Passaporto e Permesso

 "Got three passports, couple of visas/You don't even know my real name..."

-Talking Heads, Life During Wartime

Well, I have two passports, not three - and it certainly wasn't no party, and it wasn't no disco, and it definitely wasn't no foolin' around...but I did it!  I finally have my passaporto italiano!  I'm so excited I think I will post another picture of it:

There are some slight differences between the US passport and the Italian one (other than the obvious ones of country and color).  For one thing, the Italian passport lists my town of residence (though not the street address). It also lists my height (in cm, which kind of makes me feel a bit taller) and my eye color.  By the way, according to the clerk at the questura here, there is no such eye color as "hazel," so for Italian purposes, my eyes are listed as grigi (grey).  The Italian passport includes two photos, not just one.  The biggest difference between the two passports is, of course, my name - because Italian women do not have the option to change their surname when they marry, it reflects my maiden name (as do all my other official Italian documents).  

There's an interesting website called Passport Index where you can compare passports of different countries.  As of this writing, Italy is ranked #2 in the world in terms of where you can go; the US is ranked 6th (taking Covid into account).

My passport was actually issued a few weeks ago, but was sent to my service provider's office rather than to my apartment address.  Since Paolo had an appointment to apply for his documentation today, I opted to have our translator bring it with her to give to me when we met for his appointment, rather than trust it to Poste italiane.

Now that I am a citizen, complete with ID and passaporto, I can live here (or anywhere in the EU), and/or come and go as I please.  I don't have to worry about the 90/180 day rules.  As the spouse of an Italian/EU citizen, Paolo has some limited rights as well - as long as he has the proper paperwork.  So today, we headed into Campobasso, the provincial capital, so he could present his documentation at the Immigration office in the questura, in order to receive a permesso di soggiorno per coniuge di cittadino italiano (residence permit for the spouse of an Italian citizen).

The questura opens for business at 9 AM; we were advised to get there by 8:30.  When we arrived at 8:20, there was already a line outside the gatehouse!  I was a little surprised, because I wasn't expecting it to be so busy - after all, Molise is not a very populous region (I think only Valle d'Aosta has fewer people).  But there must have been at least 10 people waiting in line when we arrived, and more showed up after we did.  I use the phrase "waiting in line" very loosely, as according to my personal observations, Italians don't really queue, they just mill about.   Our translator (today it was Saya again) joined us shortly after we arrived; she had all the relevant paperwork with her (we'd coordinated this last week).

At 9 AM the gatehouse opened and there was a rush to the front of the "line;" we did get through relatively quickly (after Saya and I presented our Green Passes for scanning, and Paolo's CDC vaccination card for review).  Paolo was given a little ticket (like you might get at the the deli counter); he was #76 (I couldn't puzzle out how the numbering system worked; there were not actually 75 people ahead of him, but whatever).  We walked around the gatehouse and down the side of the questura building, and entered a little outdoor courtyard to continue our wait.

We waited outside in the cold (low 40sF) until about 10:45, because there was only one person working the immigration counter.  Because Italy.  Once it was finally Paolo's turn, it went smoothly, if a bit slowly.  We handed in copies of the documents they require:  our estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di matrimonio (extract of our marriage information recorded in my comune); a copy of every page of Paolo's US passport (yes - every single page, including the blank ones); a copy of my Italian ID card; a copy of my lease for the apartment here; some bank statements (to show he can support himself); a Dichiarazione di ospitalità or "hospitality letter," a form I had to sign that confirms that I'm letting him live with me; and a dichiarazione di soggiorno straniero - a foreigner's declaration of stay.  He also had to supply two Italian passport-sized photos, as well as a bollettino postale (it is the form that confirms the fee has been paid - kind of like a receipt that you fill in yourself - in this case, €30,46), and a marca da bollo (€16 tax stamp).  It seems as if everything needs a tax stamp in Italy.

The officer slowly shuffled through the documents and entered information into his computer; then after scanning two fingerprints (one from each hand), he handed us the very flimsy and not-at-all-official-looking-but-they-swear-it-is receipt for the permesso.  The actual permesso document will allegedly be ready...sometime in the next four months.  Because Italy.  There is a number on the receipt that you can enter into the questura's website to check to see whether it is ready to be picked up.  They do not mail them, as they must verify one's identity via fingerprints before releasing the document.  However, the receipt serves as a temporary permesso document; in fact, we were told that lots of people never bother to go back and pick up their actual permesso.  

We thought being handed the receipt indicated we'd reached the end of the appointment - but we thought wrong.  We had to go back outside (brrr!) and wait until called by another officer - this one wearing a lab coat - who scanned fingerprints from all of Paolo's fingers, as well as his palms.  I'm not sure what the lab coat was in aid of, as I can't image you get very dirty just scanning fingerprints all day.

We returned home about 13:00, lunchtime here.  Now that Paolo has proof that his permesso is being processed, we don't have to worry about anyone questioning his right to be here, and/or why he's been here longer than 90 days.  Not that we were too worried about it - except that time we were lollipopped.  Now maybe we will think about doing a little cautious traveling, especially now that Covid numbers are looking a bit better here (*knocks on wood*). 

