Help needed from Italians

[leadbelly]

VERY off topic:

To try and quickly summarize: my parents are too old to travel, my cousins are whining that my aunt should get rid of the old family home in Italy and stop paying utilities and fees on it, and my brother and I are considering buying out my aunt's share of the house. If it is relevant, the house is in a small town in Campobasso, and real estate prices there have taken a steep dive because of the earthquake.

The current arrangement is that a *friend* of my mother takes care of payment for utilities and other fees, but this person is not trustworthy for a long term arrangement of long distance ownership.

So the situation is that I would like to research the viability of actually owning this home without any local middlemen. For example, can I arrange to pay for utility bills, taxes, and any other fees by internet? As you can imagine this is a daunting task to research for someone who has never lived in the country. Any help or advice would be appreciated, from "this is the electrical company website link" to "you're crazy, don't try it". Feel free to use Italian in your response, as long as it meets the forum policy