The painful truth about renting an apartment in Italy. Broken doors and mattresses with holes are part of chasing la dolce vita.

So, I’m sitting in the front room of our rather ramshackle rental in Bardonecchia, Italy having coffee when I hear…

I wish you could have seen the look on my face the second I heard that truck rumbling up the street. A mixture of childlike enthusiasm and adult relief. For months it has felt like our Italian home renovation was creeping along at a snails pace. Then whoosh!

All of a sudden everything is happening at once. Just in time too. Our temporary digs are starting to get on our nerves. Big time.

Renting in Italy

We sort of knew what we were getting into when we rented an inexpensive apartment in the building next door. Bardonecchia, Italy is a ski town. There are a lot of run-down crash pads in town. Just imagine six beds squeezed into a two-bedroom apartment.

Yes, we saw the dingy walls, worn floors, and sad couch and thought, no biggie it’s temporary. All those months ago, we moved in with a lot of enthusiasm. All we cared about was seeing the work happen just a few doors down. Perfect!

What we didn’t realize until our first night, was just how shabby this place is. The shower head is broken and requires being held or balanced on the soap tray. The bidet shoots water into the middle of the bathroom floor. The bedroom door panels are falling out. The cheap dining chairs are instruments of torture. The seat backs are so curved that it’s impossible to lean on them without your butt falling off the back of the seat.

The mattress! Oh and the mattress. It’s so bad, we took the two foam mattresses from the bunk beds and laid them side by side on top of the mattress in the master bedroom. Oh, and last night the lights in the kitchen crapped out. Not the lightbulb, the wiring. So this is renting in Italy.

Paolo brought me his desk lamp only to realize there are no electrical outlets in the kitchen. Just the one the fridge is plugged into. He fixed that with an outlet converter, but it’s still so dark in the kitchen at night that I burned dinner last night.

Renting in Italy Conclusion

Despite it all we’ve tried our very best to stay in good humor. Our kitchen is now “romantic” with the lighting of a Parisian bistro. What with the shower and bidet perfectly configured to deliver water to the bathroom floor, it’s pretty easy to clean!

It’s one thing to endure all of the mental stress that comes with moving to Italy in the time of COVID. It’s another thing entirely to be coping with them without any of the comforts of home. Like a working oven. One flash and my eyelashes warned me not to try that again!

Our new home, cannot possibly get finished fast enough. Thankfully we’re close. So close, we can smell the paint that went up next door today. Paint that I’ll be all too happy to share next week.

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Renovating Bardonecchia is an Italian Home Reno blog series. Updates every Friday.

Despite our apartment drama, we love it here! Get more information about Bardonecchia.