Expats in Calabria. A Dream of Luxury and History at an Italian Palazzo

Part 2.

Welcome to the second part of our exclusive interview with Tabatha Shepherd who recently purchased a charming old Italian palazzo with the vision of transforming it into a luxurious boutique hotel. Today, we find ourselves in the picturesque setting of a seaside café Lido da Pietro in Scalea, sipping cappuccinos and engaging in a conversation that unveils the story behind her remarkable venture. With a sparkle in her eyes, Tabatha recounts the captivating allure that drew her to this particular palazzo. So, here we go…

The main entrance to the Palazzo

What inspired you to purchase this old historical palazzo?

Well first of all, we walked into the village and people I didn't even know welcomed us and were so friendly and so that was kind of weird, you know? We started looking at some properties with Chris, and I remember when Randy and I walked into the courtyard of the palazzo and we both just looked at each other immediately, we didn't even go inside! We were just in the courtyard and we looked at each other and we said, this is it.

We knew, we knew immediately when we walked into this, we knew immediately this was the right one. It was a feeling. An intuition.

It was built in 1697, and It is the biggest house in the village and also one of the first, if not the first home built. I think the church was first up on the hill and then the palazzo, even Palazzo Campagna was built in the late 1700s, so the Palazzo Pizzoli that we purchased is a hundred years older. It's 750 square meters, a big property. It has 28 rooms and nine bathrooms.

This palazzo is not only for you and Randy. So, what is the plan? What are you doing with it?

I quit working at 50 years old, I thought, I have a lot of life ahead. What am I going to do?

You know? I don't want to just sit in and look into the window, or sit in my country house in California and not go anywhere.

I am not an extrovert, I'm an introvert, but I love to meet people. So, I've always had this dream of having a bed and breakfast or a pancake house.

So with that dream of cooking for people, now that I don't work, I cook all the time.

Cooking for people, meeting new people, especially people who are traveling, I love hearing their stories.

I love to hear about their travels, I love to hear about their cultures and their kids, and Italy is becoming kind of a melting pot a little bit like the United States is, or used to be, whatever.

And so when we bought this palazzo, we thought, OK, this can be our second career. I want to be clear, we will probably not make a profit off the palazzo, that's not why we're here. We're here because of the community, and because it gives us something to do in our older years.

So for Randy, 62 years old now, it's like you know, you're getting old sweetheart. It gives us something to do where we can give back to people, and for our family, it's a family business.

When something happens to Randy or me or whatever, the house in Italy automatically goes to our children. There's no way around that. It goes to the children.

So Colin will have a working business that he can operate from afar, and hire managers to take care of it, so then he will have what we call in America passive income. Everything we do on the palazzo is cash. We do not use credit cards for anything, It's all we can pay.

So, yeah, for the family, we wanted a family business, and what the palazzo gives us is a source of income, at least to sustain itself. It’s a way to meet new people, a way for me to cook for people, and a nest egg for our kids and grandkids.

This palazzo is not only for you and Randy. So, what is the plan? What are you doing with it?

I quit working at 50 years old, I thought, I have a lot of life ahead. What am I going to do?

You know? I don't want to just sit in and look into the window, or sit in my country house in California and not go anywhere.

I am not an extrovert, I'm an introvert, but I love to meet people. So, I've always had this dream of having a bed and breakfast or a pancake house.

So with that dream of cooking for people, now that I don't work, I cook all the time:

Cooking for people, meeting new people, especially people who are traveling, I love hearing their stories.

I love to hear about their travels, I love to hear about their cultures and their kids, and Italy is becoming kind of a melting pot a little bit like the United States is, or used to be, whatever.

And so when we bought this palazzo, we thought, OK, this can be our second career. I want to be clear, we will probably not make a profit off the palazzo, that's not why we're here. We're here because of the community, and because it gives us something to do in our older years.

So for Randy, 62 years old now, it's like you know, you're getting old sweetheart. It gives us something to do where we can give back to people, and for our family, it's a family business.

When something happens to Randy or me or whatever, the house in Italy automatically goes to our children. There's no way around that. It goes to the children.

So Colin will have a working business that he can operate from afar, and hire managers to take care of it, so then he will have what we call in America passive income. Everything we do on the palazzo is cash. We do not use credit cards for anything, It's all we can pay.

So, yeah, for the family, we wanted a family business, and what the palazzo gives us is a source of income, at least to sustain itself. It’s a way to meet new people, a way for me to cook for people, and a nest egg for our kids and grandkids.