In other news:  we heard that there is another American couple here in our comune!  They are living around the corner from us.  They only arrived a day or two ago, so we haven't met them yet, but I am sure we will soon.  They are also here for citizenship recognition.  They hail from the Philly region, too.  Small world!

Lollipopped

"My boy lollipop / You make my heart go giddy-up..."

- Spice Girls, My Boy Lollipop 

Yesterday, we learned that in Italy, not only do the carabinieri carry guns (and sometimes, submachine guns), they also carry lollipops:

 

photo credit for this image here

We drove into Termoli to do a little shopping; as we were approaching our next-to-last roundabout to take the exit for the store, I saw a red dot from the corner of my eye and looked up from my phone just in time to see that we were passing a police car parked on the side of the road, besides which was a member of the carabinieri waving a short, skinny stick with a small red circle at the top.  "What was that?" I asked Paolo, who was driving.

"I think he wanted me to slow down."  Not an unreasonable assumption, as Paolo has really adapted quite well to the aggressive, high-speed/low use of turn signals Italian style of driving [insert sarcasm here].

A minute later, as we're about to turn into the store parking lot:  "Ohhh.  I think he's coming after me."

Great.

Sure enough, the police car pulls in next to us in the parking lot; two officers get out of the car.  Fortunately (and surprisingly), the younger of the two spoke a bit of English (observation:  the longer we spoke, the better his English became).

Paolo got out of the car, too.  The younger officer started off speaking in rapid Italian, but we of course couldn't understand him, and Paolo quickly interrupted to say he didn't speak Italian and that we are Americans who speak English.  Then the young guy got into the passenger side of his car, and placed his hands on the dash, and started saying something about in America we would have to stay in the car when talking to police but in Italy it was OK to get out of the car and talk to the police...?  That's what I took from it, anyway.  Maybe he thought we were afraid of the police, because of all the bad press American cops get.  I'm really not sure, but he seemed nice enough, so I'll lean towards the "he was trying to reassure us in some way" theory.  He then informed us that when you see the lollipop, you have to STOP.  Paolo apologized and explained he thought they were just indicating that he should slow down.

He then asked for Paolo's ID; he handed them his PA driver's license, while I rooted around in my purse to dig out his AAA International Driver's license (which is just a translation of the driver's license info) and his passport.  "Are you staying in Termoli?" the carabiniere asked.  Paolo said no, we live in [our comune].  "You work in Termoli?"  "No, I'm retired."  "You retired in Italy?!"  Paolo informed him:  "My wife is Italian!"

So I hand over my Italian ID and say, "I'm a citizen."  This really seemed to throw him; especially because I wasn't speaking Italian (I was actually trying to say as little as possible - American conditioning, I guess).  I could almost see him mentally scratching his head.  "You're a citizen...you live here?"  

Because Paolo is now outside of the 90-day stay limit as a US citizen, I felt it prudent to mention that he has an upcoming appointment for permesso, the receipt for which is stashed inside his passport.  However, the officer didn't seem even remotely interested in this information.

Then he looks at Paolo's ID again, and asks, "Are you a veteran?"  "Sì, Army."  "What conflict?"  We were a little stumped by this; I think Paolo decided what he meant to ask was, "Where were you stationed?" so he replied "Germany.  Near Heidelberg."  "How long?"  "Three years."

Officer Young Guy looked a bit askance at this; probably because we didn't mention that those "three years" were quite some time ago (it's actually not all that unusual for retired US military folk who've been stationed in Italy to remain/retire here when their service is complete; they make up a fairly sizable portion of the expat community in some regions, it seems).  But in any event, he seemed satisfied with the information provided, and explained in Italian the gist of our conversation to his fellow officer.  Then they smiled and waved and took off.

Overall, it was a pretty friendly, relaxed encounter, as these things go.  But we never did find out exactly why they wanted to stop us in the first place.

Questura

We woke up Monday morning to see a little snow on the surrounding mountains:

View out my bathroom window

Fortunately, it didn't snow here in town (yet) although the temps have dropped considerably.  Currently it is about 39F and a bit windy (though less windy than it was yesterday).  The Weather Channel app had predicted we'd have a little snow overnight, changing to rain today; happily, this did not come to pass, and all was dry as of when we woke up this morning.  Later in the week, the sun will allegedly return along with some warmer weather predicted to be in the high 40'sF - low 50'sF - I'll take it!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had my passport appointment at the questura in Campobasso.  Ironically, this would have been the day that I would have had an appointment at the Italian Consulate office in Philadelphia, had it not been canceled for Covid.  I'm not complaining, as going to the consulate would have entailed a wait of at least another two years for the processing of my request for recognition of my citizenship - so it all worked out in the end, as life often does.

