First Appointment: Residenza

 “ Does enchantment pour out of every door?  No, it's just on the street where you live”

- Lerner & Loewe, My Fair Lady, On the Street Where You Live

Today I had my first real appointment relating to my citizenship! (Obtaining my codice fiscale doesn’t really count, because anyone doing business with an Italian entity can request and receive one, regardless of whether they are citizens or applying to be one).

Today’s meeting was for the purpose of establishing my residency here in our little town.  Before I can actually request that the comune review my documents and recognize my Italian citizenship, I must first establish that I live here.  This is the reason why this appointment was scheduled to take place after my signed leased was registered in the comune records. 

I had an appointment scheduled for 3 PM local time, to meet with the town clerks, of which there are currently two (one of whom is planning to retire soon, so the other clerk is learning from him in order to be his replacement).  So I (we, actually, as Dear Husband came along, of course) met up with my translator Nicoletta and her maybe/maybe not boyfriend (whose name I can never remember, because I am awful at remembering names and matching them to faces) at the appointed time in the little square in front of the municipio (municipal offices), and went in and up the stairs.  It’s a really cool old stone building attached to the Angevin Tower.  I mean “cool” in the sense that is was neat-o, or interesting; it was actually very hot inside!  There are also residential apartments in the same building, which are accessed via the interior courtyard behind me in the picture below.

I was a little bit surprised - pleasantly so - that the appointment only started about 10 minutes late - surprised because I've been under the impression that in Italy, appointment times are more like suggestions, not actual fixed times to meet. 

First to arrive after us was the mayor, whose name is Mimmo.  His face looked familiar - we think we may have seen him around town, and just didn’t know who he was.  He was super nice, and very patient and understanding of my lack of Italian language skills.  He does know a little English - I think he said (in Italian) that he had studied it a bit in school.  He asked questions about where I was from, and who my Italian ancestor was and where he was from.  I showed him a picture of my Poppop the Great - I enjoyed hearing the name “Cesare Pesaresi” pronounced with a truly Italian accent.  [Side note:  in America, all my life, I’ve heard “Pesaresi” pronounced as “pee-sa-REE-see,” even by my own relatives, which is not how they say it in Italy:  the real pronunciation is more like:  “peh-sah-REH-see.”  And Poppop the Great’s first name should be pronounced something like “CHEZ-ah-reh.”].  I was pleased that all agreed he was quite handsome.  Well, of course.  Mayor Mimmo also wanted to know how I liked the town so far.  I let him know (through Nicoletta) how much we are enjoying ourselves here, and that we’ve been exploring the town, its shops, and so on, and that we’ve met some interesting people.

The mayor apologized for the delay in scheduling the appointment and explained about how the olive harvest is so important to this region - it seems our little town and its surrounding area is one of the biggest producers of olives in the region.  He even asked hubby (who now insists on being called Paolo here in Italy), if he wanted to work the olive harvest!  Paolo keeps telling anyone who mentions olives that he would like to help, by the way.  🤷

We were joined by the two town clerks, Domenico (the one who will be retiring soon) and Gianluigi (his replacement).  They are the ones who will handle all my paperwork.  The mayor soon left us; according to Nicoletta's translation, he said his wife, who works in Termoli, needed him to attend to some family business.  

The clerks were both very friendly and asked basically the same questions as the mayor.  Interestingly, Domenico was wearing a black LA Dodgers baseball cap; I didn’t have a chance to ask him if he is a baseball fan, or how exactly he acquired the hat.  If someone wants to send me a Phillies cap, I will gladly give it to him!

We soon got down to business:  there were some basic forms to fill in, with information about my name, codice fiscale, date of birth, where I was born, my spouse’s name and his date and place of birth, the address where we are living here in town, my highest education level, and so on (I learned that “bachelor’s degree” translates as “laurea” in Italian, according to the forms).  As when I applied for my codice fiscale, I had to sign the paperwork using my maiden name, since Italian women do not change their names when they marry, and I had to present my passport to them so they could photocopy the relevant pages, including the one with my entry stamp.  There were the inevitable questions about my name on my passport being my married name vs my maiden name, and about my codice fiscale (because the letters in it are based on my maiden name).  I have a feeling this won’t be the last time these things come up.  They were also intrigued by my first name; it is a bit of a struggle for Italians, much as it is for Americans, although for a different reason: my name contains the letter “y,” which isn’t included in the formal Italian alphabet (which officially has only 21 letters; j, k, w, x, and y are seen only in words imported from other languages). They all wanted to know who named me (my mother) and how they came up with that name.  I agreed (through Nicoletta translating) that it’s a stupid name, and explained that -ann was tacked on at the end to please my Catholic grandfather with the appearance of the inclusion of a saint's name - at this, they all nodded in understanding.