What made you choose this particular location?

That's a really good question. A lot of people ask us that.

Why here? I am not Italian. People think I'm Italian, but I'm not.

I needed to heal, and these people here, this lifestyle, truly is healing my heart. I'm not angry anymore, I'm not resentful anymore, I'm not worried all the time. When I'm in California, I worry. Worry, worry, worry. I don't even know why. Worry, worry, worry.

Worry about the government. Worry about war. Worry, worry, worry.

But when I'm here, it's just simple.

When I came here, I had no Italian, I had some German and Spanish, but not a lot of Italian, and Michelle at Bella Vista was so delightful because I could speak to her in mixed up German, Spanish, Italian and English. And she understood me.

It was wonderful.

With the Palazzo and moving to Italy, we have lost friends. The Americans look at us and go: “What the fuck is wrong with you?” “ You're crazy.” “Why are you doing that?”

Property has very much increased in value since we bought it. We got crazy, crazy low price on the Palazzo, but people are looking at us like, how long is it going to take?How are you going to afford it? When you look at our The Shepherd's Enchanted Palace YouTube channel and our Facebook, you can see that Randy has done so much work on 3D renderings, and people look at me and they say: “How are you going to do this? It's such a big project.”

I used to work on building hospitals, so this is a little project for me, and it's fun. It's much more fun to decorate a palace than to outfit a radiology department or a surgery room or an emergency department.

The model of hotels that we prefer is the Ritz-Carlton. Always consistent, always high level, great service, great food, it’s expensive, but it's still, you know what you're going to get in any part of the world.

Why won't it be a Bed&Brekfast? Early on I thought, oh gosh, this B&B model is fantastic, you know, it's affordable and fast. But I think people are tired. They feel like they're getting ripped off, like it's not what they bought, like there's no service.

There's no dry cleaning. There's no laundry. There's no restaurant.

There's none of this. Randy and I have been traveling since we were 18 and 26 years old, so we've been to a lot of hotels. And when I was working, I traveled a lot for business, all over the place, to a lot of hotels, and I became a hotel snob.

Because you learn to appreciate luxury when you're in hotels like that, especially when you're very, very busy and you just don't have time. So the hotel is going to be a boutique luxury hotel, and if you can imagine the Ritz-Carlton, we want to do that on a smaller scale.

And that is great fun for me.

But are there any challenges?

Oh gosh, yeah.

TOP 5 CHALLENGES :

1. Getting people to work

The other challenge is more of a challenge for Randy than me. Italians are very piano, piano (slow slow). I love piano, piano. I love this little thing, this is one of the reasons we're here. But Randy is a bit impatient, he keeps wondering “Why aren't they working? Why aren't they doing this?” And I keep telling him, this is not America.

2. Giving people money

Italians do not like to ask for money. It's very difficult for them to ask for money. So I think one of the greatest challenges is trying to figure out how to give them money.

3. You can’t bring in other workers

The village has this system where only the village workers work on the palazzo. They do not bring in other workers.

4. Bureaucracy

The biggest problem that Santa Domenica Talao has right now is the backlog of renovation. A lot of homes have been sold and people are waiting to get simple things like blueprints, to get the commune's approval on all of these things. Now, our palazzo is a historic building, and I think it was the first building besides the church, and so because of that, it has a lot of rules about what you can do, and most importantly what you can't do.

5. Cash alert!

Often, not always, but some people in Italy are trying to avoid taxes. It's the same in the United States. People are trying to avoid taxes, and when you pay cash, it's under the table. Nobody knows. They don't have to pay taxes. However, we have investigations going on locally, and we have been counseled, and I will share this counsel, anything of material, use a credit card or use your WISE account to document the transaction. The thing to look out for is if they say cash and then they agree to a credit card or WISE, be careful. They will increase the price because they want to offset the cost of taxes.

So be careful with that.

A photo shoot in the ballroom of the Palazzo

As this part of our conversation comes to an end, Tabatha's enthusiasm for her project is palpable. She radiates a genuine love for Italy and a desire to share its hidden treasures with the world. With her determination, entrepreneurial spirit, and respect for history, Tabatha's dream of transforming this old Italian palazzo into a luxury boutique hotel is destined to become a remarkable reality.

Stay tuned for more insights into Tabatha's journey as she navigates the challenges and triumphs of bringing her vision to life.

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