Ask me anything July edition

+ One of Rome's best air conditioned museums

At last! We finally got the green check on the Polizia di Stato website. On a blisteringly hot afternoon last week, we picked up our permesso di soggiorno (the Italian version of a green card) from the Questura right around the corner from the Pantheon. We can stay in Italy (and travel in Europe!) until June 2025. Then we have to do the whole process all over again.

At the beginning of the month, I spent three weeks at home? in Tennessee. It had been almost two years since my last visit to the US. I found America to be bewildering and frictionless. People are so universally and aggressively friendly. I am thrown by the breezy chatting in the aisles of the grocery store and Target. On the one hand, so much about everyday life is easy. There is plenty of parking and ice and air conditioning. The unpleasant admin I had to do at the bank and with lawyers was swift and straightforward. On the other hand, I found life to be eye-wateringly expensive compared to my life in Italy. A brief data point that might help with your Italy vacation planning budget; A few days of hotels, rental cars, meals, and drinks in nearby Nashville cost more than three weeks in Ponza.

Now we are in Venice. Not quite in our house, but in (another) temporary apartment in the neighborhood. We spent our first jet-lagged days (a reminder that the Timeshifter app is magic) at the beach on nearby Lido and we celebrated our first real Redentore in style with an hour-long gondola ride through the canals followed by watching almost an hour of fireworks from our prime viewing spot right in front of Piazza San Marco. It was also our 30th wedding anniversary. There has been a lot to celebrate this summer. Hopefully, our months of limbo and living out of suitcases are coming to an end and I will be camping out in my own house very soon.

Did you see my interview with

The Real Emily in Paris

?

Despite the chaos and the mind-melting heat, I have also managed to show clients around Rome and have a few Rome/Venice/Ponza planning phone calls. If you have any questions about how that works ask in the comments or get in touch at gillianknowsbest@gmail.com.