The questura is the provincial headquarters for the polizia di stato (not to be confused with the carabinieri - which are actually a military police force, like the French gendarmerie - or the guardia di finanza, which deals specifically with financial crimes, smuggling, and drugs).  The questura is also the administrative office where one goes to deal with immigration issues (non-EU immigration in particular), request passports, obtain firearms licenses (quite rare in Italy compared to the US), permits for various things, etc., etc.

Main entrance, for my purposes.  It appeared that folks with immigration issues enter via a side door.  It's quite a large building, extending much farther on either side of this door than you might guess from the photo.

My appointment was for 10 AM; we managed to get there on time despite having taken a couple of wrong exits off the roundabouts in Campobasso.  For some reason, the GPS system in our car sometimes gets a little fuzzy on exactly which exits to take when going around a traffic circle.  As it turned out, the questura is located just down the street from the agenzia delle entrate, where I obtained my codice fiscale.  To our (happy) surprise, we were able to find a parking spot in a lot across the street - a minor miracle.  Also a minor miracle that we didn't get flattened while crossing said street - Italian drivers rarely stop for pedestrians (or other drivers, for that matter).

Nicoletta was not available to translate for this appointment, so we met with her colleague Saya, who was very sweet. We walked up to a sort of gatehouse next to the questura building, which was manned by a somewhat grumpy looking officer behind a glass window.  Saya explained (more than once, actually) that we were there for my passport appointment.  I noticed he was checking a clipboard, presumably reading through a list of scheduled appointments, looking for my name.  Eventually he found it and we were waved through to the grounds of the building.  Interestingly, while there was a device for checking body temperature on a stand in front of the officer's window, we were not required to scan ourselves before being admitted.

Surprisingly, when we entered the building, it seemed pretty empty; I'd expected to see more people bustling about their bureaucratic business.  I'd mentally prepared for a long wait, red tape, requests for documents I didn't have, additional fees, whatever.  Italian bureaucracy really does have a poor reputation.  However, my appointment was actually very quick; we'd brought the filled-in application forms with us, along with two passport-sized photos (note that they are not the same 2x2-inch size as you'd use for a US passport; Italian photos are a bit smaller).  Once we greeted the woman at the passport counter and Saya explained that the appointment was for me, it went fairly smoothly.  The forms were reviewed and deemed correct; I just had to sign them.  I was also fingerprinted - one finger on each hand.  The fingerprint machine at the questura worked much better than the one in my comune; I didn't have to jam my fingers down on it, or have someone apply pressure to them for me in order to make the scan work correctly.  I was then told my passport should be available in about a week.  

And...that was it.  It was a bit anticlimactic.  The total fees, for the passport, plus the tax stamp that must be paid for and added to the application (this stamp costs more than the actual passport), plus mailing, I think was just about €126 (just over $143). My expedited US passport renewal in 2021 cost more, plus it took longer than a week to receive.

I suggested that we might perhaps check out the shopping mall in Campobasso, since we were already pretty close to it, but Paolo opted to head home instead, saving the shopping trip for another day.  So rather than celebrate this milestone by buying myself a present, I decided to mark the occasion by cooking dinner - I made capellini with clam sauce, which I'd never done before.  I melted some butter, added olive oil, a jar of clams with juice, some garlic, some very finely diced zucchini, and some seasonings; I let it come to a boil, then let it simmer a bit before stirring the sauce into the bowl of pasta.  It was delicious, if I say so myself:

Notice that Paolo got a haircut?  Unfortunately for him, I had to give him one of my Covid-specials with the clippers, since we can't figure out when, exactly, the hair salon here in town is opened.  Every time we go by, it is closed, and they don't seem to have a website.  I always forget to ask when chatting with neighbors.  I really should try to remember, though, as I myself desperately need a cut and color.  Paolo kindly offered to return the favor, but I declined as 1) we don't have proper haircutting scissors; and 2) I'm not that desperate yet.

12/31/2021: Happy New Year's Eve

We returned from Lecce last Monday via train; we wore our FFP2 masks as required and also had our temperatures checked at the station prior to boarding.  And there was no mold on the apartment walls when we returned, yay!

During the last month, Italy has tightened up their Covid protocols several times to include, among things,  1) wearing masks outdoors; 2) requiring the use of FFP2 masks on all public transportation and in most venues (theaters, stadiums, and so on); and requiring the "Super" Green Pass for indoor dining, museums, sporting events, going to the gym, and for just about anything else taking place indoors.

Pretty much everyone wears either an FFP2 or a surgical-type mask (the change to requiring the FFP2's in many circumstances is really recent).  Personally, I like the FFP2 masks better anyway - I feel like they fit my face better, and the ones I purchase have a metal piece with foam cushioning that you can bend to fit across your nose, meaning eyeglasses don't fog up.  They're a little pricey - about €1 a pop - and I buy them in boxes of 10.  I recently read an article stating that the government is mandating that the price drop to €0,50 per mask.  You see very few people without masks anywhere (yes, of course there are Covid-deniers, anti-vaxxers, and anti-maskers here in Italy, as there are everywhere...but there doesn't seem to be as many of them, they don't seem as vocal or at least they don't get as much press as in the US, and we really haven't knowingly encountered any here - that is, we haven't seen any protesters or people blatantly disregarding the rules).

