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Sara Kruger (Bassano del Grappa)

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Each month we introduce you to someone who has made the dream of picking up and moving to the Bel Paese a reality.
In their own words they share the good parts, the bad parts and the just plain absurd moments of day-to-day life in Italy.

Looking to move to Italy? Try the reader-recommended Survivor Package
Or browse our free weekly newsletter with updated job offers for English-speakers in Italy by clicking here .
If you live in Italy, we would love to hear your story–contact us at editor@zoomata.com .

ID Card: Sara Kruger, an American journalist.

Currently living In: Bassano del Grappa

How (or why) did you get here from there?
My husband is a teacher. After two years of discontented teaching in the States, he looked into teaching overseas. He discovered the European Council of International Schools in November of 2000 and through this connection secured an interview with an international school in Italy in the summer of 2001. The principal liked his voice and written credentials enough to hire him, so we moved at the end of August.

What role did language skills play in your expat experience?
Prior to leaving, we checked out a children’s Italian book so upon arrival we knew colors and numbers and how to say "Dove." This didn’t help a whole lot. Fortunately, our first week in Italy we met an Italian family that befriended us. They didn’t know any English, so we were forced to rapidly increase our vocabulary (with the aid of a very helpful dictionary). Learning Italian has been essential to an enjoyable experience for us. It has allowed us to converse with the locals and participate more fully in the Italian lifestyle.

Your biggest challenge:
Dealing with the Italian bureaucracy. During the first few months we were here, as we tried to secure permessos (permission to stay in the country) and visas, we learned that nothing involving the government happens quickly or on the first try. Nor do the practices always make sense.

What did you do to feel at home or adapt here? We immediately dove into learning the language.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
Italian hours. Businesses take random days off – not the predictable Sat/Sun – and random afternoons off. Now each business is consistent in what days and afternoons it takes off, but not all businesses have the same ones off. And all businesses close for some time in the afternoon, but what hours they take off vary. And there’s no such thing as a 24-hour supermarket.

Compare an aspect (or aspects) of your home town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town.
Parking downtown in both places is something drivers only dream about.

Latest pursuits: Travel writing. When I first arrived, I was working at the same school as my husband. Recent hires made my employ there unnecessary, so I’ve been writing stories about the places we’ve traveled since we’ve been here in the hopes of being published.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is not true:
Prices are cheap here. We arrived in September, when the lire was still in use. Knowing the terrible value of the lire, I assumed prices would be incredibly cheap. Apparently, just because I got 2,000 lire to my $1 doesn’t mean I could buy 2,ooo times the goods with my $1 than I would in the States. Prices were pretty much the same as my hometown, once I did the conversion. Of course, that conversion is no longer necessary since the euro is almost equal to the US dollar.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is true:
Driving is incredible here. All the crazy stories you hear about Rome are true throughout Italy, just to a lesser extent. Rather than the philosophy that I grew up with that every driver should be a defensive driver, Italian drivers believe every other driver is a defensive driver and thus make some pretty wild moves, assuming every else is looking out for them. But if everyone else holds this same perspective, how does it work? Somehow, it does.

Your response/advice/warning to the following question: "I love Italy! I really want to live here, even though I don’t speak Italian or have a job."
Italian isn’t difficult to pick up, so that part isn’t really a problem. You can live here for three months as a tourist. If you don’t mind living illegally and are confident you will never come into contact with a government official or police officer and will never need health care, stay as long as you like. If you don’t want to be constantly looking over your shoulder, think about studying here. Otherwise, it is incredibly difficult to secure a work visa within the European Union as you must prove no one else in the EU can do the job you’re applying for. Obtaining most types of Visas is a headache, as you’re dealing with the Italian bureaucracy, which isn’t the most efficient or consistent institution. So, my response? Good luck.

How would you sum up your Italian experience in a word (and why)? A blessing. From my humble abode in Renton, WA, I never thought it would be possible to live overseas. It was a dream that didn’t seem likely ever to see the light of reality. Every day spent learning the language, traveling to new places, witnessing firsthand all those sights deemed "must-sees" is simply a blessing that I’ll cherish forever.

