Martin & Mandi Lewis

We would not have been able to realise our dream of buying a property in Abruzzo without the amazing support of Vignaverde. We knew early on in our search that we wanted to find an agent who could organise the whole process from first viewings through to the handover of keys in the Notary’s office. What is distinctive about Vignaverde is that they are a small team, so you really get to know and trust them as you go through the viewing and purchasing processes. They have all the expertise in-house including Sales, Geometra and Translator as well as an established relationship with a reputable UK based foreign exchange provider. Furthermore, they organise your ‘codice fiscale’ ( tax code) and help you open an Italian bank account. They really do have everything covered. We first met the team at one of the Place in the Sun shows. We visited Abruzzo twice, viewing properties and meeting the Vignaverde team. We also met other people who had bought property through Vignaverde. These visits helped us to understand the buying process and reassured us that we were in safe hands. The day of the purchase was great fun. In the morning, Angela drove us to the bank to get our bank card, cheque book and bankers draft for the purchase; Angela then took us through the English translation of the house sale contracts so that we would know exactly what we were signing later in the day; meanwhile Pino helped to clarify one or two last queries that we had. Then in the afternoon Pino took us over to the Notary’s office in Chieti. We all sat round the table with the seller and the Notary (whose role is to guarantee the legality of the transaction). Contracts were read and signed, money exchanged, and keys handed over. It really was that simple! And now we look forward to moving in to our new house, knowing that Angela is still on the end of WhatsApp to answer our questions, she is helping us to get services connected and set up direct debits and we are going to meet Pino to discuss some of the renovation work that we plan to do. We are cautious people and there were times when Vignaverde’s straight forward, no-nonsense approach appeared to be too good to be true. We can now whole-heartedly confirm that everything worked perfectly and we thoroughly recommend Vignaverde to anyone thinking of buying a house in beautiful Abruzzo. Martin and Mandi Lewis