Lady on a bulldozer
From Odile Taliani Sir: I am in the reverse situation to Mrs Powell's (`Basta Italia!', 14 August). My late husband was an Italian ambassador for 15 years. We met and married in London 40 years ago. Back in Italy, it so happens that an eighth of the territory which was the city of Ancient Rome belongs to my sons. This means constant contact and negotiation with the authorities. Usually there are excellent reasons for them refusing this or that request.
In the case of Palombara Sabina, the larger proportion of the tragically thirsty 400 other houses mentioned by Mrs Powell were built without planning permission at all. Let alone having the right to water from the mains, they are about to have demolition orders slapped on them.
Mrs Powell should have known and probably did know this when she bought. The intention to supply the area with mains water was never clear. One imagines Mrs Powell bought at an advantageous price, hoping she could bulldoze her way through the council, thereby conveniently quadrupling her investment. That seems to have gone wrong.
/1 faut ewe etranger. Mrs Powell has a sort of position in London as her husband's wife, and only as such. This unfortunately allows her a certain degree of bulldozing. In Italy she has no position at all except, as she says herself, that of an confrontational person. That wouldn't get her far anywhere, least of all in England, and indeed nor has it in Italy. Pace.
°dile Taliani
Vienna, Austria
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