Italy’s best kept secret
As long as you’re in the process of acquiring the necessary paperwork, you’re OK. In the States, having a piece of paper saying you are waiting for the official paperwork doesn’t cut it. You’ve got to have the official stuff. But in Italy, because acquiring these documents takes so long, being in the process is just as good as having them. While trying to acquire our permessos, we have secured a piece of paper that says, at the very bottom, in both Italian and English, "THIS IS NOT VALID AS A COPY OF FOREIGNER’S PERMIT TO STAY". So what’s the point, we asked. The police officer assured us that this with our passport would be good enough for anything we needed. But we still have to get the real permessos; it just doesn’t really matter when. The ones we have are indefinitely temporary. Crazy stuff.

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A Passion for Pasta: Italians Love Tradition

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Despite thousands of ways to dress a plate of spaghetti, Italians love the classics. The favorite variant in the Bel Paese is a simple plate of pasta with tomato sauce.
All other versions combined — seafood, pesto, cream sauce, baked — were named as favorites by only 25% of the 1,000 Italians surveyed by Cirm for World Pasta Day 2003.

Most Italians seem to have a nearly inborn knack for noodles, 62.8% don’t bother following instructions. The ability to master the elusive “q.b.” (quanto basta or to taste), likely derives from a daily knowledge of penne, tortellini and spaghetti — at nearly 60 pounds per person per year, Italians are top consumers of pasta worldwide.

Celebrations taking place in Naples and around the world on Oct. 24-25 will also highlight new ways of looking at the old standby. The Cirm study found that Italians add six new recipes to the average menu of 12 every year — though these brilliant and often improvised creations don’t take the place of the classics. Some traditions may soon change, 9.8% of Italians have tried their national dish in what would have been formerly considered heretical versions — frozen or precooked. ©1999-2007 zoomata.com

Italians Protest Return of Axum Obelisk

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zoomata.com staff updated:Wed Oct. 22 7:51 amWith a dramatic last-minute timing worthy of opera, Italians are protesting the return of the Axum Obelisk to Ethiopia.
The Italian government agreed to give back this enormous chunk of fascist booty over 50 years ago, but only got around to taking it apart earlier this month. Slated to arrive in Africa in early November, the 80-foot, 150-ton obelisk is wrapped in scaffolding and once again the center of controversy.

Italian wire services reported that a mysterious ‘protest committee’ plans try to stop the delicate work to take apart the monument.
No details about committee members were provided but just that the group believes the ‘obelisk should stay in Rome’ and that some sort of protest was planned for this week in Piazza Carpena.
One thing is certain — Italians have mixed feelings about doing the right thing. Newsweekly Panorama published a mock-up photo to show what the ‘naked’ square will look like and several newspapers have published letters from readers who feel the plunder has become part of the Italian patrimony.
Piazza Carpena won’t be left empty, however. According to Nicola DeMarco, whose grandfather was a colonist in Ethiopia under Mussolini, a group of Italian and international artists will create a peace monumenton that site to commemorate the years of peace between Ethiopia and Italy and as a reminder of the evils of Fascism.

The granite monument will be sent back as damaged goods — it was partially shattered by lightning in 2001.
Taken by order of Benito Mussolini in 1937, the Ethiopian government has been trying to get it back for over half a century. Lightning struck the deserted piazza around 1 a.m., probably attracted as much by the shape as the steel braces added when the monument was transported. The incident also shattered the argument by Italian officials that the relic was in better hands in the Bel Paese.

The pre-Christian relic once crowned the city of Aksum, then center of trade in ivory, animal skins and grain in the ancient Ethiopian empire. The Obelisk was the latest in a series of heated arguments for return of stolen art — one that found Italians as the accused. Owning over 60% of the world’s art treasures, according to UNESCO, usually places Italy in the position of petitioning for its own looted treasures. One recent example: after years of negotiations, the Getty Museum in California was prevailed upon to return 500 terracotta and bronze pieces to a Calabrian museum in 2001.

