We've moved from Baltimore, Maryland USA to Venice, Italy in pursuit of living our dream!



Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dual Italian Citizenship - get ready to do the Happy Dance, we are almost Italians!!!

It's been almost a month since I've come back to Venice from my stay in Castel San Pietro Terme. I figured perhaps there might be some information by now, so yesterday I sent an email off to Luigi in Bologna to see if he had any news for me. I also needed to send him the rent installment for May. Even though we aren't staying there, we still need to keep up the residence for at least 3 months, until all of our paperwork is wrapped up. One one the members of our merry little band of Italian-wannabe's, Isabella, is staying at the apartment for awhile, in between her EU travels.

Right away I got an email back from Luigi, informing me that the Commune in Castel San Pietro Terme has gotten the response from the Consulate in the US confirming that I had never renounced my Italian citizenship. That was the last of the documentation needed. I had been sweating over this one, for several reasons: A) The Italian consulate in the US has not been speedy about anything and B) they are notorious for being unresponsive. I was fearing it would be 6 months to hear back from them, or never. The Commune has been emailing and faxing them, and it worked! And now, my citizenship is being recorded in the Commune!!!

This is just about the end of the process, although Luigi tells me it could still be 2 months before it is completed. I tried to tell him he should get everyone in the office to get up and do the happy dance, but he didn't understand what that meant. I need to really work on my Italian.

The next few months will pass quickly, even though I am so anxious for all of this to be behind us. At least I didn't have to leave Italy while we wait.

So-- if you have been reading my blog....get up and do the happy dance, we're almost there!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Karen,

One happy dance coming to you & Mike from Wisconsin. See you in 5 weeks.

Beth

Unknown said...

Congratulations ... Almost :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Karen,
Just wondering if we can expect any updates to your blog. Are you close to becoming an Italian citizen?

I've enjoyed reading your blog. I am an American, currently looking into starting the process of applying for dual Italian citizenship. I am also thinking about moving to Italy and submitting the application there!

Hope to get an update!
Francesca

Anonymous said...

Hallo Karen,

one happy dance for you and Mike from Como.

Cheers,
Geppetto

P.S. 'Comune' is spelled with only one 'm'