D&G Design - Renovating in Italy

D&G Design - Renovating in Italy We’re Davide and Gary, a reno team with a passion for breathing new life into Italy’s historic buildings.

We take on everything from client vacation home renovations to restoring our own Italian home.

28/09/2026

When does dreaming about a life in Italy turn into actually doing something about it? 🇮🇹

For everyone, that moment is different.

Maybe Italy has been in the back of your mind for years. Maybe one particular trip changed everything. Or perhaps you’ve already started scrolling through property listings thinking, Could we actually do this?

For Shayne, discovering our Move to Italy Retreat became part of that journey.

Peter & Linda started exploring the idea too, and eventually found their home here in Italy with our help. ❤️🇮🇹

That’s what we love about hearing these stories. None of them began with everything figured out.

They began with an idea.

Then came the research, the questions, the house hunting, the visits… and eventually, for some of our guests, the keys to their own home in Italy. 🔑

If Italy has been sitting at the back of your mind for a while, perhaps it’s time to find out what’s actually possible.

Our Move to Italy Retreat is five days designed to help you explore the reality of buying, renovating and living in Italy, while experiencing the towns, villages and lifestyle for yourself.

🇮🇹 Where are you in your Italy journey - dreaming, researching or already house hunting?

Comment RETREAT and we’ll send you the details.

26/09/2026

Thinking about moving to Italy? 🇮🇹

We know just how exciting that dream can be, because we did it ourselves.

As renovators living and working in Italy, we also know that turning the dream into reality involves rather more than finding a beautiful house online and packing a suitcase.

That’s why we created our Move to Italy Retreat.

We held our first retreat back in 2019, bringing together people who were seriously considering a move to Italy and introducing them to the professionals, knowledge and everyday realities that can make the whole process so much easier to understand.

Since then, many of our guests have gone on to buy homes of their own, here in Le Marche and elsewhere in Italy. 🏡🇮🇹

During the retreat, you’ll spend time with us and our trusted local experts, learning about everything from finding and buying property to renovation, legal considerations, residency and the practicalities of actually building a life here.

You’ll explore towns and villages, visit properties, eat extremely well, meet people who already live here and experience a little of what everyday life in this part of Italy actually feels like.

Because after years of helping international clients find, buy and renovate homes here, there’s one thing we’ve learned:

Moving to Italy is much easier when you know what to expect, and have the right people around you.

Our next Move to Italy Retreat takes place in Le Marche in May 2027, with a maximum of just 10 guests.

🇮🇹 Could 2027 be the year your Italian dream starts becoming a plan?

Comment RETREAT below and we’ll send you all the details — plus an exclusive early-bird offer for everyone who enquires through this post.

👇 Comment RETREAT and we’ll send you all the details.

I’m not particularly superstitious, or at least I wasn’t before I moved to Italy.Over the years, I’ve somehow picked up ...
25/09/2026

I’m not particularly superstitious, or at least I wasn’t before I moved to Italy.

Over the years, I’ve somehow picked up a collection of Italian superstitions that once sounded completely ridiculous… and which I now follow without even thinking about them.

Some are widespread, others change from region to region, and some have been passed down through families for generations.

Here are 5 bizarre Italian superstitions that have somehow become part of my life. 🇮🇹

Swipe 👉



SEE AN EMPTY HEARSE? TOUCH YOUR BALLS.

One Italian superstition for men is toccarsi i co****ni - literally touching your balls, to ward off bad luck.

An empty hearse goes past? Hands down your pants!

If the hearse has a coffin in it, apparently you're safe... for now...

SOMETHING OMINOUS? MAKE THE HORNS.

This is fare le corna - making the horns with your index and little finger, usually pointing them downwards when you’re warding off bad luck.

It’s traditionally used against sfortuna or the malocchio - the evil eye.

Someone mentions something terrible that you absolutely don’t want happening to you?

Corna, Immediately.