Green Pass (confirms you're either fully vaccinated, or have proof of recovery from Covid, or have tested negative for Covid within the last 48 hours) vs Super Green Pass (confirms you're either fully vaccinated or have proof of having recovered from Covid) hasn't been an issue for us.  Neither one of us has one, of course, as we are not on the national health scheme, and we haven't yet figured out whether we - or at least I - can use our CDC vaccination cards to have a Super Green Pass generated (there's a lot of conflicting info floating around the internet about this).  Note that these "passes" are QR codes, not paper passes like those issued in the US.  But we have not had any trouble with showing our CDC cards + US passports when asked for a Green Pass - Italy says that these are acceptable for Americans to present.  We've had to show our CDC proof of vaccinations cards any time we've dined indoors, gone to a museum, checked into a hotel, and taken the train.  

As far as we're concerned, this is all to the good!  Nothing is 100% of course, but we do feel reasonably safe with all these measures in place.  Here in our comune, it's not such an issue as we're not exactly in the midst of a bustling metropolis; there are no big crowds to worry about when we do go out.  We mostly cook at home, occasionally getting take-out pizza from the place down the street, but when we were in Rome and in Lecce, we did eat outdoors as often as possible.

I wrote all of the above not for the purpose of agitating anyone who might disagree with certain Covid measures, or to make some kind of political statement, or whatever; but simply to describe what the rules are currently like here.

Moving on...

As I said, we returned home on Monday; on Tuesday 12/28, I had to go to the town hall to sign off on my birth and marriage information, as the entry of same into the town's official records is now complete.  Note that birth, marriage, and death records are maintained at the comune level (unlike, say, in PA where birth and death records are filed at the state level, while marriage records are filed with the county offices).  As well as having computerized records, the information is also entered into actual, physical books:  the Registro degli Atti di Nascita (Register of Births) and the Registro degli Atti di Matrimonio (Register of Marriages).  There is also a Registro degli Atti di Morte, but "I'm not dead yet...I don't want to go in the cart...I feel fine!"*

Registro degli Atti di Nascita

Registro degli Atti di Matrimonio

Unfortunately, I was told that they won't give you a copy of your entries in the books unless you have some kind of pressing need (often court-related).  The modern-day entries into these seemingly old-fashioned books are typed.  I happen to have copies of some of my ancestor's entries from their respective comuni that were hand written.  As an example, here is my great grandfather's birth record entry (top of left-hand page):

I did, however, get a copy of my estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di nascita, as well as a copy of our estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di matrimonio - basically, extracts of the information in the birth and marriage record books, respectively.

The marriage record is particularly important, as now Paolo finally has an appointment to obtain his permesso to allow him to remain in Italy as my non-EU citizen spouse.  Nicoletta has been trying to get this appointment for some time, knowing that since he is not an EU/Schengen area citizen, he has to abide by the 90/180 day travel rules:  he can only stay within the Schengen Area for 90 out of every 180 days.  I think his 90th day is January 24th.  Because Italian bureaucracy is what it is, the first available appointment for him is February 8th.  Yes, that is outside the 90 days, but with a receipt from the questura showing he has an "appointment," plus our marriage record, he has the right to remain beyond the 90 days for now (because he has proof of a pending appointment and he can prove he is married to an Italian citizen, should any official question it in the meantime).

I have "appointment" in quotes above because there is no set time - basically, we have to show up on the day and wait until we're called in.  Because Italy, I guess. 

I should mention that we do have tickets for a flight to the US for 1/19.  I booked these back when I booked our incoming flight to Italy, and made sure they were flexible and could be changed without penalty, not knowing how long the citizenship process would take, what Covid would look like, and so on.  The airline has already changed our flight on us - I'm not sure why (I'm guessing Covid-related), but I've been notified that the flight out of Rome is now departing much earlier in the day (something ridiculous like 6 AM) and we also now are scheduled to have a 4+ hour layover at Heathrow.  No thank you!  As of now, chances are quite high that we will be changing these tickets and not returning to the US in January, and will keep Paolo's appointment at the questura.  There are some other things we need to consider regarding just how long we will actually remain in Italy, so stay tuned for updates on that.

My own appointment at the questura to apply for my Italian passport is scheduled for January 11.  

Speaking of official documents and the like:  yesterday afternoon, our landlord knocked on the door to deliver a piece of mail that somehow was delivered to...some address other than ours...and subsequently somehow made its way to him, to give to me (gotta love small town life!).  In the envelope was my official codice fiscale card - I didn't know it would be so official and plastic (unlike a paper US social security card).  The front of it looks like this (with my tax number blacked out):

The EE for "Provincia" (province) just indicates that I'm foreign-born.  Every province has an accepted two-letter abbreviation; for example, the province in which we live, Campobasso, is abbreviated as CB.

