Settling In

As we continued to unpack and put away dishes, books and clothing, we were also mindful that in less than a month, we were scheduled to go to Florence. We had rented, and paid for, an apartment there a year ago when we had yet to envision the fast track our plans would take. At that time, we thought we would use some of the month spent in the famous town, to look for property–hah! Now we would rather stay at home in Anghiari, but were committed to our reservation in Florence.

While still in Anghiari, we needed to take care of a few mundane matters like installing WiFi, finding a veterinarian for the dogs and a doctor for myself who could prescribe the daily dose of Synthroid. By this time, we had also made the decision to challenge the Miami consulate’s decision to deny us Elective Residency visas, and were in touch with the Italian lawyer we had asked to represent us. Exploring Anghiari and nearby areas was much more appealing than any of these tasks and we wanted to spare some time for that as well.

Out of all of these jobs, setting up WiFi was my most immediate concern. For this, we needed an antennista, the technician who would connect us to the system. Until that could be arranged, I sat on the steps outside our house and tapped into the WiFi of a nearby hotel to get onto the internet and into my email account. Not a very comfortable perch but it did serve the purpose and, incidentally, improved my greeting skills as neighbors and others walked by. In time, the antennista arrived, only to find that a large hornets’ nest in our attic prevented, or least discouraged, access. Before he could proceed the nest had to be removed, which proved to be surprisingly complicated. Bringing ladders and cans of spray was only the beginning. To attack the hornet’s nest, he needed permission from a neighbor to climb onto her roof in order to reach ours but she adamantly, and loudly, refused, fearing damage to the roof tiles. Thankfully, another neighbor acquiesced and, as far as I know, there was no damage to his roof. It would, however, be a month before Wifi was finally installed.

Because Grappelli was drooling regularly and a mouth check had revealed a sore spot, getting to a veterinarian was another priority. When we arrived at the small clinic, a Dutch couple who had brought a dog in for stitches were waiting for instructions before leaving. Since Terry spoke fluent Italian, the vet asked him to translate the information into English. Terry was, of course, happy to do it and I was happy that his language skills would help ensure a good connection with someone who would be important to us. When examining Grappelli, the vet found that a piece of tartar was causing the irritation so we scheduled a cleaning for a few days later. Unfortunately for poor Grappelli, the vet identified and pulled a couple of unsound teeth as well, so she returned home with fewer teeth and an anesthesia hangover.

For myself, finding and getting to a endocrinologist proved easy enough, but Synthroid is not available in Italy so, for the first time, I was prescribed a generic version. It is pretty well known among those planning to move to Italy that over the counter drugs are very expensive in Italy and one should bring a large supply of them when moving there. For prescription drugs, though, it isn’t possible to get a large supply and now we had learned that not all drugs commonly used in the states can be assumed to be available in Italy. In contrast, when Terry consulted with a pharmacologist regarding his daily medication he walked out with a supply on the spot.

Along with these tasks, we were replacing small appliances left behind in the U S with European compatible equivalents–a blender, a juicer, and, so important, a coffee maker. Terry loves cappuccino, so when we saw an elaborate device that could make all types of coffee we couldn’t resist adding it to our kitchen. We were eager to enjoy the brew from our fabulous machine but it clogged every time we tried to use it, leaving a wet mix of coffee and water in the clean out tray at the bottom–empty cups waiting to be filled saw not even a dribble of coffee. Although frustrated, I simply went back to using our French press. Terry, though was unwilling to give up a frothy, morning cappuccino and went each day to the nearby cafe to indulge. Terry eventually described our problem to the cafe owner, who offered to come by and give us a lesson. In just a few minutes he discovered the embarrassingly simple solution; the coffee beans should have been loaded into a receptacle at the back of the machine and we had been putting them into a small drawer meant for ground coffee. With that resolved, we could at last love our coffee maker; it warmed the cup, ground the beans, filled a cup with one of the several coffee choices, then rinsed itself. How amazing, and delicious.

Along with these routine matters, we continued to provide information to our lawyer regarding the challenge to the visa denial. Documents were collected and sent, questions answered and assurance given that we had a valid case for a challenge. The lawyer’s opinion derived from the fact that, under Italian law, a consulate must inform visa applicants of any deficiency that could cause a denial, allowing them the opportunity to correct or supplement information. Moreover, by July 11, when we received the denial citing failure to prove housing for a year, we had paid the full amount due on our property and sent the consulate receipts to verify it. A court date would be set for sometime around the middle or end of October, which unfortunately, put us past our allotted three months in Italy. By then we would already have left for a country outside the European Union, but we hoped that the court would decide in our favor and we would only have to be away for one month instead of three.