The Living Room Floor

As Raffaello says, ‘ with these old houses you never know what you’re going to find.’ And so it goes. The Men of Steel attacked the knackered floor with their hammer drills, lifting the tiles, the concrete, the sub flour and finally just dirt. The tonnage on the pine beams and chestnut planks must be fantastic. Raffa explained that as these floors were made the beams would give in the centre of the room, so more stuff was added to level up the floor before laying the terracotta. The more was laid the more they gave. Or something like that.

F and F worked like - well, Casentino builders - tireless and persistent four hour stints with just a mouthful of water. Never a kettle or caffetteria in sight.

Raffa’ the benign boss and foreman, eagle-eyed but immensely kind. His watchword, and entirely and experientially believable, ‘You won’t recognise it when we’re finished.’

I was knackered after three hours of rotovating the terraced land, the soil just right after a dry freezing spell.

How lucky we are. And this extra the view as I breasted the pass this morning