The Building Inspector

I thought I had become inured to the various bureaucracies in Italy, and the last thing I expected was to meet a whole new bureaucracy in this country that is famous for bureaucracies. I also did not expect to have to take personal responsibility for a building inspection as I lived in one apartment in a 72 unit condominium; however that is what has happened.

I received a call telling me that a building inspector would be arriving Friday afternoon. So I waited for him, and realizing that the work day often goes until 8 pm (with time out for Pranzo in the middle of the day), I was not really surprised when he had not shown up by five. I also figured the inspection would be brief, as I have only a fairly small two bedroom apartment. That is when the call came in that the inspector would be arriving at around 11 AM the next day. Okay, I could understand that. After all, this is Italy, and he probably scheduled my place for then, and would log in that it took him the rest of the day to complete the inspection so that he could start the weekend early.

He finally arrived about noon on Saturday. He came, along with an intern who was to learn the trade of building inspection from him. I was amazed at how thoroughly he was going to inspect the apartment. By the time of the pranzo break, he had only half covered the floor area of the main room. And of course he insisted on taking a break for pranzo, after which he and his intern took a nice long nap. When he found something that he considered unsafe or in need of adjustment, he insisted that it be fixed immediately, while he watched. Then he would check the area again, and again, before moving on. He was so picky that I arranged for two people to come and help me meet his very particular safety code. (I probably should have asked to see his code book, but that probably would have just pissed him off, and there would be more hell to pay.)

He returned to work at about 4:30 in the afternoon, and continued his meticulous critique of my apartment right up until quitting time at 8:30. He continued to find things that needed to be fixed, and as he had not even gotten out of the sogiorno at this point, he decided to continue the inspection on Sunday. I think this might have been his way of picking up comp time so that he could get a few extra days off in the summer. Besides, working in an apartment overlooking the sea might not have been all that bad for him.

At any rate, shortly after breakfast Sunday morning, he continued his inspection, making sure he took his full break at 11:00 for a snack, and again stopping for pranzo and a post pranzo nap. I will credit him with the fact that if he was truly trying to get compensatory time off for the summer, at least he was putting in a full day on Sunday. And of course I or one of my ‘assistants’ had to follow him around, making whatever modifications he felt were needed. He fully inspected my main room, my bed room, the bathroom, and the kitchen. Then he started on the terrace, and he continually found things that had to be changed. Some of it I would never have thought of, but all of the changes actually made sense, and I was glad that I had two people with me who could figure out ways to change things so that the inspector would be satisfied.

Finally, by Wednesday afternoon, the inspector declared himself satisfied that everything had been modified, and that my apartment was now habitable for a thirteen month old baby. If you need help in child proofing your house, give me a call, and I will send Alessio over to help you out. His three week old intern Alberto can certainly help out, and their parents, Angelo Gambino and Franci Lo Verde were also a great help.

Alessio inspects my gong for safety