Read what
other expats have to say about living in Italy
and how they did it.
Originally we kept all of the stories which we received
via our questionnaire on one big page
Expat Questionnaire
Results but this was a little too long to read.
Because of this the old page still stands but we will
now be adding a page for each interviewee on the site.
Here is our current list of interviews:
If you would like to start a
discussion on the forum about a story, you can do so
via our Instant Topic system by
clicking here.
For some other stories and points of views:
If you would like to help out someone
else, please fill out the Expat
Questionnaire
BLOGS
One of the great things that has begun in the past couple of years are
Blogs. A blog is a web log of someone's life. Expats use
this means of communication to keep in contact with their friends back
in their home country as well as a way to get things of their chests
(living in Italy creates a need for a place like this).
If you would like to know how life is living in Italy, then check out or
list of favorite expat blogs.
An American Girl in Italy (Lynda) -
http://americangirlinitaly.blogspot.com/
An American Girl in Italy (Sara) -
http://americaninitaly.blogspot.com/
An American in Italy (a military wife and her life) -
http://lorelielong.blogs.com/an_american_in_italy/
Barb & Art Live in Italy - Barb and Art have moved from Kentucky to
Umbria. These are their adventures. Barb describes herself as "Bossy,
opinionated, and impatient. Determined and stubborn. Quick tempered.
Fiscally conservative and politically liberal. A realist, not a dreamer.
A detail person and a planner. "
http://www.expatsinitaly.com/blog/barb
Casey, Italy and Other Good Things (Jane's Blog) - Who knows where this will lead?
Right now it's about the journey we are taking as we
plan a 9 month stay in Italy--but don't be surprised to
find an occasional sidetrack. Already we have found that
the Italian bureacracy has many quirks and
detours--somewhat like trying to find one's way through
an 18th century maze. But--we are determined to wend our
way to the prize at the end.
http://janeandken.blogspot.com/
Country Living in North West Italy - I have just come into
possesion a very old farmhouse, which I am calling Casa Vera, in
rememberance of my mother It's situated in the hilly Alte Langhe in
North West Italy although I'm living near Genoa on the Ligurian Riviera
at the moment. I would like to share my experience with anyone who is
interested in Italy, in old houses and family traditions
http://santavera.blogspot.com/
Deborah's Whatever it takes . . . I have a dream of an Italian adventure
in my near future. I'm not sure when, how are even where but this blog
is all about the process and challenges as this dream unfolds.
http://www.debking.com/italiablog
Eurobimbo's Journey to Enlightenment
– The Tuscany Files - In
March 2005 we packed our life into storage and moved from The O.C. (SoCal)
to Cortona, Italy with Porter the dog. I photoblog about the journey,
life in Italy, our always amusing misadventures and try to include
detailed information on the local area.
http://www.eurobimbo.vonbarkenhagen.com
Florence Journal - A travel and relocation journal for Florence
http://www.florence-journal.com/florence/
Gia-Gina in Italy - My name is Gia and Gina, hence the blog name. I met a
Roman, we fell in love, got married in Las Vegas in the back of a taxi
and moved to Italy. Follow our adventures and escapades and we try to
adjust to our new home. (He's been away for almost 20 years and I have
never been across this "pond".)
http://gia-gina.blogspot.com
EJOHNSTY A 27-year-old American TEFL teacher living in Italy.
http://ejohnsty.com/
If Not Now When? One American woman. Twenty acres and a 1650
farmhouse in Tuscany. Random introspection and hilarity, depending on
the day.
http://www.tuttivabene.blogspot.com/
Isabella's Adventure in Todi -
http://www.expatsinitaly.com/blogs/isabella
Italian Meat - I've been living on the Italian
economy for over a year now without any affiliation with
the military. A lot of people think this place is a true
paradise. Let me tell you how it really is...
http://italianmeat.blogspot.com/
Italy is Falling
http://www.italyisfalling.com/
Judith's Think on it - Just what I think day to day, and what I
cook, where I go, nothing all that much, really.
http://dirtpusher.blogspot.com/
Life in a Small Sicilian Town
http://www.wanderingsicilian.blogspot.com/
Live Cheap Make Art - Twenty-five years ago we recognized
the dream of living in Europe. Many years later and after much research
we find ourselves living in Italy and loving it. Follow our adventures
and mishaps in photos and story.
http://livecheapmakeart.blogspot.com/
Living in Florence - An American moves to Florence with her husband and
this is what happens . . .