Foot-dragging by Italian authorities meant that agreements to return the obelisk to Ethiopia, signed as early as 1947, never amounted to action. Italian government officials, most vocally Vittorio Sgarbi, have protested the restitution both because of political instability in the African region as well as complications in shipping the heavy monument.

Placed at the center of piazza di Porta Capena, close to the Circus Maximus, Italian Culture Minister Giulio Urbani told newspapers after lightning struck that the sculpture would be restoredand sent home — and it only took two years to sort out the shipment. ©1999-2007 zoomata.com

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Matt Dunford (Bolzano)

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Each month we introduce you to someone who has made the dream of picking up and moving to the Bel Paese a reality.
In their own words they share the good parts, the bad parts and the just plain absurd moments of day-to-day life in Italy.

Looking to move to Italy? Try the reader-recommended Survivor Package
If you live in Italy, we would love to hear your story–Contact form

ID Card:
Matt Dunford, profession: Web programmer, nationality: American,
email: zoot@zotikos.com. I’ve lived in Italy for about a year and a half now.

Currently living In: Bozen/Bolzano in Suedtirol/Alto Adige

By way of: Santa Monica, Fresno, Santa Barbara, San Francisco (all in
California).

How (or why) did you get here from there?
Pure luck. I was working in San Francisco when I received a job offer out of the blue from an Italian company.

What role did language skills play in your expat experience?
Language skills are essential to living here. I came here with no practical Italian or German experience, but with the promise of language classes. Visiting without knowing the language is OK, but after living here for a while, you become frustrated with yourself. You quickly find your limits when you can’t communicate with everyone.

Your biggest challenge:
Again the language. There are two spoken in this region, Italian and a German dialect. I didn’t think I would be such a slow learner. I thought I would pick them up pretty quickly as I lived here longer. But it’s turned out to be a long, slow process for me.

What did you do to feel at home or adapt here?
I bought milk and cereal. The lack of it was the only thing that was driving me crazy. Eating that every morning grounded me in a sense. Everything else just took some getting used to.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
Everything being closed in the evening, usually around 6 or 7p.m. I still think I can go to the grocery store after work.

Compare an aspect (or aspects) of your home town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town.
Everything is much cheaper (compared to Santa Barbara & San Francisco) – from food to rent. Other than that, it’s a lot like small town life. Much like where I grew up. And public transportation is much more accessible here.

Latest pursuits:
Visiting more castles. When you live in a place, you never really do anything touristy. I’ve been relaxing for far too many weekends.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is not true:
That they drink lots and lots of wine. While it is true, they drink a whole lot of beer too, which surprised me.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is true:
That Italian women are extremely beautiful. It’s true! =)

Your response/advice/warning to the following question: “I love Italy! I really want to live here, even though I don’t speak Italian or have a job.”
Learn Italian first. (Or is your love for Italy only halfhearted?) It will make everything much, much easier.
Personally, I wouldn’t move anywhere where I didn’t have a job or at least a good lead. Moving to a country where you don’t have a job visa and don’t know the language is insanity in my opinion.

How would you sum up your Italian experience in a word (and why)?
Eye-opening. (I think the hyphen officially makes that one word.) After coming here, I realize how much I had been taking for granted.

Italy’s best kept secret
I think it’s the Sudtirol/Alto Adige region. It’s a blend between the Germanic north and the Italian south. And this applies to language, culture, food, everything. The best of both worlds.

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Vatican Accepts Credit Card Donations — on Faith

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Pope John Paul II now accepts all major credit cards.
The Vatican in Rome recently entered the era of modern charity by accepting donations through credit cards. Security experts, however, criticized the fact that the Holy See asks donors to take such a large leap of faith — by sending credit card information via fax to Rome.

