Category Archives: everyday life in Umbria

Corona virus 5

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The weekend was good. We went grocery shopping on Saturday, I prepared a Pranzo messicano for our Italian friends and we enjoyed ourselves.

Generally we are staying in our casa in the sky, looking out on the world. But as I’ve said before, we are a real backwater area. Umbria is not on the beaten path to start with, and we are very far north in the region, so not on any transportation routes. Things are pretty much as usual here. We’ve got a couple of upcoming meals out with friends this week. I feel we should be careful but not crazy about it. We will go to our market on Wednesday. I will buy food. I will wash it…and my hands, and try not to touch my face. Only time will tell now this will all shake out in the end.
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Horrible news out of Lombardia is that news of the shut down of the area was leaked to the public the night before it went into effect (Saturday). You should have seen the people getting out of town in the night. Half were in their PJs. And all trying to catch the last trains south…where they will spread it to areas that do not have good health care to begin with. Someone said, along the Tuscan coast, the towns look like it’s summertime with crowds of people. Because all the Milanese who fled Milan came and opened up their summer homes. Now, if they’d be responsible and self quarantine…but they are NOT doing that.
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So that’s the Corona virus news for today.. be safe, be well, wash your hands!

Corona virus 4

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Things are heating up in Italy, as everyone knows. Thanks for the comments and well wishes from all my friends!

Here in Umbria, as of yesterday, we have 24 cases a jump from 16 the day before. The schools are closed until April and all gatherings and events are canceled. This includes weddings, funerals and masses! We went grocery shopping yesterday and all seemed normal. No crazy panic buying. There did seem to be more people than usual but it was Saturday so… and Otherwise the bars are open. Restaurants open. The poor parents are going crazy I’m sure with the kids home.
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As for the national news. Italy has formally locked down more than a quarter of its population.

More than 5,800 cases have been confirmed in Italy, after an increase of more than 1,200 in a single 24-hour period. Two hundred and thirty-three people have died.

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree enacting forced quarantine for the region of Lombardy – home to more than 10 million people and the financial capital, Milan – and multiple other provinces, totalling around 16 million residents.

Affected provinces include Venice, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, and Treviso.
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And on the US front I hear my native Virginia has a case. Washington DC, and Maryland all have cases. As I suspected the strategy of the government was to pretend it wasn’t there. What you don’t know can’t be counted. Therefore it looks like the US is safe. But like a little kid, hiding behind his hand, because if he can’t see it, it isn’t there, the US plan is dangerously flawed.
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Strange days for us all. Stay safe everyone!
Stay tuned for updates.

Corona virus 3

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We had to visit the big Perugia hospital today. Luther needed some stitches removed. While we were waiting the entire hospital went on lock down. We were in a waiting room but all the internal doors were auto-locked. Turns out there was a hospital wide meeting to explain all the new corona virus protocols to the staff. After 3 hours Luther got his stitches out. I admit, as the waiting room got more and more crowded I got more and more uncomfortable. So I left Luther to wait and I went to the car. I was so glad to get outside in the cold crisp air. I breathed deep. I’m sure it was all in my mind but I couldn’t wait to get out of there!

New notices.
Things change quickly. Today they closed all schools in all of Italy until March 15 at the earliest. All soccer games and sports matches, concerts, conventions, gatherings of any sort are cancelled until further notice.

Other news
On the radio we heard them suggest all elderly people (in the north this means over 65) remain in their homes. Also in the north (in the areas with large outbreaks) they are mandating one meter distance between customers in bars and stores. Also they have a four person limit in stores. So people line up outside keeping one or two meters between each other. And worst of all…no double kissing, hugging, or handshaking. This is darn near impossible for Italians! Un disastro.

Still, life goes on here in Umbria. Now, no gatherings, no school, but here it’s business as usual in Bar Mary downstairs. 🙂

Stay safe.

Corona Virus 2

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We now have a few cases of the Virus here in Umbria. A family self quarantining itself in Città della Pieve on the far west side near Tuscany, one in Todi, to the south, one in Foligno, and two others in small towns south of Perugia. I do not personally know of any closures.

