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Helllo, P.A. and thanks for a great question.
I am going to suggest that you speak with a professional in the area. M Grazia Colombo, here is her email address: mgrazia.colombo@leexe.it. she will be able to help you with the “get Citizenship” while living here. I have a friend who did this and it took about a year and 3/4 and he had an attorney without whom it woud have been very difficult. I am assuming you have the requisit paperwork proof already in hand, and you know the area where your ancestors lived. When you start the process, or the area or town in which you start the process, will determine where you want to stay for multiple reasons one of which is taxes. If you try to move around while doing this it makes the process very very difficult so I suggest, from the experience of a couple who tried to move around and a couple who didn’t that you know where you want to go before you come.
I know that sounds backwards but you will need to do some traveling here before the permanant move to locate the area you want to live in . Again I would speak with Grazia, she is an attorney, specializing in RE and VISAS. If she cannot help you in this let me know. She will charge you, but she will also save you from making costly mistakes.
Please let me know how you are proceeding. My best, and good luck.
Chip Stites, IL Italy Correspondant, International Living Magazine.

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HI Rebecca, that is a great quesstion. The exciting thing is that you have so many choices, the difficulty is exactly the same. I would suggest the following.

Norrow your choices by two things: 1. climate and 2, expat communities.
Do some reasearch into each and locate areas you think you might want to `stay in.
When you say 2 years or a year or two, you will need a VISA…. your passport will allow you 90 days to visit 2 to 4 places you might like move to, and to help you make a decision.
You will need a visa for that kind of stay…. I would suggest you speak with Grazia Colombo about the VISA Process. I dont know where you live but the consulate responsible for the state or county you live in will determine the time it takes to get the Visa based on their wait list for the interview you must do to get the VISA… here is Grazia’s email address: mgrazia.colombo@leexe.it, She is a attorney and can help with both RE and with your VISA. She will charge you but will also help you make some critical decisions that will make your Italian travel desires much more doable.
If you stay longer than 183 days in a year, you will be responsible for italian taxes. Once you speak with Grazia, she speaks excelllent English, you may want to consider alternatives to “staying one or two years.” Six months at a time will avoid the taxes, but not the VISA.
I would suggest an expat community, depending on your climactic desires. Bari and Puglia will be warmer an smaller. Florence will be coooler and much more touristy and very busy and hot in the summer. Rome with tourists is better approached from outside the city in my opinion. I could go on and on, but let’s be practical and take this one step at a time. Please let us know how you are proceeding!
My best, and good luck.
Chip Stites, Italian Correspondant, International Living Magazine.

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HI Bruce thanks for the question and it is a great one.

No, you are not being unreasonable at all. $1,400 a month US equates to about 1260 euro and that should be easily done.
If you are looking at Rome, Florence, (I would avoid Naples for the moment) Milan, Bolgona, or Venice this should be doable.
Go to http://www.immobiliare.it or to http://www.idealista.com or to http://www.gateaway.com and you should be rewarded.
The issue would be your word “guiet.” In a tourist area June through Sept may not be quiet and festivals are held all the time….. in Rome you might consider Trastevere….. But read the notes in the RE sites very carefully. I have a RE attorney you should consider here is her email address: her name is Grazia Colombo. Tell her I sent you. mgrazia.colombo@leexe.it
Good luck, Chip Stites, IL Italy Correspondent…

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DEbbie, that depends on the state you move to: I.E. some are 6 months and some are 1 year. Then there is the issure of the Consulate wait time for an appt. I have heard that Detroit’s time is relatively low… but you might look at other Consulates as well. Avoid, LA, SF, Seattle, Philly, Boston, and NY. Those I have heard have very long waits. I would look at Tenn, and KY and check thier consulate which I think is Detroit. I have freinds who moved to get into that Consulate. Chip Stites, Italy Correnspondent, International Living Magazine.

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Great to hear from you and happy your like the life….. what town are you in?
Chip Stites, Italy Correspondent, International Living Magazine.

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Tracy thank you for the questions. There are literally hundreds of mid-sized towns in italy depending upon your difinition of “mid size”. We live near Rieti a town of 47,000. that is too large to qualiify for the 7% tax which should be a consideration Here is what I did and what I would suggest.

1. look at the climate you want to live in and match that the areas you are looking for.
2. Look for towns outsiide, 1 to 2 hours ,of large cities.
3. Make a list of those towns.
4. On your trip travel to those town…. let yourself get lost…literally. You will find a place that feels right…. and go from there.
   Chip Stites, Italy Correspondent, International Living Magazine.

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Dear Robin, thanks for the question. You asked a ton of questions. First I am not an expert on Italian University life. I do beleivve the quality of education to be quite high, but also beleive that the person going there will need fluency in speaking and witing Italian. the costs are a great deal lower but without the language the education will be difficult. I am not an expert on Italian University athletics, so you will need to do that research yourself. As to the Visa, I do have an expert. Her name is M. Grazia Colombo. Her email address is
mgrazia.colombo@leexe.it… She is an attorny and while I know people have gotten thier citizen here and in the US… I do not now the ins and outs. appointment are running very long at the moment and since your urge to move is strong, you might consider Rome but I would have you speak with a professional first. Grazia is an attorney and can help you and will charge for her services. Please tell her I sent you. Chip Stites, Italian Correspondant, International Living Magazine.

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Debbie,, thanks for the question. I have a couple of things for your to consider.
First, I have known at least to people (couples) who moved to other Consulates that are not so overwhelmed. Boston, Philly, LA, SF are booking years out…. But Detroit is not so busy so we know people who have moved to the areas or states serviced by the Detroit Consulate – I think KY and Tenn are in those areas. they established reidency there (6 months) and then used the Detroit Consulate to effect their move.

The next idea is to contact our friend and VISA Attorney M. Grazia Colombo at this address: mgrazia.colombo@leexe.it. She is a licensed attorney and will charge you but there are ways to 1. Speed up the process and 2 possibly to do this in italy and not in the US. I would suggest you spend some time and consult Grazia…. she speaks excellent English to see if there is another way around this… please tell Grazia that I sent you. Chip

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susan’s ideas for what to do with your home if you move pt to to Europe are great answers and I thought I would add one other thing. Don’t get rid of your home in the US. Banks, Investment companys and brokerage houses all require a US physical address to continue allowing you to use thier services, so hang on to the property!

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Robin, this is a great question that I have been asked multiple times. Unequivocably, don’t send your stuff to Italy! Sell your US stuff, and buy new in Italy.
The biggest mistake we made was shipping a pallet of stuff from the US to Italy. First, the customs forms are horrid. Second, there is a daily charge for storage while Customs looks at your stuff, piece by piece. I could go on here, but suffice it to say that you are better off selling everything in the US and buying new in Italy! Without question! Chip Stites, Italian correspondant.

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A great question, and thanks for asking. It is not hard to find alternative medicince in Italy. First many “traditional” doctors have some training in homeopathic cures that we would call allternaitive and at time my docs have suggested some “homeopathic” meds first to see if they would work. Also most don’t know this but spa massages, and other treatments are available through the traditonal system… Italian docs are much more likely to embrace alternatives than a US doc. Chip

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