Fantastic Fall Festivals in Tuscany Tuscany brims with abundance in Autumn, with the grape harvest in the early part of the season and the new olive oil pressed in the later part of the season. For the updated version of this post go to my Substack.
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Christmas Festivals in Florence
As someone who grew up without religion in a California beach town, I was intrigued when I moved to Italy by the length of the Christmas season and I was confused by some of the festivals. I learned that the season starts on December 8, with the Festival of the Immaculate Conception, and ends on January 6 with Epiphany. I assumed the conception being referred to was the one
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The Best Local Piazza in Florence (And it’s Organic Market)
Piazza Santo Spirito: Come here to hang out in the best local piazza in Florence. This piazza is in the Oltrarno which means “across the Arno” (the other side of the river from civic and religious centers where the cathedral and town hall are.) If you feel overwhelmed by the crowds on the main side of the river, come over to the Oltrarno and hang out in Piazza Santo
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Your Residency and Exiting Italy
Does it affect your Italian residency to leave Italy for a period of time? Yes, it can affect your Italian residency to go back to your country of origin for a period of time. The permesso needs to be renewed yearly for a period of five years at which time you can request permanent residency. However, there's an important stipulation. Become a subscriber to my
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Italy’s Prettiest Coastline
Liguria is my favorite region after Tuscany and it may have Italy's prettiest coastline. I usually go there to hike and swim but this time the draw is what my friends say are the best fireworks in Italy. My friends who come yearly to their ancestral home in Lucca's mountains, head to Rapallo every July to see the famous fireworks and I'm spontaneously going with them
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Mystical Solstice Event in Florence
"The information was lost, we didn't know..." The monk tells me from behind the counter of the monastic shop. "No one had noticed the solstice sun illuminating the zodiac?" "No, we didn't notice." The monk smiles. "It was figured out by Simone Bartolini." Simone Bartolini is an astronomer and cartographer who recently (around 2011) figured out that the marble zodiac on the
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Post #5 getting the Carta d’Identità
How to get your Italian Carta d'Identità. Do you know where and when to go to apply for residency after getting the permesso? I was told conflicting things by various offices. But I got it sorted. And I've got the scoop for you. Become a subscriber to my Substack to read the rest of this post and get my complete information on how to become legal in Italy
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Paddle boarding in Tuscany
SUP in Tuscany at Lido di Camaiore If you love SUP, and the Italian sea, as I do, you'll be glad to know that it's now common to find SUP at Italy's beach towns. After five months of cold it suddenly turned warm enough on April 15 to switch to summer clothes and by April 21 I was paddle boarding in the sea, out of Lido di Camaiore (a beach town on the part of the northern
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Why I Risked Everything to Buy an Apartment in Florence
A personal essay Not long ago I woke up and was fifty years old, with more than half my life already lived. Divorced, and without kids, essentially alone, I decided to follow my lifelong dream of living in Italy, but to do so, I had to “dare greatly” as Dr. Brené Brown calls it. I’d been in love with the city of Florence since age nineteen when I backpacked around
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Tuscany off the beaten path: The Svizzera Pesciatina
Google the Svizzera Pesciatina and not much will show up. These small stone villages are in the hills above Pescia, and I'd not heard of them until I started living in Lucca. My recent visit to them sure felt like Tuscany off the beaten path. Pescia, a simple tow east of Lucca, suffered quite a bit of damage in World War II, and it's not on the tourist track. Above Pescia,
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What you don’t know about Italian rental properties
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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They Bought a Villa in Italy Sight Unseen
I am pleased to add this interview to my Taking the Plunge series Here is April M. Lee who took a massive "plunge" buying her villa in Italy, and with her relocation to Italy: Where do you come from and when did you first have a connection with Italy in your life? I am from a small mining town in northern Idaho, USA. I am half-Italian and my Italian grandparents lived next door
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