About
About this site and me, the longer version
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When people hear I have a house in Italy, they almost invariably say how they envy me. And why not? Heck, I envy myself when I’m not too busy weeping and gnashing my teeth over things that I’ve done wrong and will do wrong and could go wrong. When I forget that I have no circle of friends there and will only lose my language skills as I age and then will be retiring in a foreign country where I’m increasingly isolated and confused by everything and won’t get any social services unless I can get that damned elective residency status and what in God’s name am I doing in Abruzzo?
But I do sometimes manage to forget all that, or, to borrow from another American lady landowner, to decide that “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
I bought the house planning to spend half the year there when I retired. In the meantime, my vacations tend to be staycations, with detours into other parts of Italy. I usually fly in and out of Rome and spend a day in that city on either end. I go several times each year, so in a sense am always still a tourist — even in my own house.
I’ve visited Italy more times than I can count, but there’s plenty I haven’t seen and still hope to. My love of the country endures, even if I’m no longer entirely smitten by everything I see and hear there.
This site will be a patchwork: of my experiences with home ownership, slices of life inside and outside that home, and travel dispatches; of oddball characters and curiosities; of things I know and understand or don’t know and don’t understand; of my ruminations, roamings, and ravings.
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a place in Italy, this site might at times heighten that feeling, at times cure it.
If you already do own one there, I hope we’ll find each other.
And if you’re just a fellow traveler summoned by the siren song of this country, I hope you’ll find here something interesting or entertaining or helpful to guide your next visit.
Whichever kind of part-time Italian you may be, I’d love to hear from you.
—Kathryn Casey