Another milestone is reached: My carta d'identitá is in hand

Happy day! I finally have my Italian carta d'identitá. After having struggled in the past to get my citizenship, passport and codice fiscale, the carta came as an anticlimax; it was just too easy. But I’m not complaining.

After I located a foto tessera booth in Chiesina Uzzanese (thanks for the advice, Luca) and paid 5 euro to get three correctly sized photos taken, I went to the municipio in Montecarlo, gave the clerk my photos, paid another 5.42 euros, waited about 10 minutes and walked out the door with my proof of residence.

What hurdles still await me? Probably next year I’ll figure out how to get signed up for the health care system and have a doctor assigned to me. I have the electric and water bills set up for auto payment, but I still need to figure out how to do this for the gas. We need to get Lucy’s Italian citizenship; that will be done in the Italian consulate in San Francisco. I need to see if I can set up an auto payment for property taxes. That’s about it.

With most of the logistical issues behind us, we can fully enjoy the peace and beauty of being in Tuscany. Now the next major decisions I will face are just these: fruit juice, water, red wine or white wine with dinner tonight? Pasta with pesto, or with ragú?