Home Buying: An Insider’s Guide - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 29

wards. An Italian friend read it on our behalf and assured us that it was pretty much stand-
ard stuff.
When the designated day arrived, Pam and I went to the bank to meet with the seller and
signthecontract. Wewerewearingcasual clothes sincewehadn'tbroughtanyformalattire
with us on our summer vacation. The seller, an elegant older gentleman, and his entourage
all arrived in suits and ties. I approached him to shake hands and introduce myself. I ex-
plained in Italian:
“ Mi dispiace. Sono in vacanza. Non ho portato il mio costume.”
He looked at me somewhat quizzically, and then smiled. He explained courteously that in
Italy they didn't use the same word as the French for “suit”. In Italian, “ costume ” meant
“bathing suit”. But he understood what I meant. What I had said, apparently, was:
“Excuse me. I'm on vacation. I didn't bring my bathing suit.”
After that marvelous first impression, I just kept my mouth shut. When they asked me to
confirm that I understood Italian (so that we could avoid the time and expense of having to
translate all the documents into English), I limited myself to a terse “Yes”. At that point the
notary began reading the contract, and he continued reading for the next ninety minutes.
If you've been through the process of buying a home or getting a bank loan in the States,
you know how many pages you have to sign and how many you have to initial as the loan
officer quickly explains to you what you're signing. In Italy, the notary reads the thirty
pages of the contract from beginning to end. He does it at break-neck speed but he reads all
of it, like the Cantor in an Orthodox synagogue, including the small print, page after page.
Really. It seems that this legal requirement goes all the way back to the Napoleonic Code
established by the Emperor himself to prevent the illiterate peasantry from being swindled
when they signed legal agreements.
In the United States notary publics are minor players who perform a useful service for
whichtheyarepaidatokenfee.InItaly,notariesaresociallyfarabovedoctorsandaccount-
ants, and just a step beneath royalty. No contract or agreement becomes legal and binding
until it is signed by a notary. In exchange for his services (which consisted of reading and
then signing the contract that his secretary had typed up) our notary received a payment of
approximately $2500.
After the reading of the contract was over, the notary paused, took a sip of water, and then
asked perfunctorily, “Does anyone have any questions?”