Are you thinking of moving to Italy and renting a house/apartment? Are you wondering if your house in Italy will be just like the peach colored villa under a warm Tuscan sun you saw in a movie? After the popularity of my post on the challenges of buying property in Italy, I decided to write this post about Italian rental properties, aimed at advising people what to expect
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Finding Happiness with a Move to Florence
I am pleased to add this interview to my Taking the Plunge series Sophie Charlotte flourished in ways she never dreamed of after a move to Florence: When did you move to Florence, and what motivated you to make the move? I turned my long distance relationship with Italy into a long-term commitment in 2010, and I chose Florence. Florence has always represented
Read MoreWhere to Have The Most Magical Christmas Eve
Christmas in Italy On Christmas Eve in the village of Abbadia San Salvatore I felt like Lucy walking through the wardrobe. It was like I had entered a place of magical forest folk from pre-Christian times, as I walked the ancient twisting pathways of this mountain town during its bonfire festival. (Called Fiaccole della Notte di Natale in Italian.) The night begins at 6:00
Read MorePost #3 What to do after receiving the Permesso
The Road to Italian Citizenship is Long It is long even when you have Italian grandparents, and when you don't have that, or EU citizenship, the road is ten-years long. I'm five months into my ten-year process and here's how it's stacking up: I received my coveted permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) in June about a month after I applied. Unfortunately, on June 9, a
Read MorePost #2 What happens at the Permesso appointment
What will happen at your Permesso di Soggiorno Appointment? My process and what you can learn from it: Most expats get nervous about their permesso di soggiorno appointment at the questura (police office). But, because my paper work had been done by INAC, I was confident. What could go wrong? But then on an expat forum I was told to "have a thick skin" and "they will
Read MoreHome: a landscape of the soul
Home, after the most difficult year of my three years in Qatar. When I woke up and looked out the window on the first morning back in California, and saw the blue sky I cried. Who cries over blue sky? I've never heard of a such thing. After 11 months of dust colored sky, dust colored ground, dust colored buildings and the worst dust storms in Qatar in the past 12 years, I am
Read MoreWhy we think differently in California
One day this year in Qatar I found myself in the odd position of explaining aspects of our host country to a group of expats--explaining things I'd only recently figured out myself. I had decided to try dragon boating and afterwards I went with the crew to a gelateria at Katara. None of these expats had jobs that provided interaction with Qataris. So they turned to me for
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