Abruzzo project: Villa Eventhyr
The story of how easy it is, during a renovation, to confuse trust with professionalism.That is: save yourself from an "&"
Part I: "Buy me that palm!"
There are places you fall in love with at first sight.
For us, one of those places was an old property located in the hills of Abruzzo, with a hectare of olive grove. It was terribly neglected, but charming and, above all, economically accessible. It was exactly what we were looking for.
My wife used to say: "Buy me that palm!", and so, in November 2025, we signed the notarial deed and became owners of a house that certainly needed renovation but had something special.
The previous owner, a Norwegian named Rolf, had called that place "Eventyr," which in Norwegian means both: "fairy tale" and "adventure." We immediately liked the name. We didn't yet know how appropriate it would turn out to be.
The plan seemed simple: renovate the old house, transform the agricultural building into a guest annex, a bit of work, a bit of patience, and within a few months we could have our corner of Italy.
In January 2026, we met our contractor P.
The meeting took place in an excellent atmosphere. We visited the property, shared our plans, and after several hours of conversation, we received an indicative estimate for the entire project: about 100-110 thousand euros.
It wasn't a small amount, but it fell within reasonable limits. We then decided to proceed.
Like many investors, we made our first mistake.
We trusted the person more than the documents. We didn't ask for references because we thought that if someone lived so close to us, in Caramanico Terme, was also Polish, and we would likely use his services for years and for numerous future projects, it would be natural to build a correct, collaborative, and almost friendly relationship.
The contractor gave the impression of being a very experienced person. He spoke of dozens of jobs already completed, his knowledge of local regulations, contacts, and the opportunities offered by the area. He also recommended his surveyor, with whom we were able to quickly start the collaboration. One thing, however, left us with some doubts: the speed with which the economic proposal for the entire task of the surveyor was presented. At that initial stage, we decided to clarify the payment methods better and to link them more gradually to the different phases of the renovation, which naturally went smoothly.
At the end of January, we sent a detailed list of the work we intended to carry out.
The surveyor worked efficiently and submitted the documentation to the Municipality. There was some delay, but we would only discover the real cause of that delay later. At the time, we simply thought it was the normal functioning of Italian bureaucracy...
From our experience, this first phase shows a common dynamic: when trust precedes verification, some important details tend to be overlooked.
In medical practice, just as in complex projects, it is often the second level of analysis that makes the difference.
This part ends here, at the point where everything still seems under control...
A website created in the WebWavewebsite builder.
Via
Manoppello, 65024