060: Italian Villa Projects

Published: March 22, 2019, 10:14 a.m.

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In this podcast, we catch you up on the projects we\\u2019ve been doing at the villa during our \\u201coff time\\u201d without guests.\\xa0 From major new interviews to unexpected construction, we\\u2019ve had a lot going on.

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Topics we cover:

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\\u2022 Paul\\u2019s interview on CBS Sunday Morning about olive blight in southern Puglia that is destroying a lot of olive trees

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\\u2022\\xa0 Here are some excerpts from the written story:

Olive trees don\'t just dot the landscape in Puglia, Italy; they define it. \\xa0They are so important here, in the heel of Italy\'s boot, that locals use words like "patrimony" and "cultural heritage" when describing them. But what is worrying olive growers here is a disease that\'s killing olive trees by the millions.

Paul Cappelli, who\'d been an advertising executive in New York City until a few years ago, left his job and moved to a home on the ancient Appian Way surrounded by olive trees, and entered the oil business. "Not the Texas oil business; I\'m in the\\xa0real\\xa0oil business!" he said.

It\'s a dream come true, with a nightmare behind me," he said.

"That\'s what it feels like, a nightmare?" asked correspondent Seth Doane.

"Yeah. I\'m always looking over my shoulder."

Paul Cappelli has tested his trees, and there\'s no sign of\\xa0xylella\\xa0\\u2013 yet. \\xa0"It\'s like the Black Death is coming," he said. "It feels like if I look over my shoulder and I see dark clouds, it\'s the Bubonic Plague coming towards the town."

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\\u2022\\xa0 While the story itself is sad, if was a nice bit of PR for us

\\u2022\\xa0 How we have been working on making the garden much more organized and pretty

\\u2022\\xa0 From a raised bed vegetable garden to new walls and planters

\\u2022\\xa0 We are also are building a storage room next to the pool for all the pool equipment

\\u2022\\xa0 The new land of olive grooves that we bought that we\\u2019d love to do a huge dinner in, like in Out Standing in the Field

\\u2022 The complete story of our leaky roof and and how we had to redo a whole section of roof that we just put on three years ago

\\u2022\\xa0 The discovery of the problem through to the new construction

\\u2022\\xa0 How the problem developed in the first place

\\u2022\\xa0 What the contractors claimed the brown water was

\\u2022\\xa0 Are plans to move the laundry room

\\u2022\\xa0 Our big question of whether or not to get a clothes dryer

\\u2022\\xa0 We cleaned out our wine cellar

\\u2022\\xa0 One side of the wine cellar will still be a rec room from guests, while another side will be a small antiques store for guests at the villa

\\u2022\\xa0 The hard water in Italy

\\u2022\\xa0 Thus why we put in a water softener, to help with everything from washing dishes to saving appliances

\\u2022\\xa0 How the hard water broke down the ice machine twice

\\u2022\\xa0 Paul got a good 20-30 lithographs and he is buying up old frames to put them up at the villa

\\u2022\\xa0 How the artwork comes from friends up in Parma who had a long connection to Paul\\u2019s family, including Paul\\u2019s uncle being the chauffeur to a count from Parma

\\u2022\\xa0 Paul\\u2019s olive tree and olive wood projects

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