The Spinabella Affair: How I Bought a Forgotten Italian Villa and Began the Fight to Bring It Back to Life

When I first saw Villa Spinabella, perched quietly in the green hills of Marino outside Rome, I did not see the ruin that others saw. I saw bones. I saw history. I saw a house that refused to die. A house with secrets beneath the dust, stories inside its stone walls, and a beauty still fighting to shine through layers of abandonment.

What I didn’t know then — but certainly know now — was that buying Villa Spinabella would become one of the most intense, frustrating, exhilarating, heartbreaking, and transformative chapters of my life.

This is the beginning of that story.

A Villa With a Soul – and a Thousand Problems

Villa Spinabella is not a normal property.It is a historic villa, a fragment of Roman countryside heritage, and a structure filled with architectural echoes that stretch across decades — perhaps centuries.

But when I bought it, it was a villa without water, without electricity, without habitability certification, without clarity of boundaries, without functioning infrastructure, and with more challenges than any sane buyer would logically take on.

Most people buy a home.

I bought a war.

• A war with the elements.

• A war with time.

• A war with bureaucracy.

• A war with termites, leaking roofs, broken gates, collapsed walls, invasive tree roots, ancient pipes, and neighbors who sometimes acted more like characters from a medieval drama than modern citizens.

  
  

The villa had waited a long time for help.

And somehow, we found each other.

Challenge #1: The Water Saga – or “How Can a House Have 200 Metres of Secret Pipes?”

One of the great mysteries of Villa Spinabella was water.

There were ancient pipes that seemed to travel from the entrance gates, beneath trees, through walls, disappearing under soil and stone like buried treasure maps. It took multiple visits, photos, measurements, and the patience of a saint (I failed that last one many times) to understand the system.

With the help of Giancarlo — my endlessly patient guardian angel of engineering — we traced, photographed, measured, re-measured, and finally presented everything to ACEA, Rome’s water authority.

A process meant to take weeks took months.

Documents were rejected because a photo was slightly unclear.Measurements had to be written directly on images.Materials had to match exact specifications.Deadlines loomed.I sent files, then resubmitted them, then corrected them, then resubmitted them again.

Every time I thought we had solved it, another obstacle appeared.

It felt less like a renovation and more like a Roman quest.

But we pushed forward.

Challenge #2: The Land, the Boundaries, and the Farmer Who Went to War With My Gate

Then came the boundary disputes — the dramatic saga of rights of passage, easements, and a local farmer whose enthusiasm for conflict seemed unmatched.

One morning, after carefully repairing the front gate and installing a new water cover, I discovered that everything had been removed or thrown into the bushes.

The water cover: gone.The wood framing: gone.Our tools: tossed aside.Our work: undone.

It was a surreal moment — the kind of incident you expect in a novel, not your life.But as with everything at Spinabella, we confronted it with patience and documentation, gathering evidence, speaking with lawyers, and preparing to defend the property.

The villa has a right of passage.It has documented boundaries.And I have learned that in Italy, heritage homes often come with heritage disputes.

Challenge #3: Electricity, Termites, and the Roof That Time Tried to Destroy

Electricity was another adventure.

Some rooms flickered with inconsistent power.Others had none at all.The garage was a puzzle of old boxes, dead wires, and switches that controlled absolutely nothing.

Then came the termites — silent, persistent, destructive.They had travelled through furniture, beams, chairs, tables, doors.They left patterns like scars, tiny holes like constellations of damage.

We brought professionals, inspected every corner, and began the long process of eradication.

Inside the walls and above our heads, the villa whispered its fears.

It needed help everywhere.

Challenge #4: The Roof That Could Collapse — and the Race to Save It

The roof, perhaps the villa’s most urgent emergency, had been neglected for decades.Tiles were cracked or missing, wooden beams weakened.Every storm threatened to do real damage.

We secured quotes, raised scaffolding plans, and began coordinating the enormous effort required to rebuild, reinforce, and weatherproof a structure untouched for far too long.

This was not cosmetic.This was survival work.

Challenge #5: Italian Bureaucracy – A Maze Only the Brave Enter

• Buying a house in Italy is easy.

• Renovating it legally is not.

Between the Comune di Marino, ACEA, heritage considerations, architectural reviews, technical surveys, and endless documentation, every step requires precision, patience, and persistence.

Italian bureaucracy is legendary for good reason.

But step by step, document by document, signature by signature, we moved forward.

But Here’s the Truth: I Wouldn’t Change Any of It

With every problem came progress.With every setback came understanding.With every obstacle came a deeper connection to Villa Spinabella.

This house is not just a renovation project.It is a transformation.

• A rebirth — of stone, land, identity, and purpose.

• And through all of this, something beautiful has begun to emerge:

A vision for Villa Spinabella as a restored home, a storytelling project, a digital experience, and a place where history and creativity collide.

The Spinabella Affair is not just the restoration of a villa.

It is the restoration of a dream.

Follow the Entire Journey — Photos, Videos, Drones, Drama, and Daily Updates

I document everything:

• The construction

• The conflicts

• The discoveries

• The triumphs

• The failures

• The beauty

• The madness

• The transformation

All of it — every update, every photo, every moment — is now being shared on the official website: 👉 https://www.spinabellaaffair.com/

There you’ll find:

• Blog updates

• Restoration videos

• Drone footage

• Architectural plans

• Water & electrical progress

• Before-and-after transformations

• The ongoing neighbour saga

• And the full unfolding story of Villa Spinabella

The website will grow into an archive, a documentary, and a personal journey all woven into one.

Why I Share This Story

Because Villa Spinabella is not just mine — it is part of something bigger.

It is a story about resilience.A story about history.A story about fighting for beauty in a world that often forgets it.A story about rebuilding something that deserves to live again.

And most of all:

It is a story still being written.

Join me at SpinabellaAffair.com and follow the restoration as it continues day by day, week by week, challenge by challenge — until the villa finally stands whole again.