We have no plans for New Year's Eve tonight.  Back in the US we don't usually do anything for NYE other than watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen get tipsy and ring in the new year on CNN.  We do have a bottle of Prosecco, so there's that, anyway.  I think most of the usual big, crowded celebrations are canceled here in Italy anyway, as large crowds and so forth are not really allowed at present.  

Buon anno a tutti!  🥂🍾 🥳

*for those who missed the reference, click here. 

San Giuliano di Puglia & Pandoro & CIE

There wasn't much happening here to report on in the last week.  I didn't get a message indicating that my Italian ID is ready (maybe today?); but I imagine as we're rolling up to Christmas things might have slowed down a bit, so that wasn't really unexpected.  The most exciting thing going on is that we've now had three whole days in a row without rain!  Whoo-hoo!  I think I will wash sheets today...

Since the weather was so nice yesterday, we decided to take a drive over to the next hilltop town to check it out - San Giuliano di Puglia [note:  the Italian Wikipedia page I linked to has more interesting info than the English one; you can translate the page via your web browser if you're interested]. The "di Puglia" in the comune name reflects the fact that it was once part of the Puglia region (in English:  Apulia), rather than Molise.

San Giuliano is a smaller comune than the one in which we are living.  There was a terrible earthquake in this region in 2002, during which the elementary school in San Giuliano di Puglia collapsed, killing 27 children (you can still see obvious damage from this earthquake in some buildings in our own comune).  There is now a memorial park on the site.

Here are some pictures I took as we explored the comune:

Top of the memorial park

View of the comune.  Very far in the background you can see our comune on the next hill

Looking down the town

A devotional cross above the comune dedicated to several members of a family, I believe...haven't found anything more specific about it online yet

 

View looking down from the top of the memorial

As I was typing the above, there was a knock on the door - the vigile officer came (accompanied by my landlord) to drop off my new Italian ID card (CIE - Carta di Identità Elettronica)!  I wasn't expecting it to be hand delivered; that was nice of them.

This is what the front looks like (certain information redacted):

Perhaps not the most flattering photo, but it will do.

I just messaged Nicoletta to let her know I now have my ID; she asked me to meet her in Campobasso this afternoon, so that we can schedule a passport appointment.  The appointment itself will also take place in Campobasso, as that is where the questura is located (the provincial police headquarters - I think the closest US equivalent might be the regional State Police barracks).  The passport appointment has to be scheduled via an app that needs to be downloaded to my phone - and of course as it will all be in Italian, she will need to help me to navigate the scheduler.  

And now back to our regularly scheduled post:

The only other thing I was going to write about today was that we recently tried pandoro (or more properly, pan d'oro - golden bread).  Pandoro is a popular Christmas treat here, a kind of sweet bread/cake.  You see it in all the markets; there are a variety of brands ranging in price from quite cheap (maybe 3-4 euro) to fairly expensive (I think I saw one for about 15 euro).  It is made with yeast, and, to me, has a light texture not unlike an angel food cake, though with a denser, less "spongey" quality, if that makes sense:

As you can see, it has a very distinctive shape, too.  It seems it's often served with a dusting of powdered sugar.  I like it a lot, particularly because it is light and, in spite of the powdered sugar, not overly sweet.  This is not the same thing as panettone, which is more like a fruit cake/bread.  I haven't tried the panettone here yet; we used to have English-style fruitcakes at Christmas when I was a kid, and I was not a huge fan.  But I will keep an open mind (and palette), should the opportunity to sample some arise.

TV & ID

On Tuesday, Nicoletta messaged me on WhatsApp to let me know she would probably be coming in to town to check in with the clerks to see how my document transcriptions were coming along.  She said that if possible (that is, if the clerks would be ready for me), she would like to have me come in and fill in the paperwork for my carta di identità elettronica (Italian ID card; unlike the US, ID cards are issued at the national level, not the state level).  For this, I would need to have ID-sized photos ready to attach to the paperwork.

Well…there is a photographer here in town who allegedly does ID photos (he also sells eyeglasses) - but no one seems to know exactly when his shop is open - we walk by it quite often and have never seen anyone in there; the landlords and another neighbor I asked didn’t have a clue, either.

However, fototessera booths (photo booths where you can have ID photos made) are fairly common here - although there doesn’t seem to be one within the comune.  You can usually find one at a train station, or in a shopping mall, for example.  Unlike in the US, you wouldn’t go to the pharmacy or the post office to have passport-sized pictures printed.  

We decided we’d better go get this done ASAP, since the next day, Wednesday, was a public holiday, and many things would be closed.  We ended up driving to a shopping center in Campobasso (not located in the old town, fortunately, so didn’t need to worry about the narrow streets or getting lost, as happened when we first arrived here).  The machine was easier to use than I expected, as it had an English language option for the directions.  It ended up costing 6 euros for 4 ID-sized photos.  Easy-peasy!  I had Paolo get a set for himself, too, as he may need them later on.  For some reason, we both look a bit grumpy in our photos.  On the other hand, they’re really no worse than our US passport photos or driver’s licenses.  Actually, I’d say the Italian photo is slightly better in that my face doesn’t look quite as pudgy as it does in my US ID photos.  Better lighting in the photo booths, I think.

