The house was listed with Tempocasa in Tolentino and Viktoria was my agent. In Italy it is common to work directly with the agency that has the listing, so you may have a few agents if the properties you’re interested in are with different companies. Viktoria was amazing and I highly recommend her. Every moment I knew she had my best interests in mind. Big bonus is she speaks better English than I speak Italian.

I took this photo on a Saturday in December 2021, the one and only time I viewed my future home before signing the contract. The electric service was turned off so we used our phone flashlights to see what we could. On the Tempocasa website it was listed as habitable and I quickly realized that was a relative term. Growing up my family had a construction company and I am in my element among the dirt, noise, and power tools. Fortunately, the price was reasonable and reflected the need for renovation.

The house consists of three floors:
piano terra (ground floor) = garage & entrance to the stairs
​piano prima (first floor) = main living floor
piano secondo (second floor) = large multi-use room, guest bedroom & bathroom

Michael and his girlfriend, Christine, came with us to view the house. Christine and Michael kept saying that it had tons of potential and they were right! We noted how rare it is to have a house with a garage in the centro storico. It has high ceilings and big windows for good natural light. We went up to the piano secondo and out to the terrace. Wow, the incredible view!! On Monday I made an offer.

Catlantis originated in Sarasota. In 2011 a neighbor’s cat had a litter of kittens and he put the mother and kittens outside. Spring 2012 those kittens had kittens. There was a total of 25 between the original kittens and the new ones!! Then, the neighbor moved and left them all. There was going to be 100 if we didn't do something. So, we cleared out a room in the house and trapped Every Single One. Over the next few months aka The Summer of Fuzzy Love we took them to the free spay/neuter clinics a few at a time. We were able to socialize some and found homes for them. The rest we cared for. Michael was working from home at the time and he did the heavy lifting feeding and taking care of them. There are still 8 of the original feral colony that I care for. The house was from then on referred to as Catlantis.

When I found my home in Treia I knew in addition to Catlantis of Sarasota there would be a Catlantis di Treia. Along with the outdoor colony, I have four indoor kitties - all strays who heard of the food supply through the cat grapevine. I'm sure the strays will find me in Italy as well. I wonder how to say Crazy Cat Lady in Italian.