Sara Costa and Giandomenico Allegri

HOME EXCHANGE

INFORMATION

Fam.

Sara Costa and Giandomenico Allegri

Via dell’Orsa Maggiore 8

37066 Sommacampagna (VR)

Membership number IT18665

Telephone - 0039 - 045 - 8960069

Mobile: 0039 - 335 - 6785024 (Giandomenico)

Mobile: 0039 - 335 - 5329162 (Sara)

Email: USE THIS WHILE WE ARE ON HOLIDAY:

Other mail addresses: or or

MEETING POINT AT ARRIVAL (FOR KEYS ETC.)

Sara’s brother and/or mumwill wait for you here in the car park in front of our home, please call them when you’re arriving.Sara’s brother (Cristian, speaks English) mobile 0039 3405491291. Sara’s mother (Mrs. Vanda): mobile 0039 3470555393 or home 0039 045510652.

ROAD DIRECTIONS TO OUR HOME

On the A4 motorway MILANO-VENEZIA, coming from the West,you need to drive DIRECTION VENEZIA. It’s very easy because you simply have to travel onwards, always following direction VERONA/ VENEZIA. There are several exits, the EXIT you need to go to our place is EXIT SOMMACAMPAGNA. (I can give you more detailed description if you wish).

USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

CONTACT PEOPLE:

Some numbers for you:

Cristian (Sara’s brother): 0039-347-0555393 (speaks English fluently)

Vanda (Sara’s mum – speaks Italian only): 0039 045 510652 or 0039 3470555393

Giandomenico's parents: (speak only Italian but are very helpful) +39 045 8960651

AGREEMENTS ABOUT USE OF TELEPHONE and INTERNET

• We have Broadband, so you can use the Internet freely.
• We commit each other to use the telephone only for local calls and emergency international calls.
• Ordinary international contacts with our families will be held either per e-mail or by personal mobile phones.

SAFETY INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOUSE

Always lock internal and external doors(don’t forget garage and cellar metal door) and also internal and external windows when you go out and, of course, when you go to bed. Thieves get in very easily - also at night when you’re sleeping - if you don’t lock the house properly.

ALARM: after locking all doors and windows (internal and external)(don’t forget garage and cellar metal door) we usually alarm the house from the outside with the alarm remote control. Remember to switch off the alarm when you come back, before opening any doors/the garage again.

ALARM AT NIGHT: if you want to feel safer at night, you can switch on the alarm while you are sleeping. To do this, you have to use the special alarm remote control that you will find on the second floor in the bathroom, in the drawer: after locking all doors and windows, just press PARZIALE 1 on this remote control before going to bed. The control voice will say “Acceso, parziale uno”. This is OK, it means that the whole house is alarmed: when this function is on, you can move only on the bedroom floor (from the bedroom to the bathroom for example).You can’t open any windows and you can’t go downstairs into the kitchen or upstairs under the roof when the function “PARZIALE 1” is on, or the alarm will start howling!

To switch it off, press SPENTO. Then you can open windows and move to the other floors.

ENERGY OVERLOAD: If there are too many machines going (dishwasher, washing machine, iron etc.) energy might automatically go out. In this case there is a switch on the stairs going to the cellar behind the corridor’s door, you just have to check all switches are upwards (if not, you have to push them upwards). If all switches are upwards, but still there’s no electricity in the house, you have to go out from the garden to the garages external gate and push upwards the general switch (Allegri). To open the gates and go there (as there’s no electricity) you need the keys to open the gates manually: for such situations we have a little bunch with 3 keys in the corridor in front of the bathroom, ground floor: one is for the garden gate, one for the external gate, one for the grey door of the general switch. If the problem persists, switch off some machines and check again that the switches outside and also on the stairs are upwards.

We shall stick use instructions for dishwasher, washing machine, coffee machine, air conditioned etc. somewhere in the kitchen for you.

As for air conditioned, you will probably need it. Please remember to switch it off before going out. There is a bucket on each balcony, where water coming from the air conditioning system collects: please check them and empty them (you can use this water for the flowers or throw it away in the shower) when they are full.

Summer storms

Summer storms are quite a problem here, as they are particularly violent and sudden. We recommend you the following:

-Before going away always close and lock all windows and doors (this is very important also to avoid thefts, so please always lock everything)

-If you go out and you see a storm is coming, please pull out the plug of the PC

-If energy goes out there are some candles, matches and a lighter in the kitchen over the cooker

-If energy does not return after the storm, check the two control points we already mentioned to you: i.e. that all the switches on the stairs are upwards (if they are and there is no energy, go outside the very external gate and check that our switch Allegri is upwards)

Post and bread

Please collect our post.

We have a big bread box outside the external garage gate (with our names); we will tell the backery not to deliver bread in the week we are away. Check anyway in the box, as they may forget.

