Seven Times is not a Charm

I have been to the Comune di Maniace seven times in order to receive Italian residency.

The first time I visited the comune, the person behind the desk could not help because in three days a festival was going to take place in the town.

The second time I visited, I was basically refused service. The person who handles residency requests could not begin the process because he "did not know my history."

Research had to be done in order to understand who I am and what took place before, he said. I told him that the comune has all the necessary documents. In fact, it was them and the Comune di Tortoricci, my fathers birthplace, that confirmed my Italian citizenship.

Several years ago the Italian Consulate of Detroit sent all the necessary documents to both communes in order to verify my genealogy and issue me a passport. At that time, my sister personally visited the comune to investigate why it took them over two years to respond to the consulate.

The third and fourth time I visited was due to them arguing about how to register me in the system. Since I was, or probably still am, written as an Italian citizen through the Comune di Tortoricci, because I claimed citizenship through my father, the Comune di Maniace insisted that I go there in order to claim residency in the town of Maniace.

"Why would I go to Tortoricci to claim residency in Maniace," I asked.

No one had any answers. Instead, both times, they sent me off telling me to return in two days while they would speak to the Comune di Tortoricci.

A detailed discussion about how to process my papers took place the fifth time I visited the comune. In the end they assured me that they figured it out.

"Can I still get domicile in Firenze," I asked.

"Natalie don't confuse things. Don't ask any questions. Tutto a posto," said my friend Pippo, who works in the office, and thankfully took it upon himself to smooth things along even though it was not his responsibility.

"Tutto a posto? You are sure, because if I have to come here one more time . . ."

He responded to me with "tutto a posto." That phrase means that everything is in its place or taken care of.

Several days later my aunt told me that she ran into Pippo and he said I had to claim my Italian residency through the embassy in Rome.

My response to her and them when I went to the comune for the sixth time was, "that does not make sense. Italy does not have an embassy in their own country. And the United States Embassy has nothing to do with my citizenship here in Italy."

Another long argument ensued. First they told me to claim residency in Tortoricci and then transfer it to them. Then they told me that on my way back to Florence, to stop off in Rome and visit the American Embassy. As if I have all the time and money in the world to just change my train ticket, get a hotel and spend a couple of days in Rome.

I told them that this could all be resolved in five mintues. If they would make one phone call to the American Embassy they would discover that the United States has nothing to do with my residency in Italy.

A half an hour later, I made the phone call. In one minute the kind woman on the other end of the line assured me that my American residency is seperate from Italy and they do not have the authority to grant me residency in Italy.

That is when my friend said he would personally visit Tortoricci the next day to see how to grant residency to an Italian who was formerly living abroad. It was obvious that they created non-existent problems because they did not know the procudure to change a person's status from an Italian living abroad — specifically outside of Europe — to an Italian living in Italy. I think the most confusing concept for them was how to transfer the city of my citizenship from Tortoricci to Maniace. Confused yet???

The last time I went to the Comune di Maniace Pippo told me everything was taken care of and I would recieve my residency certificate in a couple of days. It could not be printed at that moment due to the computer sytem being down. Translation: they do not know how to register me in the system and so I will need to visit the comune when I return to Sicily in December.