Another item we took care of on Tuesday was this:  we finally got ourselves a mobile internet router!  Until now, we’ve been using e-SIMs in our phones, plus I have a physical sim in my iPad, for our data needs.  With those, we purchase a monthly amount of data, and top up at the end of the monthly period, rather than having a monthly bill as we do with AT&T in the US.  This is all fine for emails, web surfing, blogging, shopping, and so on…but we’ve been limiting how much video we watch, because of how much data that seems to eat up.  

We do have a TV here, but of course all the channels are Italian.  I’ve played around with the TV settings in the hopes of finding shows to watch with English subtitles, which would be super helpful in learning the language.  But the best I could find was ONE channel that would play movies dubbed in English, with Italian subtitles…not very helpful. 

Except for the language-learning aspect, I really haven’t missed watching TV as much as I thought I would.  After all, I can get all the US news on my phone whenever I want.  We’d already cut the cable before we left for Italy, and were just watching various series on some of the subscription services…and they’ll all be there when we come back.  I'm just not feeling like I’m missing all that much.

One of the services we subscribe to is MHz Choice, which offers shows from various countries (mostly European), all broadcast in their original languages and with English subtitles.  There’s a pretty decent Italian section.  But in order to watch that on this TV (which is not a smart TV) we needed more data, plus a Firestick.  So thanks to Google, I found euronics, which, at least in terms of what they sell, is basically the European version of Best Buy.  We picked up a wireless router there, as well as a Firestick, and then went back to the WindTre store for a SIM card.  We found out that they wouldn’t sell us an unlimited monthly data plan without me having an Italian bank account though (apparently my Wise account wasn’t good enough for them), so had to stick with 200 GB/month.  This should be more than enough for the amount of TV watching we do, and is reasonably priced at what translates to about $22 USD/month. 

The reason we bought a router with a SIM card slot, rather than just setting up a monthly subscription with a carrier is that it’s much simpler this way - according to my research, it can take a long time to get someone to come out and set it up, and it’s often an absolute nightmare to have it canceled when you move, because Italy.  It reminds me of Comcast.  

We’re now watching a series that is the Italian version of Nero Wolfe, with English subtitles (Paolo’s choice). It’s pretty good; too bad there are only eight episodes.  But there are plenty of other shows to choose from once we get through this one.

As predicted, Wednesday was a quiet day around here, as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a public holiday here in Catholic Italy.  Bigger stores, like supermarkets and such, were open in the larger towns like Termoli and Campobasso, but here in our comune pretty much everything was closed - even the nearby tabacchi was only open in the morning.  If there were any public celebrations, we were not aware of them…but then again, we heathens haven’t yet figured out when the church is open, or even seen a priest around town, for that matter, so we might have missed it if there was anything.  I did notice that people around town are beginning to put out their holiday decorations.

I received a message from Nicoletta yesterday afternoon confirming that she was at the town hall, checking up on my document transcriptions.  Even though they were not yet finished (not all the info has been entered into the computer system), I was to come down to the municipio to complete the paperwork for my Italian ID.  

I took the opportunity to give the clerks their Phillies hats - Domenico put his on right away (Mayor Mimmo showed up later, after I took this photo):

The paper that his hand is resting on is the page they’re putting together about me for the official town records:  all my family's life events (births, marriages, divorces, and deaths) starting with the birth of my great grandfather down to me.  It all has to be entered into a computer system as well, which takes some time since of course they have other duties.

The ID forms are all filled in; I now have a paper document which is a sort of incomplete version of the info that will be on the ID card, plus a receipt confirming I’ve ordered the card (there is a 22 euro fee).  I was advised that I should keep these on me as my ID for now until I receive the card, which I’m told should be ready in about six business days - so perhaps I'll have it next Friday.  Once I have my carta di identità elettronica, then I can make an appointment for my Italian passport.

As we were walking back home, I took a few pictures of the town Christmas lights:

I liked the last one above enough to play around with it on an app I have on my phone, and made a version that looks like a piece of artwork, which I used to send a few Christmas post cards.  I noticed that Christmas cards aren’t as big a thing here are they seem to be in the US; the selections in the stores, when they have any at all, are quite limited.

Today’s big plans include a little grocery shopping around town (I specifically want to go to the bakery for some goodies), and we need to get to the tabacchi to "top up" the phones (I have no issue paying on the accounts for the physical SIM cards in my iPad and for the router via online payments, but for some reason I am struggling to do this for the phones’ e-SIMS).

