Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 7 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Castel San Pietro Terme - the Clock Tower

Sunday April 6, 2008

When I woke up this morning at 7am, everyone had already left for Florence. I must have been deep in sleep, cause I didn’t hear a peep. That’s unusual for me, I’m a very light sleeper. I’d been up and down several times during the night- not easy to sleep on my 1 inch mattress, it’s already been way too many days on it. But- since I didn’t hear a thing, I was thankful that I had obviously gotten some sleep.

I had a completely lazy day. I did laundry, made a lovely breakfast of fried eggs for myself, caught up on news, chatted with Mike, handled a lot of our tour business, napped, and then walked into town in the afternoon.

This little town is a sleepy little place on a normal day, but Sunday is even worse. Nothing was open. Well, almost nothing. Lucky for me the farmacia was open today, and even more lucky, they handed over my blood pressure medication with no questions asked. Relieved that I had those in hand and did not have to worry about being here beyond Tuesday with my blood pressure out of control, I was able to just have a pleasant walk through town.

I’ve got all the girls (women) in the house now eating stawberries and whipped cream (out of the squirt can). I have a whipped cream weakness, and it is not unusual for me to skip the berries and just go right for the whipped cream. Last nite I noticed Isabella was copying that bad habit from me, eating just a little bowl of whipped cream. I’ve started something here!!!! The strawberries are delightful- so brilliant red and sweet already, and it’s just the beginning of April. At home we wouldn’t see really good berries until July.

I also have become a blood orange fanatic. I LOVE them. They are so sweet and delicious. I avoid oranges like the plague because I do not like peeling them. Even if someone peels one for me, they are still not on my favorite fruit list. But, that’s changed this week. Blood oranges are heavenly. I’m converted--- only for blood oranges, mind you. Only for blood oranges.

Everyone returned from Florence around 6:30 pm, much earlier than I expected. They had a big day shopping and touring. I had a moment of remorse that I did not go along, because I do love the opportunity to view The David at the Accademia museum.

Alright- we stooped to a brand new low here. We have placed bets on what hour the police will arrive tomorrow. The bet is 1 Euro each- and if the police do come tomorrow, whoever comes closest to the time they arrive wins the pot. If the police don’t come, we will bet again the next day and the next day. If anyone wins tomorrow, they can go splurge with that 6 Euros (well, 5 not counting the Euro the winner had to kick in themselves) and buy a gelato or two. I don’t believe we’ll see the police anytime soon, I’m thinking we’ll have enough cash in the kitty to throw one heck of a festa! This is what happens when there is nothing to do!!!

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 6 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Saturday April 5, 2008


The girls had a little Samba party the other nite to keep spirits up, and yesterday they did a little spa afternoon, polishing fingers and toenails. But again, we’re pretty much out of things to do around here.

I’m able to call Mike, thankfully, to have a conversation now and then. The phone last nite tells me it has less than one Euro left, so this morning I tell him to run to the Vodaphone store first thing to put more money on it. Thank goodness he is available, I cannot imagine what I would do if it ran out of money and I had no way to fix the situation., being confined in here as we are. Between the internet and the phone Vodaphone is making a fortune. But I can’t manage if I am to be without either. I need the internet to work, and without a phone connection to the outside world I’d really be alone out here. I don’t even want to think about that prospect. I’m alone enough as it is. The other's in this apartment at least have each other. I'm sure it's a small blessing to them.

My prescriptions will run out in a few days, I never believed we would be here this long. I’ve had Mike go to the local farmacia in Venice to see if they will take a faxed prescription from my doctor in Baltimore. He has done that and discovered in Italy we don’t need prescriptions for many medications, including my high blood pressure prescriptions. All we need to do is take the chemical name to the pharmacist so they can match the drug. I hopped on the internet this morning and found all that stuff, Mike has already been to the farmacia and has those filled. Now the question is how I will get those here in Castle San Pietro. He could overnight them, but I could be gone from here by the time they come. I will walk to the farmacia in town tomorrow to see if they will give me the same drugs here. I think if they can do that in Venice they can do that here. We’ll soon see.

