There are some things about the southern California area that Tania misses, but she and her husband don't regret their decision to move to Cortona in Tuscany, Italy. Town life there is interesting and they're learning more and more about the local culture each day. Here, Tania talks about the businesses that occupy her time, as well as some of what they had to go through to move to Italy. She also gives very wise advice on what to consider if you're thinking about becoming an expat.

Tania von Barkenhagen

March 06 2007

-Where were you born?

Washington State, USA, but I lived in the southern California area for 20 years.

-In which country and city are you living now?
Cortona, a little hilltop town located in southern Tuscany, Italy.

-Are you living alone or with your family?
I live here with my husband and our dog, Porter.

-How long have you been living in Italy?
Since March 2005

-What is your age?
38

-When did you come up with the idea of living in Italy?
I am half-Italian and spent most of my life coming here once a year to visit my relatives in northern Italy. My dream was to always live abroad and I fell in love with the Tuscan countryside. When my husband and I were first dating I brought him to Europe to see if he was as passionate about traveling as I was, and luckily he was. After many travels together all over the world, he shared my desire to spend a year in Tuscany and after 5 years of trying desperately to make it work, we finally made the move of a lifetime, put our entire life into storage, packaged up our necessities and Porter the dog and moved to Cortona!

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
Hard? How about almost impossible?! As they say, if it was easier there would be a LOT more expats living here! I guess it helps weed out the weak ones. We were actually turned down by the Los Angeles consulate because, as they stated, we were too “young” for the elective visa we were applying for. They mailed us a letter denying our request for a visa 7 days before we were flying to Italy! At that point all our life was in boxes, we had to vacate our rental in 7 days, I had closed down my consulting business, we had already signed a lease for 6 months in Italy and our airplane tickets were non-refundable!!!

After the shock wore off (and I recovered from the nervous breakdown), my husband decided we would still go on schedule and just figure it out as we went along. Three months later we flew back to California and went to the San Francisco consulate, with a little help from a new Italian friend who used to work there, and received our elective stay visa in just 3 days! Lesson I learned? There is ALWAYS more than one way to get the job done!

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
We actually were not required to have insurance for the visa (although EVERY individual’s experience is different), and when we arrived we used an English doctor and had to pay out of our pocket for doctor’s fees, which were very inexpensive compared to those in the U.S. I have been told by locals that we still can receive medical benefits like any Italian because Italians consider it a basic human right to have medical services.

-How do you make your living in Italy? Do you have any type of income generated?
My husband has a very successful consulting business in California that continually generates income and he goes back and forth every few months. I have started a local tour business and also will be working with another tour group in mid 2007 taking groups around on winery tours around Italy. I only started my personal tour business after so many requests came in from my blog subscribers asking if I could do local tours for them.

We also sell our photography and have several other income streams working for us. From what I hear local jobs are hard to find and the salaries here are much less than what we are used to in the U.S.

-Do you speak Italian and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
I do speak the language, not perfectly, but I am always learning! I highly suggest taking language immersion classes a few months after moving here to move your language skills along. I was already familiar with the Italian language but I’m slowly learning the verb tenses which really has made me have to learn English all over again as well. Past present participle? Huh? Seriously!

We live in a very small town and although it is somewhat touristy, to really get to know the locals and be respected by them you have to at least try to speak the language. I can’t imagine coming here and NOT being respectful of the locals or their customs and traditions, it is all part of what makes this experience of living abroad so amazing!

The locals really appreciate it when you try to communicate with them and show an interest in their culture and have gone out of their way to explain something to us or show us where something is just because we have made an effort. My southern California distrustful mentality is continually humbled by the honesty and generosity of Italians who have no ulterior motive than to help you and point you in the right direction.

-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
I do miss our friends and family, it can be a bit lonely over here but the quality of life is so much better in Italy and we do encourage everyone we know to visit us here. I miss the Pacific Ocean and the beaches and silly American conveniences like stores open all night and variety of food, but life in Italy is so rich and full of character it really is more than a fair trade.

One of our favorite pastimes is to head out in the morning and just drive somewhere, find a new little hilltop town, try a new restaurant and talk a bit with the locals and discover the local attraction. Usually this happens all within an hour or two from where we live and we still have not found everything there is to be seen. There is so much history, art and culture here, and it’s such a fantastic opportunity to be actually living amongst it all.

