We moved to Sicily, but it wasn’t right. We made our home in a lesser-known region

A retired British couple who moved to Sicily a decade ago decided to trade it in after a couple of years for the lesser-known Italian mountain region of Abruzzo, which they realised was much more suited for their lifestyle.

Karen Jones, 62, and Alistair Jones, 72, from the West Midlands, moved to Selinunte in Sicily’s Trapani province in 2013, after Alistair, who worked in insurance, took early retirement and they sold their house in the UK.

The year before they had a two-bedroom home with a large sun terrace built near the sea, which cost around £120,000, but it didn’t turn out to be their dream home. Unlike most expats who fall in love with Sicily’s vibes and hotspots, the pair didn’t feel the same attachment, and they began looking further afield.

“I didn’t like the area, there were concrete houses everywhere and not much greenery nor gardens where we lived. We were one of two houses in our street that had a lawn and palm trees,” Karen, a former NHS physiotherapist, told The i Paper.

“It was also a bit dirty,” she added. “There were lots of stray cats and starving dogs when people left in September after their holidays… so many animals left to their own defences.”

At one point, Karen said she was feeding 24 dogs every day – the local dog shelters were full and people did not seem to care.

At the same time, winters in Sicily proved less idyllic than the summers, when tourism revives many of the more offbeat areas. Selinunte is famous for its ancient Greek temples, but by autumn, things wind down there.

The Joneses said that the main services in Trapani stopped in September and that places that would be chaotic and buzzy in the summer would become ghost towns, with few people walking the streets and many shops shut.

“Looking back, I realise we bought in the wrong place, so we decided to move to mainland Italy,” Karen said. “It was not what we envisaged retirement to be, but we didn’t want to leave Italy.”

Instead, they targeted Abruzzo and embarked on a one-week property tour of the region. In 2015, they bought an old farmhouse for around £145,000 in the rural surroundings of the town of Penne. They purchased it off another British couple who were moving back to the UK.

The two-bedroom property is 160-square-metres in size and came with a terrace and a big patch of land. They believe a similar property in the UK would cost at least £500,000.

The couple chose Abruzzo because it ticked all of their boxes: it was close to the mountains and beaches, is surrounded by stunning scenery and they found a great property to buy.

They also wanted to live where they could see the trees and wildlife. Wild boars venture into their garden most evenings from the woods, which are packed with wolves, bats, foxes, badgers, pole cats, porcupines and deer.

“Penne appealed to us as it was a busy but not too big town with everything we were looking for,” said Karen, listing hospitals, shops, supermarkets, bars and cafes. “People are warm and friendly and there’s a slower way of life here than in the UK,” she added.

Above all, it is lively, with year-round food fairs, traditional festivals and local events.

The couple now work on their garden, walk their dogs, visit nearby towns like Pescara and hike up into the Apennine mountains.

Karen said Penne has much more of a community atmosphere compared to where they lived in Sicily, and the couple consider it a “much more civilised” place and one better connected to the rest of Italy. They also have “lovely” neighbours and expat friends they regularly meet up with.

In spite of their initial experience, the Joneses never regretted moving to Italy, feeling it was the right country to live-out their retirement. Karen said she knows there are places in Sicily that would be nice to live in, but the island-region just wasn’t for them.

“We didn’t choose the right place to live in Sicily,” she said. “When we moved there, it rained for 55 consecutive days. We had only visited in the summer, and this was a shock to us. It was cold, wet, miserable and everything was closed.”

She added: “We love living in Abruzzo with its seasons, rich history, and traditions.”