I’ve already decided if I ever have to do this again I will bring books. And then I think..”What am I thinking??? I don’t ever want to do this again.” But- on the other hand, this has been the only solution to my dilemma. I will have Italian citizenship before too much longer, so this confinement will have been well worth it. There was no other way, besides returning to America and waiting 2 more years. Putting off coming to Italy to live just isn’t in my plans. I have to do this now. Who knows if you will have tomorrow. Perfect example is the email I got just yesterday telling me of an acquaintance’s husband who had a severe stroke, then passed away a month later. See? I have to plow on with the plan, you just never know what tomorrow might bring.

Today at 6 pm we all made a dash for the grocery store, again having the cell phone call system in place in case the polizia decided to inspect while we were out. No worries, they didn’t come. On the way out of the grocery store, we notice a small group of men across the street who are most definitely eyeing the three young women I am with. We decide that perhaps finding an Italian man to marry quickly might be a good route, then we would not have to do this confinement routine- and I encourage the young ones to flirt as hard as they can!!!
Andreas is married and has 3 children, but looks very young. I tell her to flirt anyway and don’t say anything about any children!!

At 7, we all walked into town. The farmacia was already closed, so I will have to try that again on Sunday. It’s a lovely little town, with lots of nice little shops. We just wandered and window shopped. We poked our heads into one of the two churches, and discovered mass was in session . We stayed. When mass was over we all went and lit candles. Can’t hurt. Back out on the street, Maria, the Venezuelan college student, translated some of what the priest was saying at the end. Basically he was giving announcements, saying that tomorrow at 4pm people would be gathering to prepare for a saint’s day coming up, and they would pray for foreign families in the town. That’s us!!! And we need all of their help.

Andreas, Maria’s sister who has been able to get out all week, already knows this town like the back of her hand. She led us to the gelato shop where we picked up a treat before heading home.
We’re back in by 9pm. I had some foccaccia with onion for my dinner, did a little more work and will call it an early nite again.

Tomorrow being Sunday, we are free to leave the apartment! Everyone else has planned to take the train to Florence and leave early in the morning. I originally was going to Venice for the day, as Mike and I have concert tickets at La Fenice Sunday at 5pm, however, after looking at the train schedules back from Venice, have decided not to. There are late trains back here on Sunday nite, but I’d arrive back in Castel San Pietro at 4:30 in the morning. That’s just not appealing to me. If I were to leave at 6am on Monday morning I’d get back here about 9:30, and that’s already too late. I don’t want to risk missing the polizia at any time they might show up. A concert just isn’t worth throwing a monkey wrench into this process. I need to stick it out and be here, no matter what. And I also didn’t feel like a quick one day trip into Florence. I’ve already made 2 one day trips there to have my passport replaced last month, that was plenty. I’m going to have another quiet day at the compound. One more day of the same won’t kill me, and at least I can get into town whenever I want for as long as I want today.

I read in the news today that President Bush is in Croatia this week. 30 minutes by ferry from Venice. I wonder if he plans a little vacation?

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 5 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Friday April 4, 2008

The week has actually flown by. I wake up this morning with a sinking feeling that we won’t be seeing the polizia today either. I don’t have anything to base that on, just a bad gut feeling. Luigi says we also have to be here on Saturday, but Sunday we have “off” and can leave here. However, if the police have not yet made their inspection, we must return for next week also. Technically they have 20 days to make their visit. We could be here quite some time yet. I need to go light a candle in Luisa’s room after Andreas comes back from the COOP with candles today.

I am also just about out of my food stash. Last nite for dinner I ate the pre-packaged lasagna Bolognese for dinner with a caprese salad. I have just a half of the chicken left, and some broccoli. I’m even out of yogurt. The grocery store closes at 7:30 – so I may have to give Andreas a list of things to pick up for me. That will be difficult, cause I don’t know without looking at what is on the shelf at the grocery store what I might want to pick out. I can’t be choosy today, I will have to just go with the flow.

I had a late breakfast- had my last yogurt, the last of my bread, and some tea. I showered and changed, then took a walk around the apartment. I was inside the fenced compound, so that was ok. I’ve already worked several hours today. I’ll continue working this afternoon.

My plan to give a grocery list to Andreas has backfired. She and Cristina, the mother of Isabella from Brazil, have gone shopping in Bologna all day, and then plan to make a stop at Luigi’s law office at 3pm. Aren’t they lucky they can go shop! As always, we are looking forward to the polizia visit before the end of the day today. Crossing fingers and toes, saying prayers to every saint we can conjure up a name for.

