Elisa Bramante's Story

None of us are relentlessly cheerful. We all have our down moments when we think that things are going badly, our life is shit, and our worst nightmare is just around the corner. However, for most of us, this is just a bad patch, because life isn't that bad, and it can even be rather terrific. Although one should never lose sight of the ephemeral nature of money and success, and that we are one serious car accident away from dire straits, hopefully we'll struggle through with but a few knocks and bruises.

For some however, the knocks turn into beatings with a sledgehammer. My attention was drawn to an English lady in Umbria, Italy who wished to retire to Italy, did her homework, took her time, and placed her faith in professionals to provide reliable reports on potential property.

Elisa Bramante is now living in poverty because of:

the dishonesty & negligence of those who have been involved with my house in Umbria, some of whom are working illegally in Italy, all of whom are related directly or indirectly with the agency which sold me the house. Their negligence has resulted in my poverty & a daily struggle to stay alive.

She has a website through which she aims to bring the reality of what has happened to her to the world so that others may not go through what she is suffering. It makes very angry reading. She has been defrauded on all sides - by the agency, the lawyers, the Law, and the workmen.

These malpractices should be exposed, the slowness of Italian law should be exposed because it enables cowboys to practice with impunity. If it takes so long to sue someone that they're probably dead before the case goes to court, who has the patience or money to go through with it? The result is that these guys think they are untouchable and can defraud without punishment.

Read her site if you have a strong stomach. It's not for the faint-hearted, but if you are thinking of moving to Italy it is a MUST READ. Elisa has been reduced to a life of total misery:

I have spent 2 months of each of the last 3 winters in the cold, without heating, also I've lived the last year on the charity of others. I've not left my house for the last year, other than to go to our local town & can only eat, when others are kind enough to buy or give me food. I know what hunger is, I live with it every day now !!!!
I had done enough homework to know that there would be many difficulties in starting a new life in Italy, but one doesn't expect that the level of dishonesty would be such, that I would cry my eyes out every day, suffer hunger & pain, turn from being a happy person, to one living in misery, thinking only of death as a way out of my suffering, or that I would see every penny that I have earned spent on paying for the damage which they have caused, leaving me to live in poverty.

A guy I know said that when he thinks things are getting really bad, he thinks about how life was in the trenches, and that helps him put things in perspective. It's unlikely that we can even imagine how ghastly it was for those poor guys in the trenches. Elisa's situation is one that we can all too clearly imagine however.

Please help publicise Elisa's website. Perhaps the publicity could help achieve a Petite Anglaise-type fairytale ending. Or at least warmth and nourishment!