Cover redesign for Award winning travelogue

Living in Italy: the Real Deal

Stef Smulders

Stef Smulders and his husband Nico are two adventurous Dutch men who decided to start a new life in Italy. In 2008 they made the big move with their dog Saar and set up Bed and Breakfast Villa I Due Padroni in the beautiful wine region of the Oltrepò Pavese to the south of Milan. In 2014 Stef published his first collection of amusing short stories (in Dutch) about daily life among the Italians, entitled "Italiaanse Toestanden - Leven en overleven in Italie". It was so well received that he published a follow-up volume of humorous anecdotes in 2016. The third volume is under preparation, expected to be in press by spring 2017. "Living in Italy: the Real Deal" is the translation into English of the first volume.

In 2008 the author emigrated to Italy, bringing husband and dog along, to start Bed & Breakfast Villa I Due Padroni. But a lot of hurdles had to be taken before the first guests could be accommodated. In 2014 Stef reported about his adventures in buying and reconstructing the house, obtaining a tax number and a bank account, registering at the commune and at the national health service, importing their car and a range of other things that lead to a myriad of bureaucratic troubles. These problems were always resolved in a truly Italian fashion, leading to raised Dutch eyebrows and hilarious scenes. As a reader you will encounter a range of characteristic Italians, from sympathetic to villainous, from moving to shameless. Real Italians of flesh and blood, sometimes cliché, sometimes surprisingly original. But always worth encountering.

Readers, mostly but not exclusively female, who like travel, memoirs, are curious, love other cultures, art and history and readers who are interested in expat living or retirement abroad.

Italian colours: red white green