Just be careful where you point them because horns directed at another person can have an entirely different meaning!

NEVER SLEEP WITH YOUR FEET FACING THE DOOR.

I learnt this one in Puglia, where Davide is from. I'm not sure if it's a Pugliese custom or country-wide.

Traditionally, the dead are carried out of the room feet first, so sleeping with your feet pointing towards the door is considered a bad omen.

NIGHTMARES? EAT BREAD ON THE TOILET.

That terrifying feeling when you wake up but can’t move or speak is known as sleep paralysis. It can happen when your mind becomes conscious while your body is still temporarily in the muscle-paralysis stage associated with REM sleep.

Science has an explanation for it, Italian folklore has several others.

My experience featured a menacing little gnome-like creature who seemed to leave me completely frozen, unable to move or even shout out.

In Puglia, this night-time visitor is known as U Lavureddu.

Variations of the folklore exist across Italy u

20/09/2026

POV: A lazy Sunday in Italy 🇮🇹

Cappuccino and cornetto at the bar ☕️
A drive into the countryside 🚗
A walk through the hills 🌿
And this at the end of it… 💦

Just an ordinary Sunday in Le Marche.

⏩ Send this to a friend who loves Italia 🇮🇹

18/09/2026

🇮🇹 Italy isn't an escape hatch, it's a different way of living.

If you're moving because you're angry with politics, frustrated with the cost of living, or simply hoping Italy will solve all your problems, you might be disappointed.

Italy has its own bureaucracy, rising costs, taxes, delays and frustrations.

But if you're moving because you genuinely love the culture, the language, the food, the history, the pace of life and the communities, you'll probably find those challenges much easier to manage.

What do you think some of the best things about moving to Italy are?

🇮🇹 There are plenty of clichés about life in Italy, both on and off social media.But is Italy really a fairytale where n...
14/09/2026

🇮🇹 There are plenty of clichés about life in Italy, both on and off social media.

But is Italy really a fairytale where nobody gets much done, everyone downs tools at lunchtime and drinks gallons of wine beneath a vine-covered portico? 🍷🇮🇹

Or does real life look a little different from all those shiny photos?

Let’s bust a few Italian clichés…

"Dolce far niente” - The sweetness of doing nothing.

You must have heard this Lovely phrase, it's everywhere on Instagram.

- Except Italians have jobs.
Rents, Mortgages and utility bills. Taxes to pay. School runs. Deadlines.

And someone has to open the bar at 6am so you can enjoy your romantic cappuccino. 😂

“La dolce vita”

Instagram Version:
Long lunches, Vespas, wine, sunsets, and driving the Amalfi coast in a covertible car whilst for some inexplicable reason wearing a headscarf.

Actual Italy:
Traffic. Work. Bureaucracy. Bills. Supermarket queues. Taking a numbered ticket and waiting at a sportello.

Sometimes followed by wine and a sunset, but with the sweet life comes the reality of life at the same time.

"Italians work to live, they don’t live to work.”

Some do.

Some work extremely long hours.
Some have two jobs.
Some businesses are open six days a week.

Italy isn’t populated entirely by people taking three-hour lunches.

We are lucky if we grab a panino!

“Everything closes for lunch.”

Not quite.

And when businesses do close for a few hours, the people working there aren’t necessarily lying beneath an olive tree having a nap.

They might be doing paperwork, collecting children, running errands, or simply working different hours.

"Life is slower in Italy.”

Some things are slower.

- Meals.
- Sunday afternoons.
- Bureaucracy.

But Italians aren’t necessarily living their entire lives at some beautifully relaxed Mediterranean pace.

Try driving with them.

"Italians know how to enjoy the simple things.”

Actually… this one has some truth in it.

Coffee with a friend.
An evening passeggiata.
Sunday lunch.
A local festa.
Sitting in the piazza talking to people you’ve known for 40 years.

