Name: Tom Testa
Date of Interview: April 13, 2007
Area of Italy you will live in?
Toscana
Let us know a little about yourself?
I am primarily an architectural designer, then craftsmen, artisan, cabinet maker , tiler, finish carpenter, whatever. I do it all. I have lived in the states for most of my life between the suburbs of New York City and Vermont. My wife and I will be relocating to Italy as soon as possible. She is in the process of obtaining her citizenship as well and we are ready to make the move. We have been 'cleaning house'in preparation and will be in Italy on April 27 to look for rental properties and to conduct various other business.
Why have you decided to move to Italy?
I have had an inherent desire to move to Italy for quite some time, probable for the same reasons everyone else has...........the surfing. In fact I have rented various apartments over the past 20 years in Italy and have already experienced living there and now that I have dual citizenship the prospects of sustaining an existence have gotten easier. I hope anyway? I have been back and forth some thirty five times, and have also studied the language in Padova years ago. I've aquired numerous frienships along the way not to mention established relations with numerous relatives in Prato and other regions.
What type of process did you go through to be able to move here?
About 4 years ago I started the process to obtain dual citizenship. It wasn't as bad of an experience as I was led to believe. Generally if you anticipate chaos, frustration and drama, be polite and make light of the process, it eventual gets done. It could very well be the first test of will to see if you are in fact ready to live with the renowned Italian bureaucracy. Its all about one self ability to cope! Anyway all my info was procured via the internet, I obtained my great grandfathers and grandmothers birth and marriage certificates from Italy, and with those in hand, I was able to gather the rest of the necessary documents in the states, being fortunate also that my great grandfather was naturalized well after he had children. It was a lengthy process, a few correction with name inconsistencies and then one day, one month ago, voila
What problems did you run into during the initial process and how were
you able to fix them ?
Basically it was the inconsistencies of names from one document to another that had to be corrected and validated.
If you haven't gotten here yet, what steps are you in the process of ?
We will be arriving in Italy on April 27 to look for a home to rent and have been tying up ends in the states in preparation for the split.
