Italian Domestic Flights

www.Ryanair.com have suspended Italian domestic internal flights in Italy as from 23^rd January 2010 due to ENAC lowering the identity requirements for travellers. (click to see Ryanair press release). Some say it is Ryanair taking advantage to cut flights during the low season and in a loss period others agree further to recent international terrorism alerts. Its not clear the date when their Italian domestic flight service will start again so in the short term so what are your alternatives ??

Update 7/01/10: Ryanair italian domestic flights restored Read the rest of this entry »

Italian Property Consultant would like to extend warm seasonal greetings to all our readers.

Whether you’re in the sun in the southern hemisphere or enjoying the snow in the northern hemisphere we wish you all a happy xmas.

Wishing you all a prosperous New Year in 2010 and home to see you in Italy…..Ciao David

Bergamo Italy, Italian ski property.

Interesting write up in the Sunday Times about ski property and that there are signs that people are starting to choose their ski property investment in cities rather than buy a house in a ski resort. But is it a wise choice for your future rental market ?

In Italy the article mentioned Bergamo, Italy as an ideal destination. (or maybe you prefer Cervinia-Valle d’Aosta near the Matterhorn as discussed in The Independent.)

Bergamo is a traditional italian city well known for its 2 principal quarters the high town Bergamo Alta and the low town. See here Bergamo panoramic view or download various Bergamo brochures. Downtown Bergamo city centre is easily reached by flying to Bergamo airport or as it is locally know Milano Orio al Serio with airport code BGY. The airport is 15 minuts from the city centre.

There are many ski resorts within driving distance of Bergamo. View an online brochure of Bergamo ski resorts

1 hour drive due north takes you to the ski resort network of BrembanaSki and the resorts of Foppolo, San Simone, Carona, Piazzatorre, Valtorta and Avaro. The resorts are all located in the Brembana valley, Orobie Pre-Alps.

1 hour drive to north east takes you to the smaller italian ski resorts of Spiazzi di Gromo, Lizzola, Colere, Schilpario, Presolana and Monte Pora all located in the Seriana Valley.

Heading north of Lake Iseo (east of Bergamo) up Val Camonica you also can ski at Monte Campione (1.5 hours) and if you want guaranteed 4 months of winter skiing a 2 hour drive takes you to the ski resort network of AdamelloSki and the resorts of Ponte di Legno, Tonale, Temu and Presena.

So if you are a skier or a snowboarder and like snowboarding or skiing get your, ski, snowboard, skies (or is the plural skis) …don’t forget to check the snow report and ski conditions to ski in Italy.

Remember when choosing to invest in Italy and buy a house in Italy that even though as the article in the Sunday Times suggests that a city property can offer you many alternative lifestyles, that ultimately you may wish to rent property in Italy and that your target market of renters decreases if you are not in a niche market.  The cities are great if you are going to live in your italian property, but if you are going to rent it then i would personally advise you to buy your italian property close to a italian ski resort. Renters don’t want to have to travel more than 2 hours for a day skiing. Buy a property in an italian ski resort and you italian property investment will have a higher return on investment as renters can ski in/out of the italian ski property.

Moss Italian Property Consultants have various ski properties in Italy on our books from cheap italian ski property to luxury italian ski property.

Italy Car Hire Winter snow tyres OR snow chains ?

Going skiing in Italy this winter ? Making your own way to the Italian ski property or hotel ? Hiring a car in Italy ? If you answered yes to all these then the following is advised reading about winter snow tyres and snow chains.

In the UK or Europe with recent bad snow conditions ? Need to learn how to drive in snow….though reporting from Italy this article is very relevant to everyone across Europe currently suffering from bad snow travel report.

Have you hired a car in Italy or UK with winter snow tyres ? Please post a comment to let us know where.

After a little research in Italy i have found 2 car hire firms that hire car with winter tyres. You cannot book them on line and must call and reserve and INSIST on winter tyres ONLY.  They are obviously in high demand so book early. Try AVIS  Italy on +39 091.591684 (smallest with winter tyres is LAncia Delta) OR Europcar on +39.06.96709592 or from Italy on 199.307030 (though they only have the rather expensive VW Touareg 2.5 4*4 TDI).

NB neither Hertz (+39.02.69682455) nor Sixt (+39.06.652111) offer winter tyres. They offer car hire in Italy only with Snow chains. If your not sure read below to help your decision.

I was on my way to the Italian dolomites sourcing Italian ski property and innocently just hired a car at Bergamo BGY airport and set off. Great weather, sun shining, 20’C in the last week of November…snow never crossed my mind. .. as it had been reported that recent snow falls had melted and no snow was due.