We are starting to feel it here in other ways. The Questura is not processing the Permessi di Soggiorno that we need to stay here. Supposedly we will get extensions. This is impacting the fact we were going to try for the long term permits. Not sure what we will do now.

Airlines are not flying into the northern airports near the red zones but Rome and Naples are fine. The people who are flying places, so far are not hitting any problems. But many people are canceling their trips here. It will have a devastating impact on the Italian economy 😢. The news from the US makes me think it will be no safer there than here as this thing runs its course.

Stay safe everyone!

Corona Virus

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Since this all over the news I thought I’d do a quick update. There have been 60 new cases in the past 24 hours in Lombardia. Also two cases in Florence and one in Palermo. These are the first in Tuscany and Sicily.  Total cases nearing 300. Seven people have died, all of them elderly or with compromised immune systems. The provinces affected are closing schools and canceling events. They are advising people with symptoms to not go to the emergency room but call their doctor or the health department.

People here in Umbria seem calm and nothing has changed. We have had no reported cases. But that could change. Some areas are reporting runs on food and water. We went shopping today and it was quiet and the store was fully stocked. So all is well in our region for now.

Sunset

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I posted this picture in Facebook but it is just so amazing, and I know a lot of people aren’t on Facebook, so I decided to post it on here too. It was like the world was aflame. And on Facebook everyone anywhere near here seemed to be posting their own pictures. Here is mine!

 

Springtime walk and Kilometer zero market – late February

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I’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve been having by going on walks and (of course) visiting our little Saturday market. It has been brisk but sunny and blue skies. Late afternoons feel like spring. Too early but I shouldn’t complain. I snapped a few photos. First the walk.

Sky is so blue with stark branches.

Reflections. Our little town – Umbertide.

A small road heads along The Tiber river. It was the ancient Roman road through this valley. This is a quintessential Umbrian view. Umbrella pines, cypress’, brilliant green winter wheat in the fields.

And the kilometer zero market today.

Apples.

We have a baker who comes every week from Panicale. It’s a sweet hill town south of Lago Trasimeno. They love the whole grains and lots of seeds! I struck up a conversation with the woman, who is German.

The winter greens abound.

There are two local cheese makers. This one makes fresh ricotta and yogurt.

Primroses.

Winter salad. I bought some. We’ll see how it is.

March is usually when the spring flowers really pop out here. I’m looking forward to it!

Permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo – part 3

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So… this week we did several things in pursuit of our Cartas.

Monday we visited the Agencia il Corriere. It is advertised as an auto and boat agency to facilitate all things legal, like titles and registration. It also helps with drivers licenses and we could have probably used them to convert ours had we known about them. We had thought we’d need to go to Perugia for this Police report. But the nice Policeman we visited last week told us about this agency and that they also do things like help get police reports! Who would’ve known that!? So we initiated that process. I’d pay just about anything to avoid going to the madhouse that is Perugia. We should get them next Monday.

Then Luther wrote to our Commercialista to get proof of our having paid our taxes since we’ve been here. That arrived in an email on Wednesday.

Today, we went to the Anagrafe in our Comune to get the CERTIFICATO CONTESTUALE, or family status certification. That was super easy and cost two €16 tax stamps or Marche da Bolla. Plus €1.04.

Since we were there we decided to convert our old style Carta d’Identite to the new electronic cards. This cost €27 each plus photos, fingerprints etc. We should get them in the mail.

So that’s three out of four things we need. The last thing is a Housing Certification or a certificate of habitability. We had thought this “could” be the long pole in the tent as they say. We noticed our deed mentions we do not have this certification. And it says, due to the age of the building. (!) Uh oh. So I decided to write our realtor, who knows just about everything real estate related, and ask him. Well, he replied that this is true, our house is in the Centro Storico, or historical center of town. This part of town is ancient and because of this it gets a pass. I guess we will highlight this passage on our deed and hope they accept it.

Stay tuned!

Permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo – part 2

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So yesterday we went to the polizia here in Umbertide to enquire about how to get the certificates we need. Sadly we have to go to Perugia. We have vague directions. Sigh.