Towels and table clothes

Small, medium, large towels are in the bathrooms and in the master bedroom.

Beach towels are in the wardrobe in the lavatory room.

Table clothes are in the kitchen in the big brown wooden piece of furniture.

Napkins and dishclothes are in the kitchen.

Water

Tap water is very good to drink, we also have an extra filtration for it in the house, so drink our tap water, there are no problems. We don’t use bottle water.If you need any fizzy water we have a machine in the kitchen which makes tap water fizzy. Always use the special bottles for fizzing the water (you will find them in the kitchen near the jugs).

WASHING MACHINE

-Put the detersive (liquid or powder) in the LEFT PART of the small basin which is on the left upper part of the machine (just pull it out). Detersive quantity: no more than half basin if you use powder; about 2-3 bungs (caps) if you use liquid cleansing.

-Choose the temperature turning the grip on the right (30-40 degrees is usually OK, the 30-40 degrees on the left part of the grip are for a more delicate washing, the 30-40 etc. degrees on the right part are for a stronger washing, usually for cotton)

-Leave switched off the buttons “extra risciacquo” (double rinsing) and “stira meno” (leave clothes wet, dump)

-The “centrifugazione” grip is OK at about 1000-1200 sweeps

-Press AVVIO

-The machine has finished when the light FINE is on

-Pull to open

(if it does not open, just wait 5 minutes and open)

DISHWASHER

-Press I to switch the machine on if it should be off.

-Put a detersive tab / some detersive powder in the LEFT basin.

-Leave temperature on 50 degrees which is generally ok (otherwise use the arrow to change temperature)

-Press START

-At the end the machine gives a beep to say it has finished

-Before doing a new washing, remember to empty the filter for food rests which is inside the machine (at the bottom, in the middle, just unscrew it, empty it and screw it again)

-Salt is OK, we have filled enough salt for your stay

COFFEE MACHINE

-Press the first button (on the left) to switch on the machine

-Check now and then that there is water in the basin on the right back (if not, put some glasses water inside)

-Unscrew the coffee filter and fill it with coffee powder without pressing it! (it is in the white/blue coffee container labelled as “caffè” on the upper shelf near the cooker, near the sugar and the cooking salt)

-Screw and fit it in the machine again

-Put two cups below

-When the second light (the one in the middle) turns on, press the button in the middle, coffee gets down

-Press the button in the middle again to stop coffee according to the quantity you wish

-Switch off the first button, unscrew the filter and empty it (be careful that the filter does not get into the garbage, it happened by mistake to our previous exchangers and they could no longer find it, nor make coffee anymore :-)

MICROWAVE

-Pull the microwave door to open

-Turn the white grip to choose how many seconds/minutes

-Press Jet Start to start

-The microwave rings at the end / press stop

-Pull to open

-P.S. Check that the central bottom button is always pressed (so that the internal dish turns)

-P.S.S. Do not use the orange Crisp buttons (they are for high temperatures and a special Crisp dish is necessary)

GARBAGE

We are very proud or our garbage system in our town, as in the last 10 years we reached the 1st place in Italy (among all towns between 10.000 and 20.000 inhabitants) in the recycling national chart! It works as follows and it’s obligatory to respect the Council’s directions for environmental reasons and also to avoid fees. Under the sink you will find four different buckets/boxes + one on the balcony.

BUCKET BACK LEFT: is for paper and cartons

BUCKET BACK IN THE MIDDLE: is for all plastic things included plastic bags, plastic envelopes of food, food packaging in general etc.

BUCKET FRONT IN THE MIDDLE: is for “umido” (organic, wet waste): that is all food rests (apart from bones and meat, which go into the red sack). You can put there all food rests, when it’s quite full you just take it out in the garden: near the fountain there is a green container (composter); just empty the bucket there.

BUCKET FRONT LEFT: is for all the rest (which is not much, in the end!). For this bucket you must always use the Council’s red sacks (you can find them under the sink as well or in the cellar). We have to buy them, so please see that they are well full before closing them and putting them by the road pavement: You can put them on the street only on Sunday evening (they will be taken away early Monday morning).

The blue council BUCKET on the balcony: is for glass, bottles and aluminium tins together.

When the plastic and paper buckets are full you need to take them into the cellar, where you will find bigger boxes where you can empty the buckets the plastic (in the yellow sack) and the paper (in the white basket).

HOUSE ENTRANCE

When opening the external main door, it sometimes 'resist' a bit, so please press the key well inside and turn with strength; once you have learnt how it works it's easy.

COMPUTER

The computer is all right but it gives some error messages when it gets started. Just ignore them (“annulla”). If it does not work properly, restart it or call us!

The Internet connection starts automatically. if it doesn’t work, check the ADSL device in the living room behind the sofa.

