DDP

has anyone read this book by David Eidlestein? I recently bought it from Amazon as it detailed the author's life from 2001 to 2013 in Montottone in Le Marche. It does paint a somewhat dismal view of their time there, although one of the problems the author states was that they were not full-time residents and so not able to nip problems in the bud. However, they seem to have had many problems, from infestations of hornets, problems with paying their ICI to the commune, Banca Marche, access to the house, red tape, TIM etc. The author acknowledges the often surprisingly wonderful help they did get from some locals and small firms, but overall I found it rather depressing, as did the author and his wife. I just wondered if they had a particularly bad experience and what other ex-pats thought of this view of life in Italy?
thanks to all

Geordieborn

I assume the person has left? Many, many similar stories from lots of people in the same boat that find "reasons" to leave because for one reason or another it's not for them. We read a long time back (10 years plus) when we were researching living here that the average time people last is under 7 years! Surprisingly to us most we know who have left have not lasted that long. I'm not knocking the guy, it's just that so many end up like this and with a lot of them (including us to some extent) they go in with those "rose" glasses and to be frank we are too English for Italy.

philat98

Rather than spending 12 years in a remote village it might be good to make a grand regional tour of Italy spending say 6 months in Liguria, Veneto, Tuscany, Campania, Puglia and Sicily. There is so much to see in each region and after 3 years you would know whether you liked the place.

ononno

Well I've spent nearly 55 years here now, British English to the core. A hell of a lot of rough, but much much more smooth. I want to die here.
Ta'ra for now,
'o nonno

Capo Boi

jonwel

Perhaps I'll have a read of it. But an enormous amount depends on personal experience. I get the impression that some Brits try to settle in Italy hoping to live as full-time tourists in a picturesque house in a picturescque setting, rather than experiencing how a normal Italian family, maybe in a city like Milan or Bologna, lives day to day. It's interesting that most of the experience that DDP quotes is about the authorities, red tape etc. (although I don't know if this is a balanced view of the content). What about relations with neighbours and friends?
In 42 years I've found rough and smooth, but in general I agree with 'o nonno: more smooth than rough. I came to Italy with the intention of working a few months and then going back to the UK. Things then developed, not always uniformly, but I stayed. I've been happily part of an Italian family for th past 22 years and have no intention of returning.

By the way, why does everyone translate "il comune" as "the commune"? Anything to do with the Paris Commune, 1871? No, it's what we call the Council in English!

ononno

I think most people are thinking of il comune as the town hall?

jonwel

Yes, the town hall (I had to go to the Town Hall this morning) or the Council (a man came from the Council this morning). But not the Commune - it makes me think of either the historic revolutionary ones or a commune of hippies!

carcajou

They did it for 12 years, that's a good run and perhaps things just ran their course/fizzled out for them.

I do agree that many people move to Italy thinking they will be perpetual tourists.

Ultimately however the level of language skill and number of immediate relatives in the area go a long way to integrating/"making it" etc. The perpetual tourist thing gets old really fast, and then you're just an outsider with limited language skills, nobody you know well around, and little prospects of that ever changing.

I really think the language thing gets seriously underestimated by most new arrivals. There's "tourist Italian" and then there's the level you need to be at to deeply function in everyday life, which takes years and years of full-time study. It's not something that can be done in a few weekend courses. That, and the above paragraph, are not Italy-specific, it happens the world over.

I also think there comes some social cache back in the UK with saying "I have a weekender in Italy/South of France/Spain" and people go for that without fully considering how they will utilise it or the economic suck-hole it can easily become. I live in a part of Australia with a lot of holiday homes - one after another, constantly dark, the town is rarely more than 1/3 full - and the saying here is, the third-happiest day of your life is when you buy a holiday home, and the second-happiest day of your life is when you sell it.

My wife is from Northern Italy so when we go (and we go at least once per year), I am always with someone who has native language skills, and I get there with a built-in family and social structure I can co-opt into. It does make a big difference.