We bought a house in Italy
As Italian real estate transaction stories go, ours is unremarkable except for the result: we bought a house in Italy! We saw the house we wanted to buy in May 2013 and the settlement conference followed just four months later, on 18 September. The property had five owners, all family members: three of the surviving original owners and the fourth owner’s two children, who inherited equal shares when their father died. The family had no hereditary ties to the house and land, having bought it as a country retreat and used it only during pleasant weather, mostly in summer. All five owners agreed to sell. We negotiated awhile over the price but eventually fixed on a number, and the realtors set in motion the complex legal and administrative machinery of sale and purchase.
On a brilliant September morning all the principals gathered in the imposing, elegant offices of a notaio in central Torino. The literal translation of “notaio” is “notary,” but the Italian notary is a very specialized professional dedicated to all sorts of contracts and contract law. We chose a notaio in Torino instead of a local professional in Mondovì for two reasons: we wanted a fluent English speaker we could consult before and during the proceedings, and we wanted someone with no personal or professional ties to our new hometown. Signore Chianale suited us well. His English was impeccable. Kind, patient, and supported by an efficient staff, he made every effort to accommodate us. He helped us to understand a perplexing, somewhat intimidating business and provided context, transparency, and nuance.
The notaio’s duties and responsibilities involve considerably more than those of a notary public in the USA. They include reading aloud the full text of the legal contract, in the presence of everyone associated with it. At our settlement conference this was faintly hilarious to us but all the Italians remained solemnly attentive, and we had an English translation for reference. Most everything else about the proceedings was familiar to us: everyone signed lots of documents, we all smiled and shook hands, thanked the notaio and wished each other well, and we went our separate ways. We had bought a house in Italy.