Very very uneventful day here at Casa di Cittidanza. No polizia today. Luisa is quite sad that they have not come today, and that seems to have effected everyone else in the house. She’s a bright light, that’s for sure. At 7:00 pm we all made a mad dash to the grocery store and left Luisa with the task of phoning us on our cells if the police arrived all of a sudden. I was just about out of food, so I needed that run. I bought some fresh pasta with and a jar of Mediterranean sauce ( capers, olives, and anchovies) for tonight’s meal. Andreas made a fresh fennel salad and gave me a bowl of that. I loved it. I’ll be recreating that at home soon.

I got work done, and that was the day. I am going to hope for a better result tomorrow. Buona Notte.

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 4 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Thursday April 3

It’s sunny today. We aren’t leaving the compound, but I did put a chair on the little balcony outside my door and sat out for a while this morning. Next door neighbors pulled in and got out of the car. We waved back and forth, said Buon Giorno. They have a little 2 ½ yr old boy named Thomas. Cute little guy. For as odd as our existence in this apartment is, life seems a little normal. Here we are meeting neighbors.

The apartment is quite nice. Small but nice. This afternoon the owner has come by again, this time bringing us a gift of more pots for the kitchen. We’ve had to do some creative cooking with just a large pot and a small frying pan. This morning there is a bunch of lilacs on the kitchen table, Luisa has gone out into the yard ( that’s as far as we can get- we can’t go beyond the gate) and picked some for us.

Today Maria , the college student from Venezuela, just stayed in her pajamas all day. She had a good point- why bother, all we can do is sleep. She has brought some homework assignments with her, which she has been working on also. I’m the only one in the house who is working through the day. That has been a godsend , to have activities to keep busy with.

Isabella, the college student from Brazil, has also brought her laptop, however she is not able to get an internet signal. She is just about around the bend on that one. She has her mother here also, who is able to get out of the building, and has sent her into town to research buying a wireless adapter like the one I have. Isabella’s mother met some other Brazilians in town yesterday who are also here in the midst of their citizenship process, and they told her that the police came at 7:30 the night before. So we have now adjusted our daily release time from 6:30 to 7:30, in order not to risk missing the police.

The day has passed quickly, in spite of not having much to do. We’re bored. Luisa has done all the laundry she can possibly do, and has mended a couple of things she had along with her. Andreas, her daughter, is a cleaning freak, so she has bought floor cleaner and cleaned the stone floors, and has gone to town on the kitchen. She says she has run out of things to clean… I told her I would pay her to do my room. She noted that I had my door closed while she was cleaning --- there’s an easy solution.. just knock on the door! She wants the place to look good when the police are here inspecting.

Luisa cracks me up. She has flowers in the rooms and pictures of saints up in her bedroom. We are laughing that all she needs now to be a real Italian is a lot of candles by the saints that we can light up. She says she has no candles…so we have added those to Andreas list for the next day at the grocery store!

I remembered that I have one movie loaded on my laptop in iTunes, so I settle in to watch that before going off to bed. It’s my all time favorite movie with John Wayne and Red Buttons – Hatari. It’s a simple pleasure, but it’s all I’ve got out here. I’m taking it. Buona Notte.

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 3 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Wednesday April 2.

The Venezuelans were up late talking loudly, same as the night before, so it was late by the time I got to sleep. Still I thought I would wake up early. When I looked at my watch and saw 9:30 I was shocked. But there is very little else to do here, it really didn’t matter. I had some work to get sent off to the office, and some emails to respond to so I settled into work. By noon I was finished with all that. Breakfast was yogurt and a blood orange, bread and a few cups of tea. I have some pre-made lasagna I will heat up later on for a late lunch.

Turns out I skipped lunch completely, and for dinner I chose to warm up some pre-cooked chicken and potatoes, also from the COOP, and I made myself a nice caprese salad. I love tomatoes in Italy! They are so sweet. Dinner was good.

By today everyone is warming up to each other in here.. it’s a mini United Nations. Everyone is bored silly, but we have no choice. We’ve been making a list of how this compares to incarceration, and we’ve all decided when we get sprung from here we will be model citizens forever. We are not liking giving up some of our freedoms one bit. It’s a huge eye opener to get a feel for what a controlled existence must be like. Luisa, the mother from Venezuela, says she likes her freedoms. She is also making great attempts to sing “I Will Survive”, with a very strong accent and she can’t quite get out the word Survive.. but we know what she means! She has a great sense of humor.