“You’re giving anyone the possibility to use your card information for fraud,” IT security consultant Martino Bana told zoomata. “It’s not just a question of trusting Vatican employees, but trusting that the info you send over the wire via fax won’t be intercepted. It doesn’t make sense.”

Donations to the Vatican still go through the Peter’s Pence office, named after a penny tax Catholics were forced to hand over in Medieval times. Today’s Church, however, collects more than a few coins in voluntary donations — last year’s take was nearly 53 million USD, up 1.80% from the previous year.

Mons. Ramón Castro of the Peter’s Pence office said the Vatican does not have plans to process credit card donations through the official web site and invited those concerned about security to send a check by mail instead. Vatican officials recently reported that the Pope’s virtual home is under constant attack by around 30 hackers every day and 10,000 viruses per month. Experts like Bana insist that the cost of installing and maintaining a secure server is the only safe way to donate by credit card. ©1999-2008 zoomata.com

Italian Genius Leonardo Da Vinci Invented Plastic?

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by Nicole Martinelli posted:Thu Oct. 2/2003 15:12 pm

Chalk up another one for Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci — he just may have invented plastic. A couple hundred years before Alexander Parkes debuted with man-made plastic at the 1862 Great International Exhibition, Leonardo had already developed a material similar to bakelite.

In addition to painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer and scientist, Leonardo may well be remembered as a jewelry maker and kitchenware designer. Professor Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in Vinci (Tuscany), has recreated some of the objects described in Leonardo’s copious notes — and they look strikingly like modern craft-fair baubles.

Leonardo, however, was working with intestines, cauliflower leaves, paper and plant dyes. His studies to create ‘a glass that doesn’t break when it hits the floor’ led him to discover materials he thought might suit for knife handles, chessboards, salt shakers, lanterns, pendants and necklaces.

Called ‘the man who wanted to know everything,’ Leonardo is credited with inventing the helicopter, parachute, a flying machine, machine guns and a tank. The plastic experiments, found by combing the Arundel, Forster and Atlantic codes, are likely just some of the lesser-known discoveries in the 5,000 surviving pages of Leonardo’s notes. ©1999-2008 zoomata.com

*images courtesy Museo Ideale of Vinci

Related resources:
www.museoleonardo.it

The Da Vinci Code

Italy’s Mini Baby Boom

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by Nicole Martinelli
posted Thu 11 Sept. 8:24 am

Northern Italy’s hospitals are overflowing with a bumper crop of newborn bambini after decades of low birth rates. Milan alone counted a record 2,000 stork visits in July and August, an 8% jump over 2002. After similar reports came in from the provinces of Venice and Piedmont, officials started scrambling to plan for this unexpected mini-boom in births.

“It’s an exciting piece of news,” said Dr. Guido Moro of Macedonio Melloni hospital in Milan. “The media bombarded us all summer long with the tragic news of elderly death rates caused by the heat — but there are hospitals very, very busy giving life.”

It’s a step in what may be a small turnaround in Italy’s dismal birth rates. The last data available, 2001, also showed a slight uptick — for the first time in almost a decade, the number of births were higher than deaths in the Bel Paese. The profile of less traditional mamma also factors in — officials said more mothers today are closer to age 40 than 30 and many are having children with a second partner, while foreign-born mothers account for 20% of the total.

Hard to say whether economic aid or the more or less constant pleas from the Vatican are having a significant effect on increasing Italian offspring. Towns throughout the country now offer ‘social subsidies’ that grow with the family. A typical program offers cash for the first five years of a child’s life, doubling for every sibling added to the family.

Some of the more whimsical initiatives honoring precious newborns are bound to cause trouble if the trend keeps up, especially if it doubles as predicted by 2013. Towns like Moretta, where the main square lights up for each new citizen could become a disco-strobe disaster. Or perhaps there’s a full-time job for a bard in Monza, where each family is sent a personalized poem marking the event.

The mayor of Venice is taking a more pragmatic approach to the first flood of babies La Serenissima has seen in decades. In a special conference, Paolo Costa congratulated local officials for holding up ‘under emergency’ but that it was time to plan for this new and rapidly growing population.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

Related resources:

Bilingual Baby: Italian

www.auguri.com/nascita.htm
Italian e-cards for new babies….

