This is a bit of a story, so sit back, grab an espresso and enjoy!
In 2014, I packed up my life in Sydney Australia and decided to chase my own “La Dolce Vita” in Italy.
I was working in the corporate world for many years and the constant long hours and stress really took a toll on my health and I had that ongoing sinking feeling in my gut that I not only wanted but NEEDED more from my life.
I had lived abroad for 13 years in London and Brazil and upon returning home to Australia in 2012 I never felt settled. I craved the idea of immersing myself into a new culture and starting a completely different lifestyle.
Good bye banking, hello la dolce vita
During the time between December 2013 and December 2014 I dedicated myself to trying to learn Italian, putting money aside and making the plans to move across to Italy. Not once in that time did I imagine what I would need to do for work there. Given my many years in the banking and financial planning industry, I was offered a transfer from Deutsche Bank in Australia across to their Milan office but I knew that it’s not what my soul wanted.
A change was needed.
I arrived in Italy in December 2014 to a town called Bolzano, in the far north east of Italy on the Austrian border. It was the most beautiful, picturesque town, with a mountain backdrop everywhere you look. I was fortunate enough to start working for a global real estate company called Engel and Voelkers who needed someone that spoke English. Given that my Italian was extremely basic and the other language spoken there was German I jumped at the opportunity to have a job where my English skill set was needed. I have always had a passion for real estate, my first ever job was in the real estate industry as a property manager. I have always been so fascinated with property and used to spend hours scouring the portals online all over the world and to combine my two great loves, real estate and Italy was like a dream come true.
However, being the beach girl at heart after growing up in Australia I didn’t feel that Bolzano was really giving me the “vera italia” true Italy that I was looking for I set my sights on going further south by the beach.
Challenges and Triumphs
I didn’t know where to go but a good friend of mine suggested that I check out the town of Monopoli in Puglia. I will never forget the day that I arrived in Monopoli and I felt the hairs on my arm stand on end and I felt this sense of comfort and peace. This was my home. This was where I belonged and what I was searching for since my arrival in Italy.
Shortly after I arrived I started working for a real estate and holiday rentals company in Monopoli. It was during that time that I met the father of my two unborn children but our paths took us away from Puglia and back to where he was from in a town in Southern Italy which was extremely dangerous and rife for the Italian mafia.
I remember feeling so frightened as to how I managed to end up here. I was a mother to a newborn baby boy and fell into a huge depression. Most days I didn’t leave the house as I was too afraid given the type of area we were living in.
In April 2019, I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to attend a Tony Robbins conference which lasted 4 days. During those four days, I felt my soul was cracked open and I was forced to really confront where I was at and most importantly where I wanted to go.
Upon returning from the conference I came back with a renewed sense of who I was and what I wanted to create for my son.
my aha moment
It was then that I realized that during my years of working with foreign buyers wanting to invest into the Italian real estate market I saw a pattern. Many people had the same fears and doubts about potentially losing their money, buying a property with severe structural damage or encountering unethical real estate agents which unfortunately there are many.
I had the idea to create the first course on buying property in Italy that no one had ever done, not in the industry or the country and my business started there in 2019. We moved back to Puglia and ended up in the beautiful Baroque town of Martina Franca, in the heart of the Valle d’Itria.
Soon after I started my business the pandemic hit. Most of my clients who are from the USA were not able to travel but their appetite for buying a property in Italy was growing and they wanted to invest. So I was the first to pioneer buying properties by way of a virtual tour and drone footage. Everyone said I was crazy but in that time I helped many of my clients by exceptional homes without them ever having to leave their home. I launched my consulting business Italy Property Consulting, where I guide my clients throughout the buying process until they have the keys in hand.
Making La Dolce Vita a Realty (Both for Myself and For Others)
It was also during that time that I created the first property newsletter “La Dolce Vita on a Shoestring” which was really aimed to help show foreign buyers what the market was really about and how far their money could go. This then turned into “La Dolce Vita Lifestyle Magazine” the only weekly digital property magazine aimed at capturing a 360 angle of La Dolce Vita and what it encompasses.
My business has grown tremendously and I am forever grateful. I recently was fortunate enough to be featured on two episodes of House Hunters International and have bought a beautiful villa in the countryside of Martina Franca where I live with my two boys.
Life now is pretty cruisy but it has not been easy. I know that we can get all very caught up with the romance of Italy and the lifestyle it can offer but you must have grit and be prepared to go through some tough times. But the rewards? So worth it.
It is my mission to not only share my knowledge but to also help and inspire others like me, who have a passion for Italy that want to own a little piece of real estate paradise here.
It may not be your new permanent home, but perhaps a bolthole away from your chaotic life that allows you to relax, unwind and enjoy the “vita lenta” the slow life which is everything La Dolce Vita encompasses.
My aim for this blog is to share what I come across in my day to day life, whether it be being out and about with clients on property viewings, exploring new towns or discovering incredible restaurants and experiences so that you too, can have a taste of what life is really like here in Puglia.
Happy Reading.
Buona lettura
Nikki xoxo
