Scratching the toe of Italy: Expecting the unexpected in Calabria

In July 2008 Niall Allsop and his wife Kay returned to the UK after their third holiday in Calabria near the small hill-top town of Santa Severina; the plan was to return the following summer. Ten weeks later, their left-hand drive Clio bursting at the seams, they left their home in south-west England and headed for the coast on the first leg of their journey back to Calabria to live. Scratching the toe of Italy continues the story from where Stumbling through Italy left off and explains how their move to Italy came about, the logistics of the move itself and what happened next. It is the story of two adventurous pensioners adapting to being the only English-speaking people in a small Calabrian town, of the new friends they made and the home they created there. Scratching the toe of Italy is a heart-warming chronicle of perseverance and optimism, of the struggle to come to grips with a new language and a new culture, of starting each day with the certain knowledge that it will not turn out as expected.