Jim and Sally with Italian friends Chiara and Maddalena
Image courtesy of Jim and Sally Partington
Essex-based Jim and Sally Partington own a three-bedroom house in the hills south of Forli, not far from San Marino and Rimini. They spend a month there every summer, enjoy week-long breaks at other times of the year and offer lets when they’re not there. What drew them to Emilia-Romagna? “My grandparents were Italian and I guess the country is just in my blood,” Jim says. “I’ve always loved it and have travelled all around it. When Sally and I were in a position to buy a house abroad several years ago, we both decided pretty quickly that Emilia-Romagna was where we wanted it to be. It’s an incredibly beautiful area, with lots of space and tranquillity, but there’s also a real buzz going on in the towns and cities. These people really know how to live. It’s like they’re quietly bubbling with excitement at life all the time. The weather helps, and the food. It just feels like a really switched-on, happy, well-run kind of place.
“Our house is halfway up a hill just outside an old village. We can see the Adriatic in one direction and of course we can see the distinctive pinnacle of little San Marino in another direction. It’s great being plugged into a landscape, having landmarks that we can watch changing with the light and the time of day. The house was a farm building long ago, and a previous owner converted it. It’s quite stylish inside, with lovely plasterwork and beautiful floors. They used really high-quality materials. Initially, we were planning to buy a rundown old place and do it up ourselves, but when we viewed our house, we fell in love with it instantly. Looking back, I’m glad we got to start using it straight away and never took up time with repair work or decorating.