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!"*
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):
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.