Countdown to Italy!

I’m downstairs in my office, coffee in hand and filled with anxiety, excitement, hope and a bit of sadness. We are leaving for Bassano Del Grappa in just a few days and I’m fretting that there will be at least one key item that we neglected before we depart.  We have changed our cell service from Verizon to T-Mobile, which is great in Italy and throughout Europe. We paid our real estate taxes and other bills and set up PayPal accounts for Loree’s business and mine. We had purchased our round trip airfares months ago with Loree coming back to visit Chicago in September and me in December. We made a plan only to ship my road bike and leave everything else behind due to costs and import duties. We are taking only four suitcases filled with clothes and shoes and all else stays behind.

How did we get to this point? Many years ago I had read in the Tribune that Italy was offering a “right to return” for its diaspora. Turano Bakery, a local Chicago supplier of bread that naturally was started by Italian immigrants, posted the ad.  I had stored this in the back of my conscience with a plan to investigate further. Many years later I decided to make an appointment with the consulate in Chicago, which provided a list of all things needed to become a “cittadino d’Italia” via “jus sanguinis (blood right). The process was incredibly arduous, but for those who know me well I don't surrender easily. Locating long lost marriage and birth certificates of my parents and grandparents as well as naturalization papers and dozens of other items, and then having them notarized and translated to Italian was a seemingly endless paper chase. Nearly four years later the day arrived when I received my passport along with Scott and Alison. What about Loree? She would have to obtain hers through a longer route, and as she has all the rights of an Italian citizen while married to me so need to pursue it at this point.

My Italian language skills are fairly strong and when I’m spoken to in proper Italian I have full comprehension. The dialects throw me, and Neapolitan in the south is like a different language entirely. Fortunately since the Second World War most everyone can speak Florentine Italian or what any U.S. college student or Italian would study. English on the other hand is not widely spoken by most in our new town. The younger generation of course has it as part of their curriculum but from what I have seen and heard they are a far cry from their Scandinavian, German and Dutch counterparts.

We have a beautiful new apartment in Bassano Del Grappa with all the modern amenities. We are spoiled Americans after all and Loree would never agree to living in a typical Italian house or apartment that had all the charm but none of the conveniences. She has said many times to me that her idea of roughing it is un-waxed dental floss.  We will be in the city center within walking distance to everything we need and of course close proximity to my cousins, the descendants of my grandfather’s brother.

Our kids who are quite secure in their own relationships and work are encouraging us to go for it as they know it will be now or never for us.  Of course we will miss them, but FaceTime and Skype make it easier to speak to them daily if needed. We need to have this life experience while are legs and hearts are strong and still able to explore Italy and Europe without the need of being in proximity of a bathroom every 5 minutes!