Sono Italiana! 💚🤍💓

…I am a citizen of the planet; from simple roots through high vision…

Alanis Morrissette, Citizen of the Planet

Today was the day!  Just as I did on the day of my first appointment, I saw another rainbow outside the window (albeit much fainter than the first one):

We were scheduled to meet at 5 PM at the town hall.  So this morning we hit the shops, to pick up a couple of bottles of Prosecco at the grocery store, as well as an assortment of goodies from Nerone’s - the bake shop where we like to get our bread.  I wish I had taken a picture of the three different things I chose but in my excitement, I forgot.  Basically, they were a variety of different cookies, one of which was a delicious chocolate-covered square that I was told is a regional favorite.  There was also a cherry-flavored, powdered-sugar covered oval-shaped cookie, as well as an anisette-flavored variety.  I also stopped and bought a bouquet of flowers for Nicoletta at one of the flower shops.

I had been looking for thank you cards to give to Mayor Mimmo and the two clerks, but could not find any in the stores, so I settled for plain blue cards (similar to index cards but without lines) and matching envelopes.  With the help of Google translate, I wrote brief messages expressing my gratitude to each.  I had hoped that the Phillies hats I ordered on Amazon might arrive today, but that did not work out (I discovered later that delivery was attempted while we were at the town hall).  I’ll be seeing the guys again soon enough, so no big deal.

We arrived on time and waited out front - only to eventually discover that Nicoletta and everyone else were already in the building, which we didn’t realize until she texted me to let me know.  We went upstairs, but had to wait a bit longer while they were getting ready.  

Me, with bags full of goodies

We were led into what appeared to be the main council meeting chamber - it had several long tables with chairs, plus audience seating, the town flag with its coat of arms, and so on.  I set up the Prosecco and snacks on one of the long tables.  In addition to ourselves, the mayor, the two clerks, and Nicoletta and Antonio (her maybe/maybe not boyfriend whose name I finally remembered!), there were a few municipal workers (or possibly members of the town council - it wasn’t clear to me), and two other town residents - a woman who is originally from England who has lived here for several years, whose name I unfortunately did not catch, and Francesco, an older gentleman who was born here, but lived in England for many years before returning home for good.  

They had a nice little ceremony where the mayor - wearing his official (and spiffy) green, white, and red sash - read out the attestation document reciting my lineage and confirming that according to Italian law, I have been an Italian citizen since birth.  He then signed the document.  It’s possible a few tears of happiness leaked out during this.  It really was a pretty special ceremony, if somewhat brief.  

Unfortunately, my technologically-challenged husband Paolo failed to work the iPhone correctly, so I have three very short, choppy clips instead of the complete video of the entire ceremony I’d wanted.  Sigh.   We did get some nice pictures, though:

Apparently Mayor Mimmo and Paolo are now best buds.

Afterward, Paolo and I stopped in at our usual place for a celebratory glass of wine.  Our landlord was there, and I showed him my piece of paper confirming my citizenship.  He had a friend with him who was trying to communicate with us, so the sweet girl who works in the pizza place down the street and who speaks some English kindly translated for us all.   According to her interpretation, he was asking if, when we go back to America, could he come along with us, as he wants to find himself a young American wife like Paolo's! 

So:  now my Italian citizenship is recognized.  I just have to wait for the documents to be transcribed in the town records  (all those birth, marriage, death, and divorce records for my line), then I can request my Italian ID, and after that, my passport.  We really don’t know how long the transcription will take - it may take longer than the previous processes (after all, there’s just the two clerks, it’s olive harvest time, and whatnot).  So in the meantime, we will continue living here in my new comune while exploring the region.

And also, I think Paolo owes me a trip to Rome.  

Breaking News!

 “ Well surprise, surprise, surprise…” 

- Bruce Springsteen, Surprise, Surprise

This morning I received a very unexpected phone call from my service provider, telling me that the Philadelphia Consulate already responded to the comune’s request for a non rinuncia check!!! This is HUGE! We were not expecting them to respond anywhere nearly as quickly as they did - we were thinking it would be at least several weeks, at the earliest. This means I am cleared for recognition of my Italian citizenship!

I was told that Mayor Mimmo is planning on having some kind of citizenship recognition ceremony for me at the town hall this Thursday! I’m just waiting for Nicoletta to let me know what time.  My service provider (that is, Nicoletta’s boss) and Nicoletta were debating whether or not to tell me, or whether they should just inform me I had another appointment this week and let it be a surprise. In the end, he opted to call and tell me “in case you wanted to get dressed up for it.”  They were as shocked as I am that this all happened so fast; he says it may be a new record for one of his clients to receive their recognition so soon. 

I was advised I should bring a bottle of Prosecco with me to the ceremony.

After all the work of gathering documents, having documents amended, getting a court order to correct my grandfather’s birth certificate, getting them all Apostilled, and after all the preparation and planning for this journey, it seems very unreal that it’s finally happening. But it is!! Wow. I’m still in shock.