I think the best is to keep in touch, as it's difficult to think of every single problem you might encounter.

ELECTRICITY PROBLEMS

If two/threeenergy-high consuming electric appliances are on at the same time(i.e. washing machine + tumble drier; tumble drier + iron; washing machine + iron; dishwasher + washing machine etc...), electricity will go off and the electricity controls will go downwards.This can also happen after a storm. If this happens, you have to set all electricity controls upwards again (inside and outside the house):

* inside the house: behind the corridor door

* outside the house: take the emergency key bunch (3 keys) in the corridor, open the internal + external gate with the keys, as there will be no electricity to open them, go out near the garages gate, open the door with the special emergency key and push upwards our electricity control = Allegri).

SAFETY

Remember always to lock all internal+external windows and doors before leaving the house AND at night when you're in bed, thieves might come in at night while sleeping if you leave windows open

BOILER FOR HOT TAP WATER

The boiler is in the patio. You don’t have to do anything with it. It’s already set for the summer. If there are any problems, just check you haven’t switched off the boiler switch by mistake at the house entrance.

GARDEN WATERING SYSTEM

The waterin system starts automatically at about 5 o’ clock in the morning. If you notice any problems (for example that it is not working, because plants and the grass are very dry) please inform us! We will send someone to check.

VASES

We ask you to water ourvasesin the garden / gazebo and in the house.

If you don’t wish to do it, Giandomenico's mum or my mum can come to help. Tell us please.

FREEZER

You can take anything you want.

PLASTIC BAGS

If you need plastic bags, they are in the big straw box in the kitchen

SUPERMARKETS

The nearest is the Migross at the main crossroads of Sommacampagna.

Bigger and cheaper malls are AUCHAN or LA GRANDE MELA (both on the road connecting Peschiera/Southern Lake to Verona – see the map we have drawn up for you).

TO CONTACT US ABROAD:

Please use the following e-mail address to contact us abroad:

or +39 335 6785024 (Giandomenico)

+39 335 5329162 (Sara)

MARKET

Every Friday morning there is market on the main square of Sommacampagna.

A big market is the market in Villafranca every Wednesday morning.

SHOPPING

The nearest interesting place for shopping is the town of Villafranca, about 8 Km from our town (it’s also where I work). Villafranca is - after Verona of course - the biggest town in the province. There are three main streets full of shops and a beautiful medieval castle at the end of the central street.

You can reach it by car (5 minutes) or by bus (there is one more or less every hour or every two).

On Wednesday it’s market day there. It’s a huge market compared with that of Sommacampagna!

In the summer nights there are also many concerts, theatre plays etc. in the castle courtyard (as I told you such events are organized in Sommacampagna as well).

Verona is the best place to go shopping anyway. The central street is called Via Mazzini, it’s well known because there are many stylists’ shops, also expensive ones.

The market day of Verona is Saturday. Verona’s market is all around Verona Soccer Stadium.

POOLS

You must try Italian pools! They are top fun!

Most of them are huge parks with many pools (for children, adults, for swimming, for relaxing, for youth with water games etc.) - you stay there all day and enjoy the summer!

We absolutely suggest:

• CAVOUR (near Valeggio) - it’s certainly the best
• PICO VERDE (my favourite, it’s smaller but it’s on the hills near Sommacampagna - 5 minutes from here by car - and there is a gorgeous view!)
• CANEVAworld (by GardaLake - near Lazise) It’s very very big and full of tourists, a bit chaotic on Lake Garda

A normal pool (with beautiful green, anyway) - which costs much less is the sports centre pool in Villafranca.

FUN PARKS

You can’t miss GARDALAND - which the biggest fun park in Italy. It’s great for adult and - of course - for children!

Attraction Movies studios nearby.

It’s situated besides CANEVAworld, on LakeGarda, between Peschiera and Lazise. About 20 minutes by car from here.

SWIMMING

GardaLake is a must. At weekends it’s quite crowded, as all people (also the Italians living here around) go there to get a tan and swim, but if you go there during the week it’s lovely.

You can choose a beach anywhere (it’s all free), we usually go to Bardolino or Garda (there is a great walk by the Lake which links these two towns). You can just park somewhere between Bardolino and Garda and then walk down to the Lake.

If you want if can also drive further north - after Garda - to Torri Del Benaco, for example. Many people say the water is more beautiful there.

A really beautiful place where you can lay down and get tanned is called LA BAIA DELLE SIRENE (after Garda, between Garda and Torri del Benaco). To get in, you have to pay, as it’s a private bay with private car park. But it’s really lovely: all green lawns by the Lake… It also has its own private car park – otherwise it is pretty difficult to park in the lake area! The lake area is always full everywhere (people park along the Lake Road, called GARDESANA, mainly).