Didn't see this one coming.

 CurveBall - The curveball, is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate...and smacks you right in the head.  Wikipedia... sort of.

 Yesterday in the midst of celebrating our first anniversary of life in Italy we received some news that has us both spinning.  Moments before we left to have dinner at one of Genova's finest restaurants La Buca di San Matteo, I received an email that our landlady had died.  This was not a surprising death since she was 85 years old, but sad nevertheless, and raises issues we were, quite frankly, unprepared to deal with.

My favorite restaurant in another Doria building.

Under Italian law, tenants have very significant rights including the right to live out the term of a lease agreement.  There are however, some exceptions.  The most significant of these is where the owner needs to reside in the apartment as their prima casa.  Will the heirs need to live in our apartment.  Will they want to sell it to someone who will need it as their prima casa?  Do they understand that we already live here...do they care????  We don't have the answer to any of these questions and the landlady's attorney doesn't even know who the heirs are yet to ask them.  All she knows is that there's a bunch of them. This really doesn't sound good. 

Looking at the eastern most part of Casteletto from the top of Carignano.  The spire on the right is my castle.

Of course, our first reaction has been complete horror.  We've invested a lot of time and money in making this apartment exactly what we wanted.   But, as the reality begins to sink in, that we could get booted out of here in the next several months, we're beginning to consider our original plan...explore Italy until we find the perfect place. 

Do you think they'd let me keep this chandlier...and the ceiling medallion...

When we first decided to move to Italy, the plan was to move first to my ancestral comune in the hopes that the initial process would be easier for Ollie.  But, it was always our plan that Genova was just the first stop in finding the location that would be our permanent home.  Little did we realize that Genova would grab us by the throat, or that we would find this amazing apartment.   But Ollie is inclined, and I agree, that if we can't stay in our apartment, it's time to look at other parts of Italy.

From the Aquarium

So, while we wait for the other shoe to drop, we're going to go back to square one, or more accurately square one and a half, and start looking again at those places we first considered before we moved here.   Florence, Ascoli Piceno, Gaeta, the Castelli Romani, and a dozen other places we've discovered in the last year.

Can I live without foccaccia?

I can't say if or when this move will happen, but maybe, Between the Mountains and the Sea will be moving to Between the Mountains and someplace else.

Who'll give him walnuts?