Fammi una Domanda - April 2025
Do you really want to move to Italy?
One of the many reasons we moved to Venice is because I hate to drive. Mark loves to drive but he has no interest in ever owning a car again. That’s what rental cars are for. For most of the years we lived in Rome we had diplomatic privileges that meant we could use our Tennessee driver’s licenses and did not have to get Italian ones. Those privileges disappeared with his retirement and now we must go through all of the slow complicated steps that being an immigrant requires. We established residency in Venice. We just made our request at the post office for an appointment with the Questura to renew our Permesso di Soggiorno, the document that allows us to live in Italy.1 The most arduous step is getting an Italian drivers license. If you are American you must start at the very beginning, just like an Italian 18 year old who has never driven a car before. The test is in 2 parts. First is a notoriously difficult and tricky theory test. Once you pass the theory test you can take driving lessons and only THEN you can take the driving test. There are still all kinds of restrictions for literal YEARS before you are considered a fully licensed driver. It doesn’t matter if you have been driving for FIFTY years.2 Mark spent pretty much every free moment since January either in a class at the driving school on Lido or studying for his theory test at one of the libraries in Venice. Reader, he passed with only a single wrong answer! And yes, he got the question about whether eating a big meal that’s hard to digest affects your concentration and ability to drive. He has taken a few driving lessons on Lido already and will move to some terraferma driving in May.
Where should we go on our first road trip? The Prosecco hills? Aquileia to see Roman mosaics? Who am I kidding? Our first road trip will probably be to the hardware store.
The eyes of the world will be on Rome and Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Francis and the Conclave that follows.
is who I am watching for all the on the ground details. I hope Anderson Cooper stays in town too. If you haven’t watched Conclave. you should do that. It’s gorgeous and has Isabella Rossellini in it. The Nanni Moretti film Habemus Papum (We Have a Pope) is delightful. I am a big fan of Paolo Sorrentino’s storytelling.
Do you have questions about moving to Italy? Or what to do in Venice or Rome in May? Paid subscribers have access to the comments section to ask me questions.