A rather mundane looking picture, but I'm all about the details and this photo really illustrates what I'm trying to describe to you my fellow future traveler! In Northern Italy, (because I'm not sure about the South,) most of the buildings have this type of window shutter by default. They are called Tapparelle and basically they reside inside the walls and are raised or lowered with a rubber rope for want of a better word. They are heavy and extremely sturdy, you need some muscle to use them. When I first arrived in Italy I hated these things because when they are lowered the outside of the buildings really look like nothing, or in short, just plain ugly.


But over time I really began to appreciate the usefulness of the Tapparelle. In the winter they all but shut out the cold. As you can see they form a pretty tight seal around the doors and windows. (This one is not lowered all the way.) In the summer they serve the same function in reverse; they cut down the heat inside.

They can also look very romantic. If you don't extend them down to the ground or floor the slats stay about a half an inch apart, insuring privacy but also letting out the soft glow from your lamps. From the outside it looks as though you have blinds, but more awesome blinds than usual.

So I've come to love them now and will miss them deeply when we leave, yes I'm afraid we've thrown in the towel, mostly due to the economy here at the moment, that is making it impossible to work. But more on that later...
In the end, these awful looking shutters have become a great source of comfort for me. When the wind howls, it actually sounds like it is howling outside of my home, in back of the shutters instead of whistling though, This of course adds to the feeling of coziness and safety inside my apartment, (nothing can get in!) and warm too, as a bonus!





Here's another photo from the inside. Although they build the Tapparelle into the walls for the outside of the window, it is traditional on the inside to have some type of window treatments or curtains. Here in my living room, you see the window Tapparella about a quarter of the way down, and of course the one in the door is closed completely..

Practically zombie proof!