Butler spends a lot of time walking, marching and communicating with the locals, and visits different parts of the country and other parts of Europe.
Traveling from Philadelphia to Latronico takes about 24 hours each year, including a five -hour bus from Rome, but Butler thinks it is another part of a slow life she wants.
“What touches me most is simple to live in Latronico,” she says.
“In my professional life, I did it and I was responsible for so much that it is nice to relax, enjoy life and people and just breathe,” she says. “The only thing I would change is to do it soon.”
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