Now that my residency forms are on file, I need to have a visit from the vigile urbani, literally, the city watchman.  In reality, he’s kind of a policeman/city official, who will come to our apartment to take a look around and confirm I (we) actually live here in order for my residency application to be approved.  Technically, he has 45 days to do so; in reality, he may come tomorrow morning, as per the town clerks.  They said they would ask him to do so, anyway, since I really can’t go anywhere else until he makes his visit.  They also described the vigile as “weird,” and kind of laughed as they did so - so I’m not sure what to expect.  I’ll give it a 50-50 shot that he will show up tomorrow, because Italy.  And also, because of the olive harvest.  We shall see! 

The Mayor Wants to Meet Me

 “ I run a business of repute, I am the Mayor of this town; I look to you to sort this out, be as patient as you can…”

- Alain Boublil et al, Les Miserables, At The End of the Day

Well, I did not have my appointment today:  this morning I received a message from my translator Nicoletta:  

I think “mayors” plural is a typo; but still - interesting!  I’m getting to be kind of famous around here.  Probably as “that crazy American lady,” but whatever.

Yes, the olive harvest is a big deal around here!  That may be why we see so few people on the streets during the day.  We do see and hear the farm trucks and tractors going up and down the roads with their loads all day long.  In fact, I was surprised at the amount of traffic we were seeing for such a tiny town, until I realized what it was.

Since I didn’t have my appointment today, we decided to take a walk after breakfast to see where exactly the harvested olives are being taken - there is some kind of co-op here in town where the processing occurs.  I will have to ask around exactly what happens as I know nothing about how olive oil is made, or if that is even what they’re doing - it may be that their just preparing them to ship elsewhere?  Not sure, but hope to find out.  We did find two sites that seem to be where the harvested olives are delivered:

We also walked around a part of town we hadn’t really explored on foot before (though we pass through part of it in the car going in and out of the comune).  I took these pictures on our walk today:

After lunch, we decided to go look for Lago di Occhito (Lake Occhito - Eye Lake).  We were having trouble figuring out how, exactly, to access it.  After about a 30-40 minute drive through the beautiful hilly countryside (up and around and down the curving, twisty roads that only occasionally have guardrails) until we arrived in comune di Macchia Valfortore, where we eventually found ourselves on some kind of dirt road that lead into a forest of sorts.  We decided that perhaps it was best not to go through there as there were signs posted that we couldn’t read, but seemed to convey some kind of a warning.  We got the sense that perhaps we were not supposed to be there - at least not in a vehicle.  So we found the lake, we saw the lake, but we didn't feel comfortable getting out of the car to walk around the lake.  Despite some internet research, we still have no idea how to access it.

Lake Occhito

Dinner fail:  While on our morning stroll, we stopped at one of the local butcher shops to pick up some meat for dinner.  We thought we bought some sausage - it was labelled as sausage, anyway; turned out we bought some kind of "dry sausage.”  Not exactly what we had in mind for dinner (although I guess it will make a nice snack along with with some truffled cheese I bought the other day).  Fortunately we had a bit of chicken breast and prosciutto in the fridge, so I cooked the chicken with the slices of prosciutto laid on top, and made some rice and peas for sides.  Note to self:  be smarter about shopping - make a list in English, then translate it into Italian so you know what to ask for next time!

While I was cooking dinner, I received another message from Nicoletta saying my first appointment is confirmed for this Thursday at 3 PM at the town hall.  Whoo-hoo!

I'm not sure what we’ll be exploring tomorrow, if anything, as my weather app indicates it will be pretty rainy and dreary all day.  Good thing I did laundry today! 

Drying laundry on the balcony, like a good Italian housewife

Italian Dual Citizenship: An Introduction

 About Italian Dual Citizenship

Italian citizenship operates on the principal of “jure sanguinis,” that is, it is passed to the next generation by “right of blood.”  The child of an Italian citizen is automatically an Italian citizen at birth, no matter whether the child was born in Italy or elsewhere (or whether the parent was born or ever lived in Italy, so long as they themselves are an Italian citizen when their child is born).  Note that if the Italian citizen parent naturalized in another country before the birth of the child (prior to 1992), that “breaks the line” and the Italian citizenship cannot pass to that child.  There are a few more caveats to be aware of based on dates of citizenship, naturalization, birth location, parental gender, etc.; as none of these apply to my specific case, I won’t get into the weeds of all that here – but you can learn more about them here.