Italian Co. Seeks Ideal Breast — for Champagne Glass

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An Italian sparkling wine company has set out to find the perfect breast — to serve as a mold for a new champagne glass.

Family-run winery Pittaro is running a contest with twelve finalists demurely covered in semi-strategic grape leaves to promote a spumante. The one voted as having the ‘ideal breast’ will see her curves immortalized in Murano glass for these mammary-inspired limited edition goblets.

Fearing backlash for pushing taste boundaries in ergonomic design, family member Patrizia Pittaro was quick to declare her support for the contest, one that she feels women won’t find degrading. In a country where leading news magazines compete using naked women to illustrate cover stories, the publicity stunt has failed to raise much dust so far.

"Not really what you’d call good taste, OK, but offensive, not really" Irene Galviani, a 43-year-old teacher and self-defined ‘neo-feminist,’ told zoomata. "There’s nothing offensive to me about the shape of women’s breasts, it’s just a marketing ploy."

The contest is the brainchild of photographer Gianfranco Angelico Benvenuto, whose other noteworthy projects include a calendar of naked housewives. Benvenuto said the selection of the finalists was tough work — the rules imposed a strict silicone ban.

Over the centuries, legends tell of champagne cups molded on famous breasts — namely Marie Antoine, Madame du Pompadour, Madame du Barry and the Empress Josephine. All false — the basic champagne glass predates the famous Frenchwomen, so an Italian may be the first to actually become a mold.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingual journalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Mary Jane Cryan (Vetralla)

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Each month we introduce you to someone who has made the dream of picking up and moving to the Bel Paese a reality. In their own words they share the good parts, the bad parts and the just plain absurd moments of day-to-day life in Italy.
Looking to move to Italy?Try the reader-recommended Survivor Package If you live in Italy, we would love to hear your story–Contact form

ID Card:
Mary Jane Cryan, 50+, a tri-national,having been born in the US of Irish parents and gained Italian citizenship through marriage. An author and contributing writer for many well-known guidebooks. International education and tourism consultant, see her website , www.elegantetruria.com/book/book.htm. You can email her at: macryan@libero.it
Currently living in: Currently living in Vetralla, an ancient town near Viterbo, 68 kms north of Rome. (For more info:www.comune.vetralla.vt.it )

By way of: a native of Massachusetts, studied in Buffalo, NY then in Dublin, Ireland. Since 1965 in Italy, mostly in Rome, a year in Genoa, 3 years in Moscow.

How (or why) did you get here from there?
I was offered a position as a teacher in one of Rome?s international schools fresh out of college. I had met my future husband while studying in Dublin during junior year.

What role did language skills play in your experience?
Knowing I wanted to go to Rome , I took Italian classes during my last year of college and continued studying the language while teaching and eventually got my Laurea degree from an Italian university. Even after all these years I still speak with an accent . At home we often speak a mixed language-Itanglish-starting the sentence in one language and switching to the other half way through. In Moscow it was worse: ?Mamma, posso avere a glass of malako? is a a typical phrase-using the three languages we spoke Italian, English and Russian for the names of local things like milk, ice cream, etc.

Your biggest challenge: Restoring this old palazzo (there , I?m doing it again) and coping with the Italian and local bureaucracy : When my husband died suddenly I had to figure out all the intricate details by myself. It was a nightmare.

What did you do to feel at home or adapt here?
Living abroad and in international environments from a young age one learns how to make friends and adapt quickly to new places. Since I write guidebooks and ?how to? books about Italy I?ve had a double reason for learning about all phases of Italian life. For newcomers , remember its up to you to make the first move, invite people , introduce yourself, make yourself known in your new town.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
I must still get used to Italian politics and calcio which I find completely incomprehensible. The way the school system is run is also a mystery?as soon as I think I?ve figured it out, they change the rules.

