Oh Snuzz, you have my sympathies living here in Italy "probably" on of the noisiest places on earth!!
Here in this apartment in a quiet little private road as a rule the street noise which is usually tremendous, is quite dulled which suits me.
However with my being the first in to this place I've had a throng of removals vans and associtated shouting of instructions etc, mostly at the crack of dawn, the DIY mob altering and installing Gawd kno's what at all hours the favourite tools being hammers and noisey drills.
One apartment down stairs decided they didnt want tiled floors and I had a month of tiles being lifted with various noisey appliences and the putting down of a wooden floor!!
The last little episode was someone drilling with a drill followed my early morning drill banging and general sounds of destruction. I later learned the clown had drilled through a water pipe flooded out his department and had to have an emergenmcy plumber
So there is the odd little bit of justice now and again....
Inekas