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<pre>Nikolaus

So many questions!! If you are buying a podere in Italy check it
out. So many foreigners come here but leave their brains behind and
then blame the Italians for cheating them. When we bought this place we
looked at about 30 or so and checked the short list through a lawyer.
Excactly what we would have done in Australia. We lost some because
buyers came from Britain and bought the podere over a weekend - no
checks of titles - nothing.

Land prices are the killer. Our rocky hillside cost three times as
much as land in the Barossa Valley in SA. I don't think you can make
money in the proper business sense - that is a return to land, labour
and management but if you right off your capital against "life style"
and you enjoy the labour and management things may not be so bad.

Planting olives is a long term project here. I am envious of the
growth rates in Oz and NZ. We had an NZ grower here from Blenheim in
September who said that our five year old trees were a little smaller
than their three year old but due to continuing pollination problems
with Barnea we had double the crop!

Copies of our book are avialble in Castel di Fiori.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.
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