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
Read Moreexpat life
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,
Read More
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
Read More
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 More
Post #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
Read More
Post #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
Read More
Gutsy Expat Life on Sardinia
I am pleased to add this interview to my Taking the Plunge series Here is Jennifer Avventura, a Canadian Freelance writer who lives on Sardinia: The life of an expat is never easy. Moving to a new country, maybe learning a new language and generally starting a new job are stressful factors for anyone beginning new. I’ve been an expat for sixteen years and in four
Read MoreQatar Radio Interview
Qatar Foundation Radio's Interview with me, covering my philosophy of world travel, and my experiences teaching history in Qatar
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 More
How moving to Calabria changed my life
I am pleased to add this interview to my Expat Stories series Here is Michelle Fabio, who moved to a village in Calabria in 2003 Arrival in Calabria Just a few days into that first visit to Calabria, I knew I had to move there. Although the logic of avoiding motion sickness told me to focus straight ahead, I couldn’t. I was mesmerized by the groves upon groves of
Read More
How to Retire in Rome
I am pleased to add John's story to my Taking the Plunge series How to Retire in Rome The most frequently asked question I received wasn’t, Why are you doing it? With a sense of quiet desperation in their voice, they ask, How did you do it? My formula was simple: No wife, no ex-wife, no kids and a real smart broker. However, you don’t need this perfect storm to live la
Read More