We’ve had interesting political discussions. Everyone is very keen on knowing about the upcoming election in the US. It’s been so educational for me to learn how the world views Americans, and how much they depend on us being a world leader. It is clearly a bit scary to them, they feel we have lost our place as leaders. I am not happy hearing it, but it is reality. Also interesting to note, unanimously these women feel Hilary Clinton is not the right choice for the next president, they all feel stongly that the only “HOPE” is Obama. Now isn’t that an eye-opener. Hope was their word—and it is the word Obama himself uses as his cornerstone in the campaign.

Right before dinner time Andreas, Luisa’s daughter from Venezuela who is not on lockdown with us and can get out, came in the door. She has some family about 50 km from here in Rimini, and she had gone there by train the previous day. When she arrived, I was in the kitchen. I said “Welcome home, Andreas”.. and she says back “Karen, I missed you!”.

I realize at that moment that I am lucky. Yes, the situation is bleak, but I am lucky. This could have been so much worse. Lucky that this bunch of people who have come together quite accidently are exactly who they are. These are bright, strong, educated, women, who fortunately come packaged with a sense of humor similar to mine.

When 7pm rolled around tonight, I had my coat on ready to run out the door, only to discover that a nasty thunderstorm was about to let loose. It was cold and rainy. I stayed in. And no polizia. End of Day 3.

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 2 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Day 2 - Tuesday morning around 10 am a man came to turn on the gas. With that taken care of we could all get hot showers. Unfortunately the stove required a match or a lighter, which none of us had, so we still were unable to cook. By now my craving for a cup of hot tea was beginning to get the best of me. There are 2 women also in the house , the mother of the Brazilian girl (Isabella) and the sister of the Venezuelan girl (Maria) who are not here for their citizenship, just here to keep the girls company. Who in the heck would do that??? Anyway, they are allowed to exit anytime, so they went to the store to find a lighter. Once we could cook, things definitely improved. And for me, I now had access to hot tea. I feel civilized again. If you look at Maslow’s chart of essential items for life ( I don’t remember what it is actually called) - TEA is the basic essential element for me. No doubt about it. It’s Tea.

After lunch on Tuesday the owner of the apartment came with a repairman who spent time on the water heater and draining the radiators. Heat is now good. There are only 2 pots in the kitchen cupboards, it is minimally furnished to say the least. The landlady said that previous tenants had stolen all kinds of things so she was reluctant to put anything else in here. Great.

The day was uneventful- and no sign of any police. Figures.

As soon as the clock read 6:30 pm, my coat was on and I was out the door. First stop was the COOP ( the local grocery store) where I found a small pot perfect for boiling water. With only a large pot and a frying pan ( that is used as lid for the big pot), and these things are in use for cooking meals all the time, there is often no way to make tea, and I need it frequently. The small pot solves that issue. I also picked up some food for Wednesdays meals.

After getting this stuff stowed in the apartment, I went out again to find some dinner. The Venezuelans were making chicken and aspargus and eating in that night, the Brazilians had made a huge pot of some pasta stuff at lunch time so they were also staying in, and I was eager for some fresh air. I walked into the center of the city, which is very close, and took some pictures. I need some “evidence” for the picture albums. Of course I need to document this adventure!!! The city has an old clock tower, a beautiful church, a walled in center of the town, and shops and apartments outside the walled area for a few streets also. When you get beyond the wall on the far side of town, the land drops down sharply, so you can see the town is on a hillside. Beyond all that is just farmland as far as you can see. There is also a nice park down at the bottom of this hill. On the side of town where the apartment is located, it is flat, so you wouldn’t really know you are on a hillside, or so it seems to me when I look down the street from the apartment gate.

I wandered around exploring the streets for alittle while, and decided to stop for dinner at a little trattoria, sadly I forget the name already. I ordered spaghetti Bolognese ( what else would I choose- I’m in the heart of Bolognese territory here!), and a tomato salad. I wanted to try their cassata ( cake filled with ricotta and candied fruit like a cannoli filling), but I resisted the temptation- I had some gelato back in the apartment. It was the best Bolognese sauce I’ve had so far since being in Italy, and I have been doing a Bolognese sauce survey of sorts back in Venice. The tomato salad on the other hand was not so good. But, for a total of 8 Euros, I was ok with all that.

