La Scala in Todi

"Scala" means staircase, and today, our scala arrived!!! We are so excited!

It arrived high up on Umberto's truck, which meant that it had to be lowered into the truck bed before moving it through the portone.

Then, strapped to the winch and raised carefully:

With much consternation, they decided it needed to be rotated onto its side to get it through the opening in the scaffolding

And in!

The second piece was much easier:

Then came lots of measuring before attempting to mount it. There were a few panicked minutes where I saw frantic measuring, physical counting of the actual steps, calculations on phones and mental math. I offered what I thought might resolve the problem: "Um, the final step up is the floor level of the attic!" Hurray! They were much happier and could proceed joyfully from there.

First step of said joyful work: drill holes in the wall to attach the steps permanently to the house.

Lower attachment points

Upper attachment points

Time to try putting it together!

At one point, there were 6 people working on hefting this sucker around

A little spot welding, and voilà!

From the library

From the girls' room

Other updates:

The window in the upper hallway has been (mostly) opened. The plaster work is essentially done. The wall in the guest bathroom is pointed and the ceiling in the guest bathroom has been regrouted. Various bits and bobs have been removed (lots of cleanup!) and the windowsill in the bathroom has been raised.

Such excitement!

Alexandra