Compare an aspect of your home town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town.
Living in a small town like Vetralla is so much easier than life in Rome and other metropolitan centers . Its perfect for someone my age and with my profession. I am in touch with the entire world and am able to write, publish , keep contacts with the entire world thanks to Internet. The lifestyle is more relaxed and its also much cheaper to live here.

Latest pursuits:
In Rome I was just one of many English-language writers, teachers. Here I am unique and have found my niche promoting the area known as Etruria through my books, website and travel consultancy.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is or is not true:
I believe that city-dwelling Italians, as I was for about 30 years, work harder and usually have a very stressful day due to traffic and crowded living conditions. The people here, only forty minutes north of Rome , have a more relaxed attitude towards life, as if they are living in a time warp, like Italy was 50 years ago. The family, local traditions and festivities are more important and people have more time to enjoy themselves.

Your response to the following question: “I really want to live here, but I don’t speak Italian or have a job. What do you think?”
My answer, Come for 2 weeks or 2 months each year and enjoy the good life. If you are set on coming to live here, buy a house here, etc. read as many books possible before making the decision.
Recently an Englishman who speaks very little Italian and is struggling with a house restoration project in my area said, ?If I had only found your book last May-how many headaches I would have saved myself!? Talk to many people before making decisions, everyone has had different experiences. And above all, learn the language .

How would you sum up your Italian experience in a word (and why)?
I wouldn?t trade my 30+ years here with anyone else?s life.

Italy’s best kept secret (music, culture, food, way to get round things)
The small towns in the Viterbese-Etruria area are still to be discovered by Romans and foreigners. They offer genuine Italian lifestyle, the province?s lowest real estate prices and are connected by train to Rome.

Italians Fight Flood of English Words

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Students of Italian may have an easier time using Italian newspapers to improve their understanding of the language thanks to the latest flood of neologisms from English. Italian journalists have coined 5,000 new words over the last five years, many of them come from English, according to a new book from the National Research Center (CNR).

Should an Italian casually offer, “Andiamo a drinkare una cosa al bar?” Chances are an English speaker with a minimal grasp of Italian will understand that a few cocktails are in the offing. And a pompous acquaintance going on about “glocalismo” or how he just bought shares in a “public utility” will be relatively easy to follow, as perhaps a friend who mentions a favorite “quizzone” or game show.

There is, however, a flip side to this trend — some of the new terms not based on English are incomprehensible to those outside Italy. A few examples? Describing that new coworker as a “cococo” isn’t a put-down, but just shorthand for the much-debated continuous collaboration contract. And what about celebrity labeled” attapirato?” Nothing tragic — they’ve been given the golden tapir award for some kind of dubious behavior from the country’s most-watched satirical show “Strip the News” (Striscia la notizia).

Not all Italians are enthusiastic about this hybrid language. Protests over the mix of Ital-English don’t come from the Accademia della Crusca, Europe’s oldest linguistic watchdog which has been notably silent about the growing number of foreign words in everyday Italian, but a group of Italian politicians and, yes, notable journalists who don’t like the way things are going. In a petition sent to Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, signers take umbrage with the transformation of the labor ministry (“ministero del lavoro”) now known as “ministero del Welfare” and the names of state TV Rai’s channels (Rai Educational, Rai News, etc.)

This is the first sign of resistance in an Anglophile country just getting around to protecting its national identity. According to statistics, Italian is one of the most studied languages on the planet, but for the first time this spring Italians inaugurated a national exhibit on their native tongue.
The exhibit at the Uffizi Gallery’s Reali Poste in Florence — which explores the roots of modern Italian as well as its intersections with foreign languages — is precisely the kind of horn-tooting celebration Italians strenuously avoid. It took 10 years to find enough interest and funds to put it together and may form the cornerstone of the first museum on the history of the Italian language. Slated to close in the end of September, the unexpected success of the exhibit prompted organizers to hold it over until Dec. 31 2003. Tutto OK, then. ?1999-2004 zoomata.com