This month we finally heard some news that encouraged us. If you’ve been following along, we had been waiting for approval from commune to demolish the pig stalls as this event needed to take place before the remainder of the compliance work needed to make the sale this July.

The update suggests a simple notarized document, then the approval for demolition immediately. Contractors waiting in the wings to get under way upon approval. As of the 28th, notary signature still pending. So we wait and wait.

On the 28th of March we flew back to Italy for a 10 day visit, we hoped perhaps the work might begin while we are there. Lost a bag on this arrival, George finally went to lost and found. Seems they put it on the next flight after we left. They couldn’t have told us this thru their app? It was too late to stay at airport, so we filed a claim and headed off. Classic Italy, we’d make several calls during our stay. Last day in Italy we locate the holding station where its held for ransom. We drive a little over an hour away and bring it back to the house. It has a few home goods, a water test kit and a drone to fly over the property.

Made the best of this visit with several day trips, including Lake Trasimeno, Amelia, Narni and the Etruscan Museum “Claudio Faina” in Orvieto. It rained a great deal on this trip, including some hail while on our drive.

We solidify our plans for marriage on the 15th of March. Obviously having been together for many years now, we hadn’t make a wedding a priority. Unconventional is probably the best description, but excited non the less. We are planning a civil ceremony at the local city hall near our home back in the U.S.

We secure the date and venue for our celebration party. Excited for conclusion of a few things at home, this celebration will give us a chance to draw things to a close and prepare for the next adventure.

We continue our focus on ending work in June. Big deal for both of us. Long careers, feeling excitement and perhaps some anxiety about a big portion of our identity changing.

A number of tasks still in the air as we need an Italian bank account, secure email address, digital signature, finances in order and moving funds into euro all by June. Followed by home sale in US. We intend to be in Italy by end of 2024.

We also need to kick off our immigration steps that will allow us the freedom of moving about in Italy that today is limited by 90 day stays. The number of steps to make this happen is staggering.

Anyhow that’s a quick update for the month. Stay tuned.