🌼 The Loss of the 'Marigold' Vignale

📩 The message from the agent was only two words long.

"It's sold."

Just like that, the house we had already started calling The Marigold—our imagined Italian home, B&B, cooking school and retirement fantasy rolled into one—was gone.

The worst part was that I had already decided to buy it, in my head we owned it.

🏡 A First Foray into Italian Real Estate

A few months earlier I had been making my first tentative foray into the Italian real estate market: an abandoned little piccolo villa in the gorgeous historic Monferrato town of Vignale. It was crazy cheap and seemed a sensible way to test the Italian buying and renovation process without too much risk.

But, as you do, I was still browsing the property listings on Immobilaire.

Just before I jumped on the plane to Italy to sign the deed and take possession of the first villa, I stumbled across a brand-new listing that seemed almost perfect for us.

It was gorgeous, liveable, large, and located only about 100 metres from the main piazza. Even better, it had the potential for an independent second apartment. It could be our Italian home, a B&B, or perhaps a base for travellers wanting a more immersive stay in Italy. Maybe we could even run a small cooking school.

At that moment, anything and everything seemed possible.

✨ Features That Took My Breath Away

The house appeared to have everything:

• At least six bedrooms, three bathrooms

• Intricately painted vaulted ceilings

• Classic grand salon

• Commercial wine cellars

• Stunning walled garden reminiscent of Spain or the Middle East

• Multiple terraces with panoramic views to the Alps

• Double garage with a trapdoor leading to a hidden escape tunnel from the adjacent 15th-century church

As if that weren't enough, the abandoned 17th-century property next door was also for sale at a modest price, offering the tantalising possibility of expanding the accommodation.

It seemed perfect—and the asking price was not unreasonable.

I arranged online to call the agent as soon as I arrived in town and organise an inspection.

🏘️ First Inspection

Day one in Vignale was busy getting the team set up for the renovation on the initial house, but on day two I called the agent and set an inspection time for the following morning. I also organised a high-end builder I'd met in Asti to view it with me and provide his thoughts.

The moment arrived and we met the local Agent, Carla, on the lovely cobbled street in front of the villa. Carla introduced me to the owner and her daughters who were staying in the property while on vacation from their home in Turin. The older daughter who was around 20 acted as the translator as the two women spoke almost no English and I of course spoke no Italian.

I turned off Google Translate and inside we went for my first look at the property we would start referring to as The Marigold.

That initial inspection just made me want the property more. There were no obvious structural issues and in fact the property looked in pretty good shape. There were beautiful timber parquet floors, the hand painted vaulted ceilings, and lots of lovely detailing plus it became apparent that the roof had been redone with evidence of good quality workmanship. All it needed was some thoughtful interior re-alignment, fresh décor and new fixtures.

All the usual things needed doing; kitchen, bathrooms, electrical and probably some plumbing would have to be redone as well as an exterior clean up and some rendering and patching. All expected and none of it too daunting.

The most difficult decisions would be around how to manage the space below the main residence, what was in effect the 2nd apartment that formed the base of the property. It had a completely separate exterior entry from a different street (with its own address) and was to all intents and purposes a separate dwelling. It also housed the 'Grand Salon' with its imposing open fireplace as well as the voluminous wine cellars.

From the base we went via the multiple terraces up to the final roof terrace.

🌄 What a panorama. I could see the whole village of Vignale as well as the surrounding hills covered in grape vines and sunflowers, behind this immediate landscape were the Italian Alps in all their glory with snowcapped peaks still showing in July. It was an incredibly beautiful view.

I took the opportunity to get my phone out and do a complete panorama to send back to Ainslie who was still in Australia as I knew I'd be making an offer on the property. While I took the video the ladies continued chatting in Italian behind me which made for a quite funny episode.

I duly sent the video to Ainslie that night and when I next spoke to her she was doubled up laughing. It transpired that when Ainslie heard the Italian conversation in the background she decided to put it through a translate app, Carla and the owner were saying:

"…yes, he'll do a great job renovating the home but he'll be dead long before he finishes it…"

😅 Well, the challenge was made!

