10603 Greetings

[SIZE=2]Hello to all,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]We're Karen and Franco, a coupla Italian-American boomers who recently bought a little house in the medieval borgo of Varano in the Taverone valley of Lunigiana.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]After three trips in the past year (to view, to close, to start settling in), we're officially card-carrying home owners with actual electricity, gas and water turned on. Thanks to some kindly advice from folks with better Italian than ours, all were done remarkably easily.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Now we're finishing up selling or renting a house in Florida, getting our documentation completed to apply to dual citizenship (through Franco's mother was the easiest to track down all the papers) . We hope to be back in the spring, April 09 for at least 6 months.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]We're still sorting out what to bring, what to leave, and how to manage all the details, but are full of hope and good feelings. Our neighbors have been generous and welcoming,seemingly thrilled that, at 53 and 61, we're the youngsters in the village.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Trying to figure out if we can live without a car in a hill village with steep climb to the bus stop. We rented a Punto for two weeks and managed okay despite a few primals on mountain roads, but it would be a major expense we would like to avoid.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]As veterans of two badly-paid professions becoming quickly obsolete-- me a journalist, Franco a photog and film critic -- we will be retiring on the cheap, with a few contacts that should enable us to do some freelance. Both of us have taught, so some TESOL training may supplement our income if needed. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Anyway, there's the basics. We hope to become friends with some of you, share information, and perhap repay some of the help we have been given. All the best, Karen[/SIZE]

Category
Introduce Yourself - Piacere Conoscerti

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 03:35

:yes:...Then we will listen about your Italian breakfast! Or about your funny troubles with your new Italian car..also your bad experience with the typical food of the region you live! You will come back in America saying what a awful place to live, maybe reporting it on a journal or making a film about strange Italian people habits! I really would like to read and watch to them!
:laughs:I'm joking of course!
I'm sure you will have one of your best experiences! If your neighbors make you feel at home, it's certainly because they are Italian!
A warm welcome in my land and wish you the best!:wink:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 03:43

Welcome to the forum Karen and Franco,
My that certainly seems the smoothest transition from interested tourists to fully settled home owners that I've read. Well done!
I'm sure as you peruse the forum you will read how it hasn't been the case for many others but you have shown it can be done hassle free.
I wish you both a wonderful life in Italy and enjoy your time on the forum. :smile:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 04:19

Hi and Welcome
Its a great country to live in

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 09:15

Many thanks for the replies, it's good to feel that there are a community of other pilgrims out there to share the road. No coincedence that the Via Franigena that brought the faithful from Canterbury to Rome passes through our village.
To those who wonder if we're researching for an "Under AnotherTuscan Sun," rest assured we'll be miilking this for all it's worth. (Joke). Anyhow, somebody has to repopulate the place,but I'm too old and lumpy for Diane Lane to play in the movie.
Maybe as Italian-Americans, we developed a wierd co-dependence on the craziness, and I confess to looking for traces of my late father in some of the faces I see. For me, it's easiler the second time around, I spent 10 years living in Ireland in the '80s and 90s, maybe being an expat is like malaria, stays in your blood.
Anyway, I digress. Thanks again. Karen

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 11:56

Keep on digressing - makes for interesting reading. Welcome.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 17:56

Hi and good luck to both of you for the future! :smile:
Are your families from Varano?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 20:51

Thanks for the message.
No, we're like most Italian-Americans, children of the dirt-poor South. My grandparents are from Calabria, and Franco's are from Lazio and Sicily. We ended up in Lunigiana after researching locales where affordable housing was available, and its wildness and beauty seduced us. Karen