A British man says he and his Italian partner are now living an idyllic lifestyle after he ditched London so they could build the house of their dreams in Italy . Tim Stephens, 63, a retired business owner, moved from north London to Santa Domenica Talao, a remote Italian village in Calabria , south-west Italy, with his partner, Eliseo, who is from the region. “I met my Italian partner in 2008 and he introduced me to the beautiful and friendly village of Santa Domenica Talao, Calabria,” Mr Stephens, who previously ran businesses including insurance broking, garden maintenance and as garden supplies, tells i .
“The idea grew over the years of building a home to live in most of the time but also to rent out during the main holiday season.” Several years ago his partner inherited a patch of land that had been in the family for generations, so the couple decided to build a three-bedroom villa with a pool. “We designed the villa ourselves and started building it in 2021 on land already owned by the family [of my partner],” he says, adding that it took about 18 months to complete.
“The house cost in the region of €200,000 [£170,000] to build. I do not know its value today and we have no intention of selling it, but it is likely to be far in excess of the money invested.” He adds: “The property is a one-off with land of half a hectare.
Ignoring the size of the garden, which would be impossible to find in north London, I can’t imagine anyone could find an equiv.