🌼 Why "Marigold"?

First of all, I'll answer the question of why we now started calling the property the Marigold. Anyone who has seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will remember Sonny and his wildly optimistic attempt to turn a crumbling mansion into a hotel for retirees.

The comparison felt uncomfortably accurate.

I had spent seven years living in India and met more than a few Sonnys along the way—endlessly enthusiastic entrepreneurs with magnificent plans and only a vague relationship with reality.

Standing on that terrace in Vignale, imagining cooking schools, guest apartments and long lunches under the vines, I realised something slightly worrying.

I might be turning into one of them.

💶 Making an Offer

At the end of that day I sent Carla an email with an unconditional offer on the property with a 14 day settlement and the ability to leave behind whatever the sellers didn't want, including the non-running car in the garage. Clean. Simple. As easy as possible for them to say yes.

As it turned out there were two brothers plus the sister I met who had inherited the property as part of an estate. Carla informed me that while my offer was probably acceptable to some of the beneficiaries one brother would not come below an additional €10,000.

I held firm. After all everybody told me that Italian property takes ages to sell and it's a buyers' market, and to be fair this had also been my experience with the first property. So, I diligently followed Carla up every week or so and re-iterated my offer, but I didn't move on my price. Time was on my side. Or so I thought.

😱 Heartbreak

8 weeks later I flew with Ainslie tto England to catch up with family scattered across England and Ireland—cousins, aunts, and the next generation.

They all agreed on one thing.

I was an idiot.

Their advice was unanimous: when I got back to Italy I should close the deal at whatever it took.

By that stage, I was starting to agree.

So the day arrived, I'd flown back to Italy in the night before, and I messaged Carla to say I'd like to increase my offer and close the deal. She simply replied, "It's sold."

I couldn't believe it. No call, not an email, not a message, nothing – would you like to raise your offer I have another interested buyer? was what I expected, but nothing. Just sold. To someone else.

I was devastated.

🇦🇺 Small World

I just hoped that the property had been sold to someone who would get cold feet and pull out, or not be able to raise the settlement funds. I might have even said a few quite words when I was looking through the towns amazing church, St Bartholomaeus.

I put my head down and finished the renovations at il Ritiro.

A few weeks later I was up at the Stampa chatting to the owner and his friend, who luckily for me spoke some English. The conversation ended up turning to the fact I'd looked at buying the Marigold. The owners friend says "yes, it was sold to an Australian." I quickly jumped in and said no, I was the Australian and I wasn't the buyer, I just made an offer. He was quite adamant that the buyer was an Australian but given we were conversing in pigeon English it was possible that we just misunderstood each other.

I emailed Carla and asked.

And lo and behold, yes it turned out the buyer was indeed an Australian. I was aghast, like seriously, what are the odds of another Australian nicking OUR house from under my nose in this small Italian hilltop village . From under my nose, I was gutted.

🤝 Meeting the Buyer

At settlement Carla introduced me to John. I wanted to hate John for stealing my dream house from under my nose but it turned out he was a really nice guy, and disconcertingly very much like me. Bastard.

In truth, I reconciled that if our situations were reversed I would have done exactly the same as he did. Touché! 

 I dropped the ball. And I dropped it when I was already over the line.

🍷 Life's Funny Sense of Humour

Fast forward a few months and John and I are sitting around a table in a charming French restaurant in Potts Point in Sydney, drinking overpriced wine and laughing about how our paths crossed and discussing our plans for Vignale and the surrounds in coming years.

John says that I shouldn't be too disappointed as now it will be his money spent in the refurbishment and I can still come around and drink local wine with him as though the house were mine.

And the real kicker, while John is in Vignale at the moment organising the renovations at the Marigold he is staying at il Ritiro.

Which means, in a roundabout way, the Marigold still ended up paying me rent.

😂 Life has a funny sense of humour.