Today, after a week of dealing almost daily with the Ufficio Anagrafe at Palazzo Signoria, I finally received a phone call while I was guiding a bike tour, advising me that my residency application had been approved and that I can go to the Comune to get my "Carta d'Identita"! I am officially a resident!
Applying for residency required my landlord to vouch for me with much legal documentation...a complicated process in itself and I am very thankful to him, since he didn't have to do that.
In addition, it was a circuitous 2 month process that required several trips to the Comune di Firenze to submit basically the same information to the same people multiple times. As an American Ex Pat, you must have patience, or you die. If one doesn't buy into that before deciding to live here, one doesn't belong in Italy. It takes a certain desire and a certain mental attitude, but moreso, a real understanding and appreciation of the culture. You have to overlook the bad to appreciate the good.
And finally, the Comune di Firenze had to perfom another step, since this is my first residence in Italy since becoming a citizen. They had to consult with the Comune di Lacco Ameno in Ishcia, to ensure that all of the birth, marriage and death certificates that I had to produce for my citizenship, had actually been received from the Ministero Italiano and that they are on file in the village of my great-grandfather's birth.
Forever, my lineage will be recorded in Lacco Ameno. A beautiful conclusion to the chain of events of the past year that have resulted in the unforseen but destined attainment of my Italian citizenship.
