In 2019, my wife and I had the good fortune to “accidently” meet one of the founding partners of Green Hills of Umbria, Elisa Bassetti, at the signing of the purchase documents for an apartment we bought in Spoleto. She was one of the mandated translators as neither of us are fluent in Italian. Her delightful smile and sense of humor made the arduous signing process tolerable, and my wife started taking Italian lessons through her Arte Lingua school, which were wonderful.
Subsequently, the pandemic ensued and as American citizens, we could not travel to Italy. We contacted Elisa about the possibility of managing our property in our absence. Little did we know she and Carmelo Parente had founded Green Hills of Umbria and assisting foreigners was a critical service they offered. We hired them immediately and thank goodness we did.
We had a huge issue with the local water utility. In our absence, unbeknownst to us someone had turned on our water and several months of water running in our apartment caused a minor flood and a water bill in the thousands of Euros. Not only did they get the water turned off, but their team also handled all the repairs, cleaning, and painting. For over a year, Carmelo worked diligently with the Valle Servizi Umbra water utility to negotiate a reasonable repayment plan as well as assisting us with catching up with local and regional taxes. We met regularly by Zoom throughout 2021 and Elisa and Carmelo were instrumental in getting our apartment back in working order and our Italian finances squared away.
These are talent, kind and dedicated people. Both Carmelo and Elisa embody their company’s core values: Integrity, Reliablity, Professionalism. To those values I would add TRUSTWORTHY. My wife and I trust them completely. I cannot emphasize this enough – they both have Power of Attorney to handle our affairs ranging from banking, to paying taxes, to collecting our mail. They have the keys to our apartment have been beyond gracious welcoming our friends who have been able to use our place. They have made our dream of owning a home in Italy a delightful experience and we are proud to call them friends. We can’t wait to get back to Spoleto to share an apertivo with Carmelo, Elisa and their families.