But these things happen alongside ordinary life, not instead of it.

Italy isn’t a lifestyle brand.

It’s a cou

13/09/2026

Sunday morning in Italy. 🇮🇹

Open the windows, let the fresh air in and decide that absolutely nothing needs to happen quickly today.

Coffee first, then lunch with friends and a passegiata later. Maybe aperitivi too 😁

Send this post to someone you know who dreams of living in Italy someday ❤️🇮🇹

12/09/2026

🇮🇹 Thinking of buying a home in Italy?

It’s very easy to fall in love with the house, the view, the shutters, and the dream.

But while your heart might choose the house, your head still needs to do the buying. ❤️

After almost ten years working and renovating in Italy, we’ve seen some of the mistakes people make when buying here, and we’re talking about them in our FREE live webinar.

🏠 The Biggest Mistakes People Make When Buying in Italy

👇 Comment WEBINAR and we’ll send you the link to register FREE.

11/09/2026

🇮🇹 These aren’t reclaimed timber beams… they’re lightweight decorative beams that give the same beautiful, traditional look without the weight or complexity of solid wood.

It’s a simple change that completely transformed the feel of this room.

👍 Comment BEAMS below and we’ll send you behind the scenes of this renovation project.

If you’re new here, we’re Gary & Davide from D&G Design. We help people buy, renovate and create homes here in Italy, from smaller updates to much larger renovation projects.

And not every Italian renovation needs an enormous budget.

We work with our clients to understand what they want to achieve, what their property actually needs and where their budget is best spent. Sometimes that means restoring original features, sometimes replacing what’s no longer practical, and sometimes finding a clever, affordable solution that completely transforms a space.

🇮🇹Some Italian words are just FAR too similar when you’re learning the language!One wrong letter, one badly pronounced c...
07/09/2026

🇮🇹Some Italian words are just FAR too similar when you’re learning the language!

One wrong letter, one badly pronounced consonant or translating directly from English can lead to some fairly unfortunate mistakes.

SWIPE to learn from MINE! 😂



🍝 PENNE / PENE
At a festival in our village, someone asked what I’d eaten. I attempted to say penne. Apparently my pronunciation suggested something rather more anatomical. Since then, I only ever say pasta and refuse to specify the type

Penne = penne/pens. Pene = p***s.

🎂 ANNI / ANI
When someone asked how old I was, I discovered just how important that double N really is.
Anni = years. Ani = anuses.
Apparently There’s quite a difference between being 51 years old and having 51 arses!

🧹 SC***RE

I learned that sc***re means “to sweep”, so saying “Davide sta scopando in cucina” seemed perfectly innocent.

And technically, it is. Except sc***re is also a very common vulgar way of saying “to f*.”**

Suddenly Davide sweeping the kitchen sounded considerably more exciting for him! 😂

🤢 HA SENSO / FA SENSO
A friend once asked what I thought of her English essay. I wanted to tell her that a few bits didn’t make sense. English brain took over and I mixed up fare and avere.

Non ha senso = It doesn’t make sense.
Mi fa senso = It grosses me out / disgusts me.

Slightly harsher feedback than I intended. 😳

🔥 HO CALDO / SONO CALDO
On a boiling hot day I confidently announced to an elderly neighbour: “Sono caldo!”
What I needed was “Ho caldo” - I’m hot.

Essere caldo can have a rather more… sexually charged meaning.

Not information my elderly neighbour needed. 😂

😳 GENITORI / GENITALI
Our greengrocer’s parents hadn’t been well, so naturally I wanted to ask how they were.

Unfortunately, genitori and genitali became muddled somewhere between my brain and my mouth.

Genitori = parents. Genitali = ge****ls.

I asked the greengrocer how his ge****ls were.

🇮🇹 Learning Italian keeps you humble.

Send this to a friend who loves Italy or the Italian learner in your life who might need saving from the same mistakes. 😂

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