Unanchored
Is Florence still my home? Of late, I wake several times a night, gripped by something I’m still unable to name. Is it solitude? Worry? Fear? Regret? Restlessness? I look out my window and stare at the darkness, hopeful for answers that never come. If I’m lucky, I get a little call from a particularly […]
You Get What You Pay For: Underconsumption, Minimalism, and Cultural Contaminations
Chi più spende meno spende For years, and I mean years, there were limited options in Italy when it came to shopping. You had to frequent small boutiques, of course there were national chains like Benetton and a few large department stores, but there were wasn’t even a mall near Florence. Many years ago a […]
Beyond the Sea
On Italian Beach Culture Italian beach culture can be a bit of a mystery for first time visitors. There are, of course, free beaches (usually you pay for parking only), but many beachgoers across the peninsula opt for the comfort of stabilimenti balneari, beach resorts, or at least they did so in the past. Typically, […]
Turning Points: On Raising a Bicultural Child
When I moved definitively to Italy at the age of 28 I wasn’t really thinking about having a baby. I was in love and trying to find gainful employment which was as hard then as it is now. I got married a year later, we bought our first apartment, and I began my career at […]
September, full of promise
A typical Italian high schooler’s stack of books. Dictionaries not pictured. Back to School, il rientro/ritorno a scuola First things first, back to school happens later here in Italy than in the majority of US States. While I write this, Florence is fairly empty, there is little traffic, and people are definitely still at […]
Croce e delizia, a blessing and a curse: On chosen exile, place and home
Road Trip! “Expatriates voluntarily live in an alien country, usually for personal or social reasons. Hemingway and Fitzgerald were not forced to live in France. Expatriates may share in the solitude and estrangement of exile, but they do not suffer under its rigid proscriptions.” Edward W. Said, Reflections on Exile I have been back in the […]
Taxing Italy
Demystifying the process of filing tax returns in two countries 🥸 As a US expat parent living in Italy with minor dependents am I eligible for the US child tax benefit? It’s April and that means one thing for those of us from the United States, it’s time to file your tax return! Let’s be […]