I was driving up to Arabba

arabba italian dolomites

and had a meeting in the next valley in Alto Badia. It had started raining and slowly i was climbing altitude. Just before Arabba the rain changed to fine snow. Slush started to form on the roads and i continued to climb. I drove through Arabba, going fine and turned to take the Passo Campolungo (1875m) to Corvara. 5 minutes out of Arabba the road had turned white. I was going quite slowly just to be safe and a few cars were overtaking. I started to think snow chains but i saw that the other cars didn’t have them on so i kept on going. I came to a steep climb and my wheels started slipping. I pulled up to reflect as i had still quite a climb ahead of me and yet another car overtook me still with no snow chains and then it clicked they must have winter snow tyres on.

Now back in Bergamo airport winter snow tyres Read the rest of this entry »

Italian property – 66% rise for a property investment in Italy.

Close Tresury report that property prices in Italy increased by 30% since 2005. Together with the rise in value of the euro against sterling in the same perio of 27% makes a combined increase in the value of italian property of nearly 66% for UK sterling property investors in Italy.

This 66% rise in value of property in Italy (based on a sterling investment portfolio) only applies if you bought a house in Italy without a sterling mortgage. If you took out a  mortgage in Italy in Euros to finance your italian property investment and managed to pay your monthly italian mortgage installments from your Euro rental  income in Italy then the calculation is still valid.

Mark Taylor, head of foreign exchange with Close Treasury said: ““Even though overseas property prices tend to have fallen in the last year, in many cases the fall in the value of Sterling will have offset this, and many people may still have seen the value of their homes increase in Sterling terms.”

If you are an italian property owner and wish to liquidate your earnings please contact MIPC to sell your property in Italy, we have clients whom wish to buy a house in Italy and we are currently looking for quality italian property.

Berlusconi italian prime minister today will face public exposure today as ex call girl D’Addraio publishes some revealing stories on Berlusconi and his sex life that took place in his italian property.
Berlusconi, italian prime minister, continues to hit the headlines unfortunately not for his politics. With an on going divorce (Veronica Lario), international gaffs (Obama tanned), corruption investigations as his legal immunity is removed (along with David Mills, estranged husband of UK minister Tessa Jowell) the latest claims that he is an italian stallion makes you wonder how does he get away with it? Even the magazine “rolling stone” in Italy have voted him “rockstar of the year”. So would you if you had seen in him action at his italian property in Sardenia.
Read more in the Independent, Telegraph.

Rome leads Europe by becoming the first european capital to switch completly to “all digital” TV, beating London, Madrid and Paris. As from today at 10:30am the old TV analogue signal will be switched off and the whole city goes digital. 4.5 million citizens are affected in the province of Lazio including 2.5 million in the capital of Italy. If you have an Italian property, a house in Rome, an appartment in Rome or a flat in Rome then please ensure you have bought a new TV or at least purchased a digital decoder for your old TV and retune your TV regularly this month until 30/11/09 when the switch over from analogue to digital will be complete.

Any queries call the italian helpline on 800.022.000 or visit the website www.decoder.comunicazioni.it to check when your comune switches to digital in your italian property in Rome.

Italy Broadband  : ADSL

Italy broadband property internet access ? How fast?  Is it available ? One of the key issues following a recent survey with Italian property investors looking to buy a house in Italy. Broadband in Italy ?

As a new property owner in Italy i have recently had to study the whole Italian broadband market to ensure the best value internet service in Italy. So I thought I would share my investigations with you. If when you read this article some of the offers discussed have expired then please feel to contact the author for latest offers or any further queries regarding how to get broadband in Italy in your Italian property.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ski property in Italy will benefit from an early Italian skiing season. The temperature has dropped and the first snow has fallen in the Italian Dolomites consequently Dolomiti Superski is proud to announce that the Italian ski slopes will be opening early as from weekend commencing 13^th November. 3 weeks earlier than normal the heavy snow in Italy has seen the snow ploughs already in action, the Italian ski slopes have been prepared, the hotels in this Italian ski region are ready to open for the Italian winter ski season.

I was recently in the Italian Dolomites studying the Italian ski property market and will be publishing a report shortly. If you are interested in a ski property investment in Italy then please subscribe to the MIPC newsletter, in the top right hand side, to ensure you receive the MIPC Italian ski property report.

Dolomiti Superski is the brand of 12 skiing networks in the Italian Dolomites. At the heart is the Sella Ronda circuit where you can ski from resort to resort round the Sella Ronda massif, 500km of slopes and a full days skiing. The mountain range is Unesco protected and the key resorts include Selva, Arabba, Canazei, to mention but a few of the Italian ski property resorts.

Venice is very popular with American & Russian buyers of property in Italy. There was a very good article in yesterdays New York Times discussing house hunting in Venice. If you too are interested in property in Venice then please contact MIPC as we too have some interesting investment opportunities in Venice.

Just make sure you don’t buy a ground floor house in Piazza San Marco, as recent floodings in the Venice city centre have reached as high as 1 metre.