Hello from Italy

[BrritSki]

Hi, my wife and I took early retirement and moved to our rebuilt/extended rustico in the hills behind Sanremo 3 years ago. We met in Italy 30 years ago (although we're both English) and have worked in Italy, France, Texas as well as the UK, but coming to this little village was like coming home even though our first visit was only 6 years ago.
We have several really good pizza restaurants nearby, but some of the best are served by our builder when he invited us up to his family Sundays up in his olive grove and he cooks on a very rickety oven. They taste fantastic though, together with copious quantities of his own wine, then some sausages or rabbit or possibly wild boar and then coffee and grappa.
We have a big barbecue, but that's getting a bit old now, and fired (sorry) with enthusiasm after watching Jamie Oliver cook in his big outdoor oven and by another Brit. TV chef who led me to cooking an amazing paella outside on the embers of a bonfire, I started to look for some ideas of how to build a combined pizza oven and grill and found Forno Bravo.
You site is amazing - lots of good ideas and detailed free plans of what to do as well as all the theory behind it. I need to have a good look round at the prefabricated ovens that are available in builders merchants here and also discuss with the builder, but your basic idea is what I'd like to go with, clad with local stone so it fits in with our terraces and house.
I'll now have a look through the forums for further ideas and inspiration.
Thanks in advance for the Forno. Bravo !!!
Roger

[Xabia Jim]

Welcome Roger, it will be great to have another Italian member.

I'm sure James will have notes to compare!

[DrakeRemoray]

Welcome! Count me as jealous...

I would think in Italy it will be much easier to source materials for this project without people thinking you are some kind of looney!

You could probably pay someone to build one and get it done right too.

Drake

[BrritSki]

Originally Posted by DrakeRemoray

Welcome! Count me as jealous...

I would think in Italy it will be much easier to source materials for this project without people thinking you are some kind of looney!

Drake

Yes, very true....

Originally Posted by DrakeRemoray

Welcome! Count me as jealous...

You could probably pay someone to build one and get it done right too.

Drake

Maybe get some help with the foundation and supports, but I really like brickwork and would like to do the construction of the oven myself.

Ciao Roger

[james]

Welcome aboard Roger,

You are in the heart of the brick oven world. To quote Drake, count me jealous as well. You have some very good options, including buying a precast oven, or a pre-made brick oven from a building supply store (or SuperStore), or building the whole thing yourself. Who knows, maybe a neighbor will volunteer to help.

Your local building supply store should have high heat mortar (probably Refrax), insulating blocks, insulating blankets, vermiculite and/or expanded clay, chimney pieces, floor tiles, bricks, etc., etc.

If you don't want to build the dome, floor and vent, you could buy the Artigiano oven locally. Send me a PM and I can put you in touch with the builder.

Our first Italian landlord has a house in San Remo. What a great spot, good access to central Italy and Provence, excellent weather, food, olive oil, focaccia, sea food stew, fresh pesto, the Acquarium -- all at the same time. Great place to retire. Complimenti. We have two daughters in school, so we're in California for a while -- but we're still planning our next escape. We're Anglo American, so the kids are 50/50.

Enjoy your project and let us know how it goes. Photos would be greatly appreciated.

James

[BrritSki]

Originally Posted by james

Welcome aboard Roger,

Enjoy your project and let us know how it goes. Photos would be greatly appreciated.

James

Yes, we're very lucky finding this place and that we didn't buy from the agents who attracted us here and who ripped a lot of people off.

Probably won't get round to this project until next year as we still have a lot to do this year.

There are some photos of the location from about 3 years ago here:
<http://www.pbase.com/muscin>

I really ought to put up a set of the current state of play - all the buildings are complete, pool in, terrace walls reconstructed - but we still have a lot of gardening to do.

However, the olive trees we planted when we first bought the property 4 years ago are producing oil now - 5L last year - wow! - and the 75 vermentino grape vines we planted 3 years ago gave us about 100L of white wine last autumn, plus the old vines sprang back into life once we'd cleared the brambles from the terraces and we pressed the grapes traditionally with our feet and have a couple of cases of lovely red wine that have absolutely nothing but grapes in them. Vino d'uva, very satisfying.

[gjbingham]

James - Jealousy is not allowed

Brittski - I'm jealous of your olive trees and grapes. Olives, like Avocados will not survive in this climate.

[Richie]

Brittski, looking forward to visting when you get the place finished!

What a fine project and with huge rewards during and when finished. Makes sitting at my desk in Houston today kinda suck, well, not kinda, it really sucks.

Good luck and please keep us all posted.

[Xabia Jim]

Great project....your oven is going to fit in very well!