In contrast, US citizenship operates on the principal of “jure solis,” that is, birthright citizenship (literally, “right of soil”) – a person born in that country is a citizen by virtue of the fact that they were born there, regardless of whether their parents are citizens of that country (with a few minor restrictions, anyway).  In my case, I am an Italian citizen via jure sanguinis (though unrecognized, at the time of this writing).  My citizenship came to me via my great grandfather (bisnonno), Cesare Pesaresi.  Born in 1899 in Corinaldo, Italy, he arrived in the US in April 1915.  He met his Italian-born wife Emma Grandi in Northampton County, PA, and they had a son, my grandfather (nonno) Alfonso, in 1919.  Cesare did become a naturalized US citizen – but not until 1939 – long after my grandfather was born and thus Alfonso was an Italian citizen from birth (although so far as I know, he never knew this).  My grandfather passed his Italian citizenship on to my mother, who passed it to me.

I’m an Unrecognized Italian Citizen

Currently, I’m an unrecognized Italian citizen:  the Italian government doesn’t know yet that I am an Italian citizen, entitled to all the rights and privileges thereof.  I need to provide documentation to prove to them that I am a citizen.
The exact documentation required depends on a number of variables - where one applies for recognition is one of them.  You can apply in Italy, or you can apply at the Italian Consulate that covers the region in which you live outside of Italy.  At the time of this writing, I am currently residing in PA and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia.  You can read more about their requirements and procedures here. 

Unfortunately, the Philadelphia office is experiencing Covid-related staffing shortages and other issues, and it’s impossible to secure a citizenship-related appointment there at this time; it seems they may not be honoring previously scheduled appointments, either.  Also, processing times are very slow – we’re talking at least two years, pre-Covid.  The situation at other US-based Consular offices varies, but you can only apply at the Consulate serving the region in which you live.  Note: I actually did manage to schedule an appointment in Philadelphia for January 2022 – but for several reasons, not the least of which is that it is likely the appointment will be canceled by the Consulate anyway, going the Consular route to recognition isn’t a satisfactory option for me.

The nice thing about applying in Italy is that you can apply from any comune (municipality); you are not required to do it in the comune from which your ancestor hailed.  You do, however, need to be a legal resident of the comune you choose – at least until you’re recognized.  On the other hand, the process can sometimes be much faster when applying within Italy (though this is in no way guaranteed).  

Note that while you are awaiting citizenship recognition, you are not legally allowed to work, either for an Italian company or via employment elsewhere; you cannot be a "digital nomad."  After much thought and planning on our part, the Hubs and I decided that applying in Italy works for us at this particular time in our lives, since he is retiring, and I have decided to leave my current place of employment at the same time.

The documents required for my personal process are as follows (note that other comuni may require more or less paperwork):

• Italian birth certificate of Cesare Pesaresi

• Marriage certificate of Cesare Pesaresi & Emma Grandi (his wife)

• US Naturalization documents of Cesare

• Death certificate of Cesare

• Birth certificate of Alfonso Pesaresi

• Marriage Certificate of Alfonso Pesaresi & Dorothy Eastwood (his wife)

• Document confirming that Alfonso did not naturalize as a UK citizen (see below)

• Death Certificate of Alfonso

• Birth certificate of my mother

• Marriage certificate of my mother & father

• Divorce decree and certificate of no appeal (basically a letter from the County where their divorce was filed stating that neither of them appealed the divorce) for my parents’ divorce

• Marriage certificate of my mother and her second husband (because Italian municipalities record all “life events” (births, marriages, deaths), I need this even though my stepfather is not part of my “line”)

• My birth certificate

• My marriage certificates and divorce decrees with certificates of no appeal

Documents in italics above are documents I needed to have amended – but that’s a topic for another post.

I do not need to provide the birth certificates for my own children.  This is because they are already adults, so I cannot register their births; if they were minors, I could include them and they would automatically be recognized when I am.  However, they can always claim their Italian citizenship on their own, if they wish.

All of the above documents, with the exception of the copy of the birth certificate of Cesare (because it was issued in Italy), needed to be official, certified copies, and to be Apostilled and translated into Italian.  Almost all of my non-Italian documents were issued in PA, except for the marriage certificate of my grandparents.  They met and were married in the UK, so that took a few extra steps, including obtaining confirmation my grandfather never became a citizen of the United Kingdom (which I will discuss in another post).

In an extremely simplified nutshell:  I (well, we) will go to Italy, declare my presence and take up residence in a comune, present my documents to the proper authorities, who will review them as well as request a non-rinuncia check (meaning they confirm with the Consular office in the US that no one in my line ever went to the Italian Consulate and formally renounced* their Italian citizenship – a thing that pretty much no one ever actually does, particularly when they don’t know they are a citizen in the first place).  Assuming all goes well and my application is accepted, then the authorities will formally recognize my citizenship and transcribe my vital records.  I’ll be able to apply for an Italian ID card (Carta d’Identità) and an Italian passport.

* "Naturalizing" and "renouncing citizenship" are two entirely different things. In the US, you can become a US citizen via naturalization without having to renounce (give up) your citizenship of any other country.