Prelude to Carnevale

They're back!!!!  Frittelle, that tasty little morsel of fried dough stuffed with crema, zabaiglone or ricotta and made only in the Venice area and ONLY at Carnevale time, have been sighted in bakeries this week!!

Unfortunately this is not a great photo, but I couldn't resist snapping a quick shot with my phone as I passed the bakery next to our apartment, so you get a lovely reflection of one of the buildings across the canal as a bonus!

I've been vowing to eat more sensibly  in the hopes of shedding the extra pounds I put on while eating with sheer abandon during our vacation and the holidays. Frittelle are not going to help my cause any!  Already I've had two of them!  I had to introduce our friends Anne and Kate from St.Louis to them, so we stopped off at Rizzardini's where I ate my first of the season, filled with zabaiglone. Heaven!  What is it about fried dough???

Yesterday, I HAD to have one filled with ricotta, so I ducked into the Majer. I will bet you there is another ricotta filled frittelle coming home with me today.

Frittelle in the bakery is the first sign that Carnevale is on it's way. It's almost like hearing robins singing- you know spring is right around the corner. Same with Frittelle.  Our harbinger of Carnevale season.

This year, similar to last year, Venice will host a weekend of events Feb 4-5, prior to the official start of Carnevale which is on Feb 11. Here's a link to the website where you can see a list of all the events requiring tickets, which you can order on the site as well:

http://www.venice-carnival-italy.com/

Some of the biggest events are the Marie's Parade on Feb 11 which starts at San Pietro in Castello and ends in St. Mark's square, and the Flight of the Angel, at noon on Feb 12 in St. Mark's square.

The Marie's parade starts at San Pietro in Castello and ends in St. Mark's square, where the 12 Marie's are presented to the Doge.  Just prior to Carnevale, 12 Marie's are selected in a beauty pageant like contest held at the Casino. These 12 Maries preside over various events throughout the city during Carnevale week, including appearances at several masked balls. At this special parade the Marie's are acompanied by groups of people from cities nearby Venice, in traditional dress. Many of the groups have flag throwers performing. It's an interesting parade to watch full of pomp and ceremony, as well as 12 beautiful Marie's. (Below is small  clip of last year's parade)

The flight of the Angel involves a person "flying" down a wire cable from the Campanile across the square down to the stage at the opposite end of the square where the Doge is waiting to greet them. In previous years, there has been a celebrity "Angel", however in recent times, in a cost cutting effort, the Angel has been the winning Marie from the previous year. This year will be the same. It doesn't matter who does the flying, it's an event worth experiencing to kick off the big Carnevale week. St. Mark's square will be packed to capacity, with barely room to breathe.  You can purchase a ticket to get a close up spot for the Flight of the Angel, however the majority of the throng will just be jammed into the square with cameras, sans a good position, just like me.

Here's a list of some of the famous "Angels" from the past few years ( just in case you were curious, as I was).


2005: Carolina Marconi, model and actress;
 2006: Manuela Levorato, sprinter;
 2007: Federica Pellegrini, swimmer;
2008: Coolio, rap singer, with a costume by Moschino;
2009: Margherita Maccapani Missoni, actress, with a costume by Missoni;
2010: Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, model, with a costume by Giambattista Valli;
2011: Silvia Bianchini, winner of the beauty contest of the Festa delle Marie 2010, with a costume by Emanuela Finardi and Stefano Nicolao.

And finally, a clip of the Flight of the Angel from a previous year, to get you sufficiently psyched for Carnevale 2012!

Dual Italian Citizenship-- the Acceptance letter has arrived!

I have been purposely quiet on the status of my dual Italian citizenship for months now-- for several reasons. The biggest is that I just didn't want to jinx anything!!!! It's been a long and windy road--- with many ridiculous twists we didn't ever plan on.

So here we are, 7 months since I began the process in Castel San Pietro Terme. I was told the whole thing would take 2-3 months, tops. In a previous blog I even started a happy dance when my Immigration lawyer told me the final information needed from the Italian consulate in the US had been received. Turns out what he meant to tell me is that the request for information had been SENT, not received. Following that, there was a 4 month wait for the Consulate to respond with the correct letter. That happy dance was premature, unfortunately.

More waiting, more waiting, more waiting. Since the beginning of September there have been many emails telling me "Any day now", and my patience has been wearing very thin. And, all this week I have heard "Any day now" every day. I honestly was beginning to give up hope. I'd been lighting candles every day here... I needed some divine intervention!!!

Last night at 6pm I received a phone call from Isabella, one of the girls who went through the residency with me in Castel San Pietro Terme. She had news that two letters arrived for me yesterday from the Comune. Of course, I had her tear into them ASAP. The first letter informed me that my citizenship process had been completed, and I could go to the Comune to receive my Carte d'Identitie.!!!! Oh happy day!!! This letter is going to be framed for sure!!! The second letter contained a request for me to bring my Codice Fiscale information with me to the Comune so that they could get a new one issued for me which will indicate I am an Italian, not a foreigner.

It took quite awhile for this news to sink in last nite. I did it!!!! What an amazing process!!!! The dual citizenship has finally been completed!!!!

So.....although I do not yet have the precious Carta d'Identita in my hot little hands, and have yet to do the application for my Italian Passport, I have the letter from the Comune which tells me I'm in!!!

We're beginning the preparations for the celebration!!! I need to figure out what day next week I can get out to Castel San Pietro Terme to collect my Carta d'Identita and submit the application for my Italian passaporto, and when I return to Venice the party will begin in earnest. I plan to be dancing on a few tables!!!!

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!!!