The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 190

AUSSIES ABROAD Luke Whitington The first in an occasional series. LUKE WHITINGTON's burnished copper complexion and northern Italian accent do not quite disguise his origins: the worn but well-polished R. M. Williams boots are a dead give-away. saw The 41 -year-old former Colombo Plan administrator and occasional poet is the son of the late R.

S. Whitington, the South Australian opening batsman and commentator who wrote among 30 books on cricket The History of Australian Cricket. Luke's mother still breeds Herefords at the family property at Braidwood in southern NSW. Whitington, apart from operating the 13th century Abbey of San Faustino which he will open for the holiday rental market next (northern) summer, has spent the past 15 years buying, selling and restoring houses in Tuscany and Umbria "Chiantishire" to the expats. "Six years ago it was crazy, now it's nervous-breakdown time," he says of the rush to buy a piece of Tuscany.

"It used to be a 50-50 split between people wanting somewhere to retire and those wanting a holiday house. Now it's roughly a third for permanent residencies, a third for holiday houses and a third just in it as an investment." Whitington arrived in Europe by ship in 1972, disembarking in Germany with a loose plan to spend a year wandering Europe before returning home. Fourteen months later he drifted into an Italian language course in Perugia. His interests then were more ethereal. "I used to write poetry when I first came here.

It became harder and harder as I started doing more work. I used to think that it was a good month if I got one poem done, now I am lucky to get one done a year." It was during one of his weekend walks among the hills that he stumbled on the abandoned ruins of the Abbey of San Faustino, which had been disused for nearly a century. He cajoled and begged money to buy it. Three years later the Vatican relinquished the title for the abbey, it was deconsecrated, and he started transforming it into seven separate residencies, each with seven rooms. It is now worth $1 million.

Profits from the sale of two other renovations paid ofF Whitington's costs and led to the marketing of more Luke Whitington and his Italian abbey. properties. Constantly moving house, however, without really settling on one as home has made him think of trying to live in Australia again. But he is daunted by the prices and the quotes given for restorations: "Fifty thousand dollars for the bathroom and kitchen! That's outrageous. I can do a small house for that.

And I have a mason who can do these great things with stone." alex McGregor MATTHEW MARTIN 10 GOOD WEEKEND.