EXPATGATE

Quite soon after deciding to do a gate series I noticed something I had not noticed before. They are all pretty much alike. I shouldn't say this but I really hate this picture. I don't have time to do another.

There is no law of trespass in Italy so every gate that can prevent cars from entering has to have a pedestrian gate as well, always open to friend and foe alike. You can see it to the left of this picture.

Behind this gate is a long-married, no-scandal couple surrounded by the contents of packing boxes. They have just moved down from the mountains. Their old villa is very old and very cold. It has two virtues. The ancient terracotta floors, waxed for centuries with oxblood coloured wax, are a gleaming burgundy; the other is the fabulous view. Against it is its position clinging to a mountain side with a vicious road up to it. I swear the car almost tipped over backwards as it climbed the last bit. Once parked there were a few steps, a steep slope and then a long flight of stairs. I needed oxygen by the time I got to the top.

They can look up at their old villa from their new one. Their house is not the red one seen from the gate. This is a second house on the property and it is rented to -- a local police official. No need for burglar alarms here.

Ankle problems and a failed operation necessitated the move. They were able to exchange the mountain villa with its garden of tumbling roses and hectares of olive trees for one in a posh suburban area. It was not that easy, though. The new villa had been rented to two old dears who, in Italian law, could not be made to leave. The owner had to buy them out. The price? A flat within the walled city.

This took an entire year during which time the owner's daughter used to scoot up from Rome, remove say an original mantle piece and scoot back to Rome with it. There was nothing anybody could do. The old dears had no say in the matter, the owner seemingly looked the other way and the present owners were not yet in possession of it.

But all is well that ends well. They're into their new villa, the painters and decorators have been and all that remains is finding places for all of their things. I use the word "all" lightly but I have been through it on a smaller scale and it is a nightmare. Still, the new owner can drive right up to the door and that was the whole point.

I have seen only one other gate of interest. It's very old and in ruins but it is more interesting than this one. The series may end with No. 3.

I will now admit that it is autumn because summer ends today. For all that, once it stopped raining, we have had the four most beautiful days of the summer.