I walked into the waiting room and could barely hold back my tears. “What happened?” my father asked. “I can’t talk about it. Let’s go,” I said. We walked out of the Italian consulate of New York into a cold February day. My father, like most men, struggled with how to handle my tears. Did…
Category: Italian Citizenship
Becoming Italian Part 5: Approaching the Finish Line. . .
I pulled the pile of papers off the bookshelf then opened my computer to the page that listed the requirements. My heart pounded in my chest as I made a checklist. I had done all the work, and now I just wanted to check once more that I had everything I needed all in one…
Becoming Italian Part 4: The Locals
(Originally posted January 7, 2017) The first time I took Michael to New York to meet my family was on the occasion of Grandma Gallo’s 90th birthday party (March, 2014). “How many people will be at this party?” he asked. “I don’t know. Fifty?” “Fifty?” “Well, her four kids, and their spouses. That’s eight. Then…
Becoming Italian Part 3: The Marathon Round
On April 2, 2015, I got the official letter from US Customs and Immigration stating that my great-grandfather, Luigi Gallo, never became an American citizen. I couldn’t believe I held, in my hands, the document that could be my ticket to getting my very own Italian passport! “Why might one want an Italian passport?” you…
Becoming Italian Part 2: The Qualification Round
Not everybody can become an Italian citizen. Lots of Americans have parents, grandparents, great-grandparents who were born in Italy. But it is not by birth alone that one qualifies. You are only eligible if the relative from Italy was not an American citizen at the time of the birth (in America) of the next descendent….
Learning Italian?
“My husband and I, for the month of August, are only speaking to each other in Spanish,” said a woman in my Friday walking group. “Well today is August fifth,“ one of the other women said. “How’s it going?“ “Well, we haven’t said anything to each other yet today!“ — I had heard before that…
An EU Passport? Yes, please. (Becoming Italian: Part 1)
When my boyfriend Michael first proposed we go live in Europe for a while, he wanted to go for a year. “But there’s one thing stopping us from doing that,” he said. “What’s that?” I asked. “You like your family too much to be away from them for that long.” I looked at him incredulously. While this…
RenaissanceRebecca 