Unfortunately, the weather is not reflective of my current happy mood, as it’s been quite dreary and rainy for a large part of the day, so we didn’t go out anywhere to celebrate. We did, however, have these delicious taralli zuccherati for dessert:

To be sure, the ceremony will not exactly mark the end of the process.  Once I am recognized, I will need to have my all my documents transcribed into the records of the comune.  Once that has been completed, I can then request my Italian birth certificate and my Italian ID card.  After obtaining my ID card, I can schedule my passport appointment.  When our marriage record has been transcribed, we can then request a permesso di soggiorno for Paolo which will allow him to remain in Italy as the spouse of an Italian citizen, meaning we won’t need to worry about the 90/180 day rule for him - at least while we are resident in Italy.

Funny thing:  last evening, we were discussing the possibility of taking a trip via train to Rome at the end of this week for a few days, just for fun.  We’d considered leaving on Thursday and coming back either Saturday or Sunday; it looked as if the weather would be nice for walking around, dining outdoors, and so on.  We decided to think it over and talk about it again today.  We're really glad now that we didn’t book it immediately!  I guess Rome can wait another week or two :)  

Second Appointment: Citizenship Application

 "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

Today I had my citizenship application appointment: the appointment where I turned in all the documents I collected, had Apostilled, translated, etc.  All my hard work is now in the hands of Gianluigi and Domenico.

Nicoletta (my translator) had all my paperwork in hand, sorted and ready to present at the town hall; she even took care of getting the proper revenue stamp (marca da bollo) to attach to the application form.  These revenue stamps (they’re actually stickers), which are required for a variety of Italian bureaucratic paperwork, are usually obtained at the tabaccheria.  Fun fact:  tobacco shops (also called tabacchi) aren’t just for smokers here; in addition to selling cigs and revenue stamps, they also sell newspapers, snacks, and SIM cards, too, among other things.  You can top-up your existing data plans at the tabacchi as well.

So I (that is, we) met Nicoletta at the municipio, and met with clerk Gianluigi (Domenico arrived later) to sign the forms in which I formally request citizenship recognition.  I also had to sign several other forms relating to some minor name spelling discrepancies in my documents, basically attesting that Cesare Pesaresi was the same person as Cesare Pesoresi (a misspelling on his US naturalization paperwork), and also the same person as Cesare Paseresi (a typo on his marriage license and marriage certificate), as well as the same person as Iazza Pizzaraza (even though this was corrected via court order - Gianluigi did ask for the story behind that name).  I also signed paperwork confirming that Alfonso Pesaresi (birth certificate name) was the same person as Alfonso P. Pesaresi (name on his death certificate), who was also the same person as Alfonso Peter Pesaresi (listed on his marriage certificate).  And yet another form about my mother’s name, as in some documents her middle name is listed in full, while other documents just list her middle initial, and yet others list no middle name or initial at all.  

Signing my official request

Nicoletta & Gianluigi, reviewing my paperwork below the counter

Clerk Domenico (the one with the LA Dodgers hat; I did not manage to get a photo of him today) arrived just after I signed my forms, so was also involved in reviewing my documentation.  He was much amused by the fact that Paolo is not my first and only husband, for some reason.  I explained to Nicoletta - who translated for him - that I had to kiss a few frogs before I met my prince.  I do not know what the equivalent expression is in Italian, but however he understood it, he thought that was hilarious.

I also showed them the cute picture of Cesare and me.  They were surprised that I actually had a photo with my LIRA (last Italy-registered ancestor)!

Now that I’ve made my official request (which is known as Istanza di riconoscimento del possesso dello status civitatis italiano), and supplied all the necessary documentation, the next step is to wait for the Italian Consulate located in Philadelphia to respond to the comune’s request for a non rinuncia check to verify that no one in my line ever formally went into the Consular Office to formally renounce their Italian citizenship.

Renunciation of Italian citizenship is a thing that theoretically could happen, but hardly ever does.  In fact, I’ve never heard of anyone actually doing it, or of anyone discovering that one of their ancestors did it.  But since it is possible to do, they have complete the check (note that obtaining US citizenship, as Cesare did, is not the same thing as renouncing Italian citizenship).  I’m fortunate that I only need a check from Philadelphia; my great grandfather, grandfather, mother, and I have all lived within the jurisdiction of just this one Consular region all our lives.

I was pleasantly surprised when Nicoletta informed me that the comune has already sent a request for the non rinuncia to the Consulate in Philadelphia; I was under the impression that they would not do so until after they’d received my application forms and documents.  It seems they did it in anticipation of my application; after all, it’s no secret to them why I am here.  Just one more way in which the people here are so kind and helpful!

Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how long it will take Philadelphia to respond to the request.  They could reply in two weeks; they could send an answer in two months; they’re Philadelphia and they do what they want.  From what I’ve discovered in my research, Philadelphia has been slow in responding lately, but I will think positively and hope they send their reply sooner rather than later.  Not that we are in any hurry to leave here!  

Before we left the town hall, I made a point of asking Domenico (through Nicoletta) how he came into possession of an LA Dodgers hat.  He explained that another citizenship applicant in his hometown gave it to him (as I came to understand it, he was - or perhaps, still is - the clerk for another town as well as this one).  Hmmmm…I need to find a way to get a Phillies hat for him!

And now we wait…