In this update, take a look at some of the historic and personal items I found in our Italy house. When we bought the house, it was full of cards, books, photos, and belongings that revealed the lives of some of the people who’d lived there. It was impossible to save everything but these are a few of the things we packed away during the renovation.
Note: Sorry! TikTok doesn’t allow me to embed photo slideshows on the website without a third-party tool that I don’t have. So, for this update, click on the photo below and another tab will open to see the photos.
What You See in the Video
- Postcards and handwritten letters
- A diary written during World War I by a girl whose father was sent off to war
- Family photos
- Artwork
- The book of sale for the house from 1896
The Story Behind-the-Scenes
With the renovation work paused while we figured out our problem with the builder, I had a moment to clean up a few areas of the house where things were stored. In particular, on the ground floor, there is a storage room where we hadn’t planned any work. We were storing several plastic bins with small items from the house that we wanted to save.
During the sandblasting in the rooms next door, a lot of dust and sand landed here. So, I spent an afternoon sweeping out this room and couldn’t resist looking again at some of the house’s history we’d found after we bought it.
I looked through the photos, old school records, and postcards. I tried to translate some of the letters. Funny enough, it wasn’t so much the Italian making it difficult but the cursive handwriting that was a challenge to read. Ironic to think that the beautiful handwriting was itself another aspect of life that has been all but lost to the passage of time.
Of everything, though, I was most captivated by the diary about the father sent off to war written by his daughter. It can be hard to imagine what living through these historic events must have been like. But when you read a firsthand account like this, the emotions fill each page in a language that is so much more formal than we use today. Yet, it felt like she was an old friend pouring her heart out to me. It’s a treasure of the house that I will keep forever.
Where To Next?
See all the renovation updates in order by heading back to this renovation journey page.
Or watch more now using the navigation links below.
Previous update: Renovation Update Part 6: Sandblasting, Channeling, & Frustration
Next update: Renovation Update 7: Builder Ghosts Us & Moving On