I walked back to the apartment, did a bit more work and called it a night. Fortunately the heat was working well, so no double layers or extra socks needed. It was a comfortable night.

Dual Italian Citizenship -Day 1 in Castel San Pietro Terme

Moving into “Casa di Cittidanza” – Day 1

The two girls from Luigi's office left me with the 2 other girls I'd be sharing the apartment with, and all of a sudden 3 other women materialize. It becomes very clear instantly that all 6 of us were going to spend time together. This is all news to me, and evidently news to the others. Three of them had been in the apartment the night before, so we all walked back to the apartment. Thats when more of the nightmare unravels. A) there are only 2 sets of keys for the apartment, and the other 2 groups have them. no keys for me. b) there are only 2 bedrooms in the place - no bedroom for me. There is a pull out couch in the dining room. Guess where I will be! c) Luigi did not give me any information about the place, and it turns out there are no sheets or towels, or pillow ,and I did not bring any with me. We do find a blanket for me, but no pillow. d) the gas has not been turned on in the place, and won't be turned on until the next day, so we have no hot water and no gas to cook with. This is a complete nightmare. At this point the Girl Scout in me kicks in and I am making do with the situation at hand.

I called Luigi to inform him of the situation and he apologized, and said walk into town to by sheets and to do it right then, cause beginning the next morning I could not leave the place. Thanks, Luigi. Good plan!

After checking out the place, all 6 of us walked to the grocery store, which luckily is very close to the apartment. Since we had no gas, we couldn’t do any cooking. All we were able to buy was prepared foods and salad, and of course essential items like toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap. I looked for sheets and towels in the grocery, but there were none. Later we walked into the center of the town and asked a woman if there was any store that sold sheets and towels. We were in luck, there was one, which we were able to find, and I purchased a set of sheets and the cheapest towel they had in the place. For only 54 Euros I had what I needed.

I stopped for a cup of tea in a small café in the center of town before walking back to the apartment to make up the bed. The “bed” consists of a 1 inch mattress on a pull out little sofa in the dining room. Well, my girl scout experience is coming in very handy. I had to take a nasty plastic wrapping off the mattress- I was definitely not going to sleep on top of that and hear the crinkle noises every time I moved! After getting the bed made up, I unpacked my laptop and said a quick prayer to the Internet Gods that my connection would work here. My prayers were answered, I’m good to go. Being able to work from here was critical, so thank goodness that didn’t fall apart on me. So I have commandeered the dining room as my headquarters, my desk area is set up on the dining room table, I think I can make do with this.

The last task for the night was to put our names on the outside doorbell, mail box and the inside doorbell. The youngsters handled that art project nicely. I let it be a bonding experience for them. I did go out and help hold tape for a little bit, just so they didn’t think I was anti-social. They call me “La Signora”, and I am beginning to like it!

I spent the night cold, with an extra sweater and socks on in the bed, praying for daylight to come fast! The apartment actually is quite nice, small compared to what we have in Venice, but new and nice. Mike would like the six burner stove- if only we had gas!

The other interesting thing about this whole situation is that the 4 of us in here who have applied for residency, and ultimately our citizenship, are not allowed to leave the apartment at all until after 6:30 pm each day. We have to be present whenever the local police come to make their inspection of the apartment, and they do not call ahead to let you know a time. Essentially we are on lockdown. What a nightmare! When I described this whole situation to Mike, he said thank goodness there isn’t an ounce of Princess in me. He knew I wouldn’t be doing any crying or demanding to go instantly to a 5 star hotel. I’m here at “Casa di Cittidanza”, as I call it now, hoping these police have a kind heart and come before Friday!

"Casa di Cittidanza"-- our apartment is on the first floor, right side in this pic.

Dual Italian Citizenship - Establishing Residency in Castel San Pietro Terme

Next stop is Castel San Pietro Terme to handle the paperwork to establish residency. We also meet up with the other girl who is sharing the same apartment. What I find out is there are 2 others sharing the apartment, one girl from Venezuela and one from Brazil. Ok. it doesn’t matter to me. I was just hoping there were 3 bedrooms. Luigi had not told me anything at all about the apartment, and at that moment I was kicking myself for being so trusting. When the clerk in Castel San Pietro Terme got to my turn, she had a problem with the stamps in my passport. Thank goodness we had that electronic plane ticket still with us. That appeased her.