http://www.melindagallo.com/blog/
Living Italy -
http://livingitaly.blogspot.com/
Living Venice and Beyond - Personal observations, information and the
occasional Instructions by author of
Italy, Instructions for Use Nan McElroy
http://livingveniceblog.com/
The View from Il Loggiono - Musing on Moving to the Val d'Orcia
http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/joanna/
Living in Florence - An American moves to Florence with her husband and
this is what happens . . .
http://www.melindagallo.com/blog/
Lori's Magician Nights -
http://magiciannites.blogspot.com/
Love Sicily's Blog - impressions of
living in South-East Sicily through food, architecture,
culture and people
http://www.lovesicily.com/blog/
My Life in Italy - About my life, and my opinions in general. I am
an American gal, originally from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, now living
in Busto Arsizio, Italy, near one of the fashion capitals of the world,
Milan with hopes of moving back to the good ol' USA, maybe Galveston, TX
http://amborg.blogspot.com/
Niccone Calling - Notes, and sometimes more, on the
journey that is Italia
http://www.expatsinitaly.com/blogs/bruce/index.html
Phase One, Where Doris gets her Oats- Blog about wanting to move to Italy, what we
went through and now that we are here, daily adventures!
http://diana-italy.blogspot.com/
Re-Boot A New Life in Italy - Four years ago I met "The Italian"
and we quickly became friends. After a few years (and tons of miles) we
became engaged. On November 4, 2004 I landed in Italy with two
frightened cats by my side. This is my new life in a very old country
http://reboot-anewlifeinitaly.blogspot.com/
Reverse Immigration - A couple of years ago, I went through all
this trouble and expense to get an American citizenship. Now, we are
moving to Italy (back for me, not so back for the husband), and this
weblog exists to chronicle the story of what that is going to be like.
We begin the odyssey on the Friday of the week I told my coworkers that
I was leaving
http://www.livejournal.com/users/qiqa/
Rik's Blog - Rik is a US citizen living abroad in the most
beautiful of places, Bella Italia. Ah, the pizza, the pasta, the wine,
the sun, the beaches, the mountains..
http://rikthib.blogspot.com/
Romanus Yankeeus aka A Yankee in Rome - Romanus Yankeeus
first came to Italy in Jan 1998 on a study abroad program only to return
in 1999 to work at the same university's study abroad program in
Florence. Then, in May 2002 he was to come back for what was supposed to
be a 2 week vacation and wound up meeting a beautiful Italian woman (God
help him) and landing a good job at a US firm, so, I guess one can
suppose it's fate. Well, now he has been sentenced to live in Rome for
at least the next couple of years, he shall certainly try to make the
best of it
http://romeyankee.blogspot.com/
Rome, If You Want To - An American born gives birth to a beautiful baby girl and moves with her husband to his hometown: the Eternal City of Rome, Italy.
http://www.romeifyouwantto.blogspot.com/
Rubber Slippers in Italy - It's a long, long way
from Hawaii to Italy. Living in the land of pasta,
pizza, and wine is everything that you might imagine,
but one thing remains true. You can take the girl out of
the island but you can't take the island out of the
girl.
http://www.rubbahslippahsinitaly.blogspot.com/
Stelle in Italia - Two eager American ragazze and their
adventures in Italy during the summer of 2003 (including
hail storms, exploding televisions, porcupines, homemade
ravioli, pipistrelli, and eight-pointed stars). "Niente
interesante succede MAI in Italia!" allora, aspetta!
UPDATE: We're back, blogging again although the summer
is definitely over. Jackie back in Macerata, Corrie
writing from the Hoosier state--the two American ragazze
are back, but writing from opposite corners of the
globe.
http://stelleinitalia.blogspot.com/
Venice Blog -
http://veniceblog.typepad.com/veniceblog/
A special note on blogs:
I used to have all of these blogs listed in my Links in Favorites.
Every morning I would click on each link to see if someone had posted.
As you can imagine by the quantity of blogs listed above, this took
quite a while on my slow dial-up. To ease my frustration with the
slowness, I set up an account at
Bloglines to receive feeds and then I set up a favorite link to
Sub With Bloglines.
This link sits in my menu bar and when I find a new blog I just have to
click the Sub with Bloglines link and it will set up a subscription to
that blog for me. Now I click on a link I set up on my menu bar
called My Blogs (http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs)
which is the address where all of your subscriptions lay. In this
it will show on the left column which blogs have been updated and if you
click on the title of the blog (still in the left column) it will bring
up the posts on the right. You can set it to only show the title
of the post, a partial clip of the post or the whole thing. It
makes browsing much easier. Now I seem to check in a couple of
times a day as it is so quick.
