Italian Adventures – We Bought a House in Italy!

I love my home in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). My family & friends are here and I have a strong community around me. But my heart pulls me back to Italy time and time again.

It was easier for me to leave in the later part of March a few years ago, so that I could witness the spring awakening across the Italian countryside. But once Olivia was born, my soon to be 2 year old granddaughter, there is no way I can leave before her birthday. And, if I am being honest, it’s hard to miss Easter with her as well. Easter is particularly special for me for so many reasons.

When Jessica was little (my daughter), I tried to make each holiday special for her. Even if it was a weekend with her dad, I made it a point to sneak over and hide Easter eggs around his garden so that she would awake to a fun surprise from the Easter bunny. Certainly he wasn’t going to do it!!

As Jess got older and we moved into our new neighborhood in Richmond Beach, it was fun to create special holiday traditions for all of the families and young kids in our little private hood. Whether the neighbor woman was the Easter bunny, Jess, or I, and even one year I was the spring chicken and Jess was the bunny, there were always fun activities and a huge Easter egg hunt throughout our hood.

I want to be able to create similar experiences for Olivia, but she is still young and all of our neighbor kids are either college graduates, in college, or high schoolers. They love Olivia and play with her when they are home, but it will be hard to create the same experience for her at this time.

So off to Italy I go. Easter in Italy, Pasqua, is special and there are festivities all around. The Monday following Easter Sunday, Pasquetta, is also a holiday and there is a huge antique market in Greve in Chianti (see earlier post). This is my new tradition, as there are Italian friends to see and treasures to find, followed by a new town to explore and a fun lunch spot to discover.

As I prepare to return to Casale Giulietta, there is much to be excited about this year. There is no new construction / renovation happening at the house…YAY! Both great for my sanity and my bank account. We have one small project in early April, building an additional well to support the irrigation system for the garden. Otherwise…Niente!!!

I have found a few local men / handymen to help me with a few small clean-up projects. One will come and remove all of the debris left from various work projects, now cluttering up my shed and boiler room (see earlier post). Another will come to clean out the cantina and install all of the wonderful terracotta bricks to store the wine.

I have invited some of the people from my Friday Aperitivo online class for a week in May at Casale Giulietta for a true Italian immersion experience. Our language coach, Ludovica Corda, will be joining us and sharing in the experience. I am excited for everyone to meet my Italian neighbors, explore my second home in Umbria, and truly immerse themselves in the Italian culture.

On June 3rd, I have my appointment at the Italian Consulate in San Francisco to submit my application for a Digital Nomad Visa. Fingers Crossed!!!!!

I return to Italy at the end of August, hopefully with documents in hand to pick up my ‘Kit Giallo’ (yellow packet) at la Posta (post office) to apply for my Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to stay). I then make an appointment at the Questura for fingerprinting. If all goes well, I will be granted temporary residency, which unlocks many new benefits (along with tax implications), including eliminating the need to follow the 90 day Schengen rules.

My friend Heather will arrive on the US holiday of Labor Day and stay until Sept. 30th. Jess, Andrew & Olivia also arrive in early September and will stay for a few weeks. Everyone, and I mean Everyone, is excited to see them again and spend time with little miss Olivia. They weren’t able to come in 2025 so their stay is long overdue.

Their last visit in Oct. 2024 – Oliva was 6 months old

Then…on Sept. 22nd, the long awaited arrival of my friend Gil arrives for a few weeks before venturing off to Spain. Gil and I have been friends for 30 years and he is finally retiring this June.

I am looking forward to introducing him to my home, Italian friends, and countryside. I have a special event planned in honor of his birthday (February 24th). He has always wanted to go hot air ballooning, so I have arranged a special weekend adventure for us. We will set out on Friday morning, exploring Spoleto, lunch in Trevi, then an overnight in Foligno. Early the next morning, we head to a winery in Bevagna for our hot air balloon adventure. We are both really excited!!!

Now that all of this is planned, the fun begins in finding new places around Italy to discover. My notebook of places to visit has expanded to 3 binders, which may now become 4 soon. There is a binder for Umbria, which also includes Lazio (I think). There is another one for Tuscany, and a 3rd for various other regions, including Le Marche and Puglia. But I have been doing more research and creating additional documents to add to the binders. I LOVE having these resouces for my friends and family to review and find new places to visit while at the house. I also like to share them with my friend, and neighbor Terry, who runs an AirBnB just up the road. Why NOT share this wealth of information with her to make available to her guests!

OK, time to sign off for the night. Work early in the morning and this woman needs her sleep. Next up, a few posts about various adventures over the last few years exploring Italy and discovering new places.

A presto!