Then we met with our avvocato. Sr. Rossi seems nice and speaks good English which helps some. He explained we should just apply on our own as normal and if we are turned down we will file in the Administrative Court Of Umbria (TAR UMBRIA) to contest the decision. It will cost around €1500 plus court costs and take around 1 1/2 years or so. Sigh.

On the bright side we managed to get our health care renewed. Always problematic as we must wait for the US Embassy to send our stamped social security statements before we can pay the fee to renew. All done. And we chose a new doctor. Dottoressa Lorenza Medici. Good name!
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To catch up with a few things from the last week or two…

Lunch at Calagrana with a bunch of friends. Picture of little Pelegrino, a twin whose mother rejected him. He is being bottle fed and is cute as can be.

And today is February 1! We got past the long cold month of January. Look what I saw on my trip to the grocery store!

Here we go again!

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More legal shenanigans! A brand new adventure.

As some of you know, I always document the legal ins and outs of living here. We are just beginning to embark on our new adventure. Since 2014 we have been applying for, and waiting interminably to receive, our annual Permessi di Soggiorno. It is a lot of work and time and also money and not something we enjoy or look forward to doing. Our Permessi expire on the anniversary of the day we arrived in Italy…June 26. So in around February every year we have to gather up all the documents and photos for a new one. We also have to visit the Poste Italiene to pick up the Yellow Packet for Stranieri which is the module we fill out and send in.

This year is different. This year we have been living here for more than 5 years. We are on our 6th Permesso and we were official residents for a total of five years on December 31, 2019. This means we are allowed to apply for Permesso di Soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo (ex carta di soggiorno) – elective residence. This is a PERMANENT permit to stay in Italy. And, as you imagine there are many more forms needed to apply for this as well. We have just begun the process today. I don’t know of what interest this will be to people reading this blog but if any of you are getting close to living here five years here is a list of what you need besides the normal renewal documents.

  • Police Report – Certification from the Clerk of the Court (Tribunale). There are two certifications for each of us. One is whether there is a record of a criminal conviction and the second is a certification there are no pending actions against us for criminal violations. CERTIFICATO GENERALE DEL CASELLARIO GUIDIZIALE and CERTIFICATO DEI CARICHI PENALI PENDENTI. You can download the form from this link. Casellario Giudiziale There is also a fee and you will want to enquire on that and whether you need to bring the ubiquitous Bolleto Valore in 16 Euro denominations. The document tax stamp.
  • Housing certification – We visited the office of our Geometra who did the work on our house for this one. We will need documents proving the property is habitable including electrical, plumbing, heating etc. If you rent your landlord, hopefully will help you obtain this.
  • Family Status Certification – This you get from the Anagrafe, the registry office for your area. That is a CERTIFICATO CONTESTUALE. More Bolleti Valori 16 Euros each plus issuing fee.
  • Italian Tax Payment – You must prove you’ve been paying Italian income tax on your income. We use an Italian tax accountant, Commercista, to do our taxes. We will ask her to write a memo certifying that taxes have been paid for the current and prior years. If you aren’t paying taxes in Italy, you won’t be able to get this Carta. Thankfully we are scrupulous about doing everything by the book here, including paying the onerous taxes.

The above are items to be added to all the normal documents that you include. You fill out and submit the same yellow packet except this time you check “Carta di Soggiorno”.

I will keep you updated as we move through this new process. We will be a test case for all our fellow American Expats living here in Umbria on the Elective Residence Visa. We know no one here who has gotten this permanent permit. It is the law and I know of people elsewhere who have gotten it but lest you forget, the bureaucrats make up the rules arbitrarily. A quote from the person who shared all the above information with me (thanks Larry)….”After six years, we suspect your experience with the bureaucracy is probably like everyone else’s. It is idiosyncratic to use a polite term. Local officials seem to take pleasure in interpreting the stated requirements to their own delight. Following the packet instructions carefully and having everything lined up will get you to your first appointment at the Questura. That’s when you find out what they may additionally want in the way of documentation.”

Just in case, we’ve retained the services of an Avvocato (lawyer). Carlo Rossi. We hope, should we need him he will accompany us to appointments and represent us if we need to contest the decision. We meet him tomorrow.