Hello Everyone/Ciao Tutti: I think and I hope that I am one day able to live in Italy. When I was 17 I was lucky enough to get to travel to Italy to visit a relative that was living in Florence at the time.

I felt at home immediately in Italy. More comfortable there than I have ever felt here in the states where I have lived my whole life.

Always hoping and wanting to return to Italy after coming home to go to school I did return 10 years later. I was able to spend a summer and again very much felt at home there.

Each time I returned to the U.S. I felt very homesick for Italy. Don't ask me why I kept returning to the states because I don't really know.

I felt for years I would never make it back to Italy. And then unexpectedly I was required to go with my employer to a trade show and when in Florence I felt like I was returning to a place I had always known.

And then again, a year later, I had a chance to meet up with friends who were vacationing in Tuscany and I spent a few weeks there.

I would really love to arrange my life in a way that I can at least live 6 months out of the year in Italy, if not permanently. I have no idea what working opportunities there are for non-Italians. But I know I will have to work in order to live, so I hope to learn from this forum if it will at all be possible for me to make this happen.

I have been making my living as a graphic designer but am always looking for new directions and shifts in survival if necessary.

This introduction was long I guess. Hope somebody reads it.

I look forward to communicating and participating in this forum.

Hi Amelia
About work you can try at this page
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/moving/work-in-italy.asp
It is connected to Jobrapido wich is a job offer aggregator. In any case I think you could telecommute from Italy as a graphic designer you can also freelance. I would live the business US based anyway since the tax system in Italy is absolutely crazy. The studied a system where is vitually impossible to obey all the rules and make a profitable business.
By the way there is a town in Umbria called Amelia, quite a nice town to live I think.

Paolo

Thank you Paolo: I'll try that website. And that is very interesting about having a business in Italy. I have a freind who is a designer/digital artist and she is trying to establish herself in France. I wonder if she will encounter the same kind of problems.

Hello to all. I am half Italian and half English. I live in a lovely village called Amelia in the south of Umbria. My English mother left me a country house that also has cottages for rental. I live on the property and work in Rome, but during the summer I am very happy to have guests staying with me. If you need a place to stop over in Umbria please contact me.
I think Italy is a fantastic place, if only Italians loved thier country more.
Take care.

Paolo already told you that there is a place in Italya called Amelia.

Ciao Flavia, My name is Raimondo Salomone. I read your post with much interest. I am hoping to find an arrangment where I can work during the olive harvest and stay at the home for free. Are you or anyone you know interested in this? I am a novelist and my plan is to find a story line connected with this experience to write about.
I look forward to hearing from you and from someone who feels displaced here in the states, you should know how jealous I am of you!!

Raimondo Salomone
Author of PEACE BE WITH YOU

Hello to all. I am new to your community. I have been doing some research for a new project I am undertaking and I have fallen in love with your words and your sense of community here on this forum. I am from the eastern U.S. and am planning a trip to Italy in perhaps a year or two. I am a professional nurse but am working on some new things in which I would like to come to Italy to do some ancestry research. Any suggestions as to what my first destination should be? I will probably only have two weeks to spend my first visit and I don't want it to be research related. I want to get the feel for the country and the sites, tastes, smells of Italy. As far as learning the language, any suggestions as to online courses or tapes that are helpful. I am grateful to be a participant in your community as I have much to learn and am very eager to get started. Thanks! Gratzi:)

Welcome to the forum, Amelia, and all the other new members who have posted on this thread! Benvenuti a tutti voi! ;)

ciao, hello everyone, I'm claire. I'm really interested about the real estate business in Italy... i hope you share your insights with me here in this forum!:D

As far as learning the language, any suggestions as to online courses or tapes that are helpful. I am grateful to be a participant in your community as I have much to learn and am very eager to get started. Thanks! Gratzi:)



Ciao Pulsione,

You are very fortunate to be able to go and stay in Italy....here are a few pointers that you may find of help.

First you may like to head over to the thread on Italian language on this forum, make a post there asking questions. You might also like to check out the thread (http://my.lifeinitaly.com/showthread.php?t=23) here for some tips.


Secondly there are a few links on this site itself that are useful for very basic Italian:

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/italian/

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/italian/learn-2.asp (http://www.lifeinitaly.com/italian/)



A few online courses are useful, most are quite expensive. For a beginner's course, you could check out http://learningitalian.regalbuilt.com/


I also have the "living Language" series of Italian dictionary and conversational Italian, which are small enough and simple enough for a beginner. Let me know if any of this helps and if you have any other queries. I have now joined a full-term Italian course, but found all these links and tips useful in the beginning.

ci vediamo,
Bubbles