Vesallo, Castelbianco, Northern Italy

Vesallo, Castelbianco, Northern Italy – A Trusted House Sitters Assignment.

Caravanning and House Sitting adventures must be planned right from the day we accept a new assignment. After the process of applying and getting accepted is completed it’s then time to plan a route and in this case find a storage centre for the caravan as close to the house sit as possible. Sometimes there is room for the caravan at the house sit but not in this case.

Towing an 8m caravan (nick named “Australia”) around Europe can be a little stressful so we try to stick to the motorways and on highway rest stops for fuel and food. The route this day was only two hours so no stops.

After consulting Google we found a storage facility close by in Albenga called Ponente Caravan di Pinazzini Davide. Albenga is only a 20 minute drive from our housesit. I spoke to John the manager by phone prior to leaving France, luckily and gratefully he spoke English. 😀 Not a problem he said so all good on that front and only 80 euros a month. We did have a small hiccup – kept going past the street – we figured there’s no way the storage would be down this very narrow what looked like one way street. We were wrong. Our host meet us on his scooter and escorted us in. As we said… it can be a bit stressful

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Not difficult to describe our two week stay in this 800 year old building in the village of Vesallo in the northern Apennine Mountains. Magic. Right from the moment we drove up into the village there was an anticipation that something special was about to happen. From the moment we met Carlo and Sarah we felt welcomed, instantly de-stressing.

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Our duties were simple, feed the cats twice a day, [more to come on that], and water the veggie gardens. Our hosts even drove us around the area and pointed out the shops and watering holes (swim). Carlo was a local boy and was drawn to the house again as a young man when it was a ruin, deserted. After managing the difficult process of buying a house owned by lots of different families, all of whom owned parts of it, he spent the next 20 plus years restoring the building to its former glory.

Trusted House Sitters

Fabian and I have been members of Trusted House Sitters since 2015 and have travelled to such places as Spain, Portugal, France, Thailand, Australia, Ireland and England. Why did we join? Well, that’s easy, we love to travel, we love our furry friends and we get to stay in some beautiful homes and villages absolutely free. We live like a local and all we have to do is love our house owners’ animals while they travel worry-free. So would you say that we are happy? Yes, we love it and we just love the people that we have met so far.

Puddy Cats

Being animal lovers it was such fun to look after five kittens with Mum – Birba, Grandma Zarina, and Peppone (Pepe for short). Pepe was a rescue cat with a crippled front leg who could climb and mouse better than most. Well the kittens keep us entertained most of the day in between naps of course. Feeding time was also entertaining as they would all attack the first bowl that we placed on the ground, or try to help themselves before it made it to the floor. Luckily we only had one all-in racing for the good bits as the upended bowls tipped their contents over the patio floor. Anyway we managed to work out a system to get them all down together with only one head in each bowl – at least till it came for ‘let’s all share the dry bits and swap bowls’. 😂

Veggie Gardens

Who doesn’t love a veggie garden? I think it’s a connection with the earth. And there’s a sense of accomplishment too – growing and harvesting your own produce. Of course we don’t get to do so much of that in a caravan and we couldn’t take the credit for this veggie garden could we? But we did have that two week responsibility eh! We got very excited when the Zucchini just shot out and surprised us. It’s a trumpet zucchini – Zucchini Tromboncino – a specialty of this area of Liguria

Breathtaking Views

We felt that we were living in the clouds so wine o clock on the upper level veranda was best time of the day. As the sun set the mountainscape changed colour by the minute. No other buildings were visible from our private vantage point so it was little bit like being wrapped up in your thoughts. I feel like I wanted to fly up on top the mountains so i could look down though the clouds. Some days the clouds covered the mountain tops.

Walkabout Castelbianco

We love our walks and in Castelbianco the roads are very quiet, with very little traffic. We spent a couple of hours exploring this beautiful part of Italy and I only counted a couple of cars that passed us. It was Sunday morning though.

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We discovered some old walking trails with little old bridges and beautiful streams. The walk took us through three local villages and down into a little gem of a surprise. Most of this region dates back to the 12th and 13th century. The population drift last century from these urban areas to the cities mainly by the young saw the demise of most of these beautiful villages. A lot of the buildings fell into ruin. The following pics show some century old trails that meander through the mountains.

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I can just imagine the locals building that little bridge probably centuries ago. As this area is so mountainous roads wouldn’t have been in existence back then. Our walk took us through the villages of Veravo, Oresine and stopping off in Colletta for coffee and snack.

Colletta Castelbianco

Now here is that little suprise I mentioned earlier – the village of Colletta. The history of this little hamlet starts back in the 12 century. A typical Italian hilltop village. In the 1930s it was completely abandoned for no apparent reason. It was purchased complete in 1992 when this 12th century village was identified as a viable commercial project by a man with a vision. An architect called Giancarlo de Carlo, who specialises in working with historic structures was tasked with the reconstruction of the village. Not the exterior (although parts were restored to original) only the interior. So this whole village was transformed into a glorious modern collection of modern apartments with high level internet and services. Today you can rent these apartments upwards of 450 euros a week. The complex has a great swimming pool to take in the breathtaking views of the mountains. For more information see their website: www.colletta.it. There is also a great little article in the Guardian newspaper title The Hills are Alive

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