House hunting- es no problem.

Thursday we went house hunting to a few different towns with an italian translator from the base. What a trip! The first few we went to were in the middle of the city of Motta, and didn't work for us with the dog. Of course any time we asked a question, the response was "Certo, es no problem". When to me, not having a patch of grass for 2 square miles was def. a problem! Each listing we saw before we went hunting said "one car spot, or one car garage", but when we told them we would have 2 cars and a motorcycle, each landlord told us "No problem, you can have my spot". It's wild- so different than the states. It came down to 3 houses we really liked.
1. 3 story/3 family farmhouse. We were greeted by 18 cats and 4 dogs, "Papa" and "Mama" ( as we were told to call them) . Had an unbelievable yard and garden with olive, lemon, and lime trees, blackberry bushes, tomatoes and various herbs. Papa peeled everyone a prickly pear fruit and showed us the house. Beautiful apartment, great view of Mt Etna, but on the 3rd floor. ( Not ideal for walking the dog every day)
2. Beautiful 2 family home all completely redone and modern. At first we were sold because it was so beautiful. There was an underground garage where the landlord kept his 4 jaguars, island beater and 2 motorcycles. Hmm Said landlord gave us a very strange feeling, and apparently owns multiple businesses in the little town. A little too Mafioso for us.
3. Another cute old Italian couple, they dressed up in a suit and dress to meet us at the door, put up balloons and streamers in the house to "welcome" us. This was the house we ultimately chose. Its a 3 family house, our apartment is on the ground floor, 2 bdcm 2 bath, with a back patio overlooking their garden. Really modern and beautiful, looks like they recently refurbished the property. Its in the town of Belpasso, its a pretty busy city which is nice because we can walk to local restraunts and cafes, it seems like our street is quiet enough that we won't be run down by any Fiats. We won't move in until 11/6 but will def. take pictures and post!!