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.