Our favorite thing to do is attend one of the many local festas that happen often on the weekends in one of the many little towns nearby. You find posters advertising the various festas in neon colors on signs around town. They normally feature a certain meat or dish and for a nominal fee you get to sample all of the menu as well as sit elbow to elbow with the locals, who, if you stay long enough, share their grappa and try their best to converse with you and share a small slice of their life with the “stranieri” (foreigners) who have made an effort to communicate with them.

-Do you have other plans for the future?
I have MANY places still left to travel to all over the world and I haven’t even seen all of Italy yet. Being the wine lovers we are, a trip to southern France is a must--as well as discovering other “wine” countries.

I will be starting up my new tour business, www.tuscan-tours.com and offering custom individualized local tours of southern Tuscany. We also just sent over a test shipment in December 2006 of freshly pressed olive oil from Italy, www.lartedellolivo.com, which was such a huge success, we sold out in less than a week! We plan on shipping over more soon. And, well, there still is good wine left to be made someday… so yes, I would say we have so many more things left to do!

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
We currently rent and pay a little more than locals normally do at 800 Euro/monthly, although we do have a large fully-furnished flat with two terraces that have amazing views of the valley and Lago Trasimeno. We are looking into buying but Cortona is a bit expensive and for a fully restored apartment, about 1300 s.f., a couple of bedrooms, you are looking at a good 300,000–400,000 Euro, if it is located in the old center.

-What is the cost of living in Italy?
Heating is very expensive, we ended up buying a pellet stove last year and heated only one floor of our house during the winter. Electricity runs us about 100 euro/monthly but we can’t have nearly as many appliances on at the same time as we were used to in the States. Water and telephone are about the same as in the U.S. and groceries and restaurants cost much less than in Southern California. Gas for the car costs at least twice as much, but public transportation is available and not too expensive.

-What do you think about the Italians?
I think every town all over the world has their cast of characters, our town is no different. Once they know you aren’t passing through, most everyone is very friendly and always curious to know what is going on in your life and why you are here and what you are doing. There are many older people in our town who just light up if you acknowledge them with a “buon giorno” or a “buona sera.” We have been lucky enough to have been befriended by a family that treats us like we have always been their family and we will forever be indebted to their kindness and friendship.

Our town is a little strange in the respect that Francis Mayes made it famous to Americans in her book “Under the Tuscan Sun” and many people come through just because of the movie. What the locals will tell you here is that Cortona has been a popular city with the Italians and Europeans for hundreds of years and was a very important city during the Etruscan times and before Francis even wrote about it.

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Italy?
Positive: Life is lived at a much slower pace and the fact that most things close down during lunch time makes you learn to just stop and take everything in for a while. People are so much more genuine and kind and there isn’t as much of that endless trek to try to always acquire the latest and greatest thing here as there was in Southern California. Moments are treasured and families are important, something that seems to be forgotten in busy cities in the U.S.

Negatives: As Americans we are used to conveniences and in Italy there is a saying: I che c’e c’e, basically “It is what it is,” and it is a great way to help yourself accept the many things that you cannot control that are different from what you may have been used to. Does it make me want to move back to the U.S.? Not yet! We are having WAY too much fun!

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Italy?
Take everything everyone has to say about their expat experience here with a grain of salt, in the end YOU are in control and really determine how your experience will go. You can prepare all you want and try to gather every bit of information possible about how to live life somewhere else but in the end all of us get and take something different from our own experiences.

Come with an open mind and be willing to change. Honestly, my husband and I try to make the best out of any situation wherever we go and needless to say, life has been pretty darn good to us.

-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about Italy?
I photoblog about our misadventures and give a lot of local information at my personal website: Eurobimbo's Journey to Enlightenment

For local individualized and customized tours check out my tour business at www.tuscan-tours.com.

One place where I found invaluable information from other expats who were going through the same journey is Expats in Italy. I also was lucky enough to meet other expats in the area who will be lifelong friends.

And for some fantastic olive oil hand chosen by yours truly and available for sale in the U.S.: l'arte dell'olivo