The next problem was the name on the Codice Fiscale we just had issued did not match the name on my passport. Oh for goodness sake, I thought we were going to have throw in the towel there. I got a reprieve- the clerk is going to get the Codice reissued for me with a corrected name. That was the first time in all this where someone volunteered to do something nice. I signed a few documents, and we had one more stop to make.

I had to turn in all the original documents to the director here. That was very easy, no issues. . I had a bit of trauma letting go of those documents. I cannot begin to explain how valuable those are to me,and what they represent. Taking my fingers off that folder to turn over the documents to this woman was extremely difficult.. but I knew that it had to be done. Once those were handed over, everyone was smiling and off we went.

Dual Italian Citizenship - The Codice Fiscale

Step 1 – The Codice Fiscale
I arrived at Luigi's office in Bologna at 9am this morning, having left Venice on a 6:43 train. I had very little sleep and this was going to be a long day. Little did I know just how long. The day's events unfolded, one horror after another.

Luigi had asked me on the phone last week if I already had my Codice Fiscale. I had tried to get it in Venice. When I went to the office and applied for it, they told me I needed a declaration of stay, which is issued by the police, in order to get the Codice. I had been to the police for that, but they told me that only the one they issued to my husband was needed, they weren't going to give me my own paper. So, without the declaration of stay, I wasn't getting a Codice. When I told Luigi this story, he said,"Oh Karen, I am sorry for the Italian bureaucracy and what they have done to you!" If he only knew what was yet to unfold!!!!

First, when Luigi saw the incorrect stamps in my passport, I thought that would be the end of the road right there. We printed out my plane ticket from my email just in case we needed some additional documentation. We made a first stop just outside of Bologna to get a Codice Fiscale issued for me. This is equivalent to a tax id. You go into the office, take a number and wait until you are called. Now I have 2 girls from Luigi's office with me, who do all this paperwork for others like me trying to get Italian citizenship all the time, so I was confident this would be easy. HA! When our number was called, the agent at the desk told us the stamp was incorrect. One of the girls tried to explain, but we were told to go to a supervisor and they would make a determination. All I could think of was this was now the end of the road for me. We waited for the supervisor. Finally the supervisor called us into the office. She didn't like the stamps on my passport either. We showed her my plane ticket, and one of the girls from Luigi's office also read her some code ( Italian legal stuff). We actually walked out of there with a Codice Fiscale!!! I was doing a silent happy dance.

Dual Italian Citizenship - and then there is Castel San Pietro Terme

A week later Luigi called to tell me that he had located one small commune in Castel San Pietro Terme, about 45 minutes away from Bologna that thought they could accept my documents. They were asking to see all of the originals. I made a trip to the Commune there the very next day. The woman there reviewed everything and told us that she believed everything would be ok, but she wanted a few days to research a few things. There was also one item I had to handle before they could begin. My passport needed to have stamps indicating I entered Italy stamped in it. I entered the EU in Frankurt, then took a connecting flight to Venice. Upon arrival in Venice, no one stamps your passport if you are entering from another EU country. Luigi had an easy solution: fly to London and fly back, and have my passport stamped upon arrival in Italy. It seemed too good to be true. On March 15, I flew from Venice to Gatwick airport in London, sat for 4 hours, and then flew back to Venice. When I got back home that night, I pulled out my passport to look at the stamps, and realized that the person who stamped my passport in the morning in Venice had the wrong date on the stamp. It showed that I left Venice on March 16 and returned on March 15. All I could think was " Is there anything else that could go wrong???" I figured that this could be explained away as a clerical error since I had a plane ticket to prove what day I flew on.

Venice footnote…

In the meantime, I visited the Commune in Venice one more time, hopeful that they had reviewed my documents and would decide to handle my case. Instead, they told me that my mother's name is Guilia on one document but Guiliana on a second document. Since they didn't match, these documents wouldn't be acceptable. Figures!

The woman in Castel San Pietro Terme took alot longer to get back to us than we expected, partially because of the Easter holiday. Finally we got very positive news, and I was told that I should be at Luigi's office first thing on Monday 3/31 with my suitcase as we would be going to Castel San Pietro Terme to begin the process of establishing residency. Luigi had found an apartment for me to share with another girl who was doing the same process. I would only have to be physically present in the apartment until the local police come to conduct an interview, which Luigi estimated would only take a week to complete.