Perche

It is easy. I know someone who stayed for almost 3 years. She haf a friend write a letter declaring that she was indispensable, the only person who could take care of his elderly grandmother. That did the trick. I don't know if she ever met the grandmother. I think the legal status is that you can't stay for more than six months. I know someone who would just cross the border into Switzerland and get her passport stamped every 5 months or so, for years, to "prove"'that she hadn't stayed in Italy for more than six months.

Perche

Perche

I mentioned that up North they boast about that even from satellites, it is pretty lit up from the eastern to western border. That's not generalizable to the rest of the country.

Italy has 6,000 ghost towns, and counting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...18-000-up.html

https://revitalizationnews.com/artic...novating-them/

Sophiesophie asked about small towns with only a few thousand people. The forecast for such places is not very good. Italy just released its population forecast for 2025 and 2050.

Being 3 hours from the nearest pharmacy doesn't predict a distance. The quality of the local bus and train service has a lot do do with it. It can easily take 3 hours to get to the next town with a pharmacy. If you're up near the French of Austrian border, that's a completely different thing than Calabria, Sicily, etc.

Perche

Actually, I misspoke. Rural Italy actually has 20,000 ghost towns. There is little doubt that it t would take you 3 hours to get to a pharmacy because there will be little public transportation, kept roads, or gas stations. Rural Italy is hurting. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-packing.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.the...illegal-to-die

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.the...al_to_die.html

sophiesophie

Ok - I'll have to look for the smallest town with a pharmacy!

amyers

Exactly. We found out when we were walking around that the center of the town is very busy with tourist, etc. But the more you walked towards the end of town, it became very quiet. We could even here people talking in the apartments 2 floors up near their window.

amyers

What I thought I would do, since this is for just one year, is keep everything in the US. What I mean by that is keep my US bank account (pay everything online like I do now), keep my health insurance with my company and basically be on a 1 year vacation but work from home.

Not sure this is possible but want to do it as easily as possible.

amyers

My company has several people who work in the Philippines. They work 6 weeks then come back to the US for 2 then go back. The Philippines have a 30 day visa. After 30 days you have to renew it. However, after 3 weeks, a lot of employees just fly to Bangkok for the weekend, get their passports stamped and when they get back to Manila, it resets the visa.

Perche

If this is realistically going to happen, then one of the most important things you can do now is to start studying Italian. You want to fit in and experience as much as possible, not just be a tourist for one year.

Learning language is like walking up a stair. Your language is never fluent. Even in your native language. You always wish you could have expressed yourself better. Start with knowing how to order a cafe, then a restaurant, a problem with the trains, being able to sit at a bar and speak with locals, watch TV, answer questions when non-English speakers in Orvieto ask you to explain reason for some decision in congress, to sitting in an opera house, and the conductor turns around and decides he wants to explain some Schoenberg piece before he plays it, to watching. One never says, "I'm fluent." Just start now, though, and the better your experience will be.

There are some terrific schools, some mediocre, and some terrible. A few weeks there in class could really help, and then they do Skype lessons very well. I wouldn't show up without being as ready as you can be.

KLouis

True, as far as languages are concerned (i speak 6, almost fluently), but absolutely wrong as far as stairs are concerned: I don't have the slightest problem climbing them

amyers

Yes, I speak Spanish well enough conversationally but by no means fluent. I've picked up a lot of Italian as well, but not to where I'm at in Spanish.

There is a Biology teacher at my son's high school who is from Florence. She teaches Italian here in town. I will definitely take some classes from her.

ShopAround

There was a website I discovered years ago, when I had un ragazzo italiano and was considering moving: Expats In Italy. They had a fairly active forum at the time, then shut down and are back again: http://www.expatsinitaly.com/

Perche

Here's one for you, it's a pretty, well kept town in Liguria, not too far from the beach and other amenities. Out of fear of becoming another one of Italy's ghost towns, the town of Bormida will actually pay you 2,000 euros to live there for a year, and will only charge you 12.50 to 50 euros per month rent. And if you look at the pictures, these are not old ruins, but well kept houses. It's not too far from Genoa and Cinque Terre.

http://www.ilgazzettino.it/lealtre/b...i-2429255.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ocial-facebook

ShopAround

Apparently, they've changed their minds about that: https://www.thelocal.it/20170511/ita...ds-of-requests

Perche

I should have said, "an endless staircase." I spent the last week in Long Island, New York. I can tell you that many times, in fact, almost all the time, when someone speaks to me I just nod my head, but I have no idea what they are saying. If it seems important, then I say, "excuse me," so they repeat themselves.
It makes me think, "What if someone came here from Italy after studying english? I can hardly understand Long Island-ish."

Of course, I can understand it, but the words I use most frequently here are, "what, or excuse me?" When I lived in Torino I once asked a Professor of Italian how frustrating it is to switch between languages. She used the metaphor, "it is like a staircase where you never reach the top floor." When people say they are fluent, it can mean to them that they can order food in a restaurant, or buy a train ticket. Fluency can have a different definition if someone asks you to explain the political situation in your country, or if you are giving a lecture to students at the post-doctoral, or post PhD level. I've dropped the concept of fluency, because you never really get there.

The EU adopted a standard that allows people to define where they are in language skills. It was needed because someone from Belgium might want to work in Spain and say they speak fluent Spanish, or someone from Italy might want to work in Germany, and say they are fluent, when they are not. So there's a test.

It's called the Common European Framework for Foreign Language, or something like that. In Italy it is referred to as CILS, Certification of Italian Language for Stranieri (Foreigners).

A1 is the lowest level of language skills. The definition is: "Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help."

A2 is next, and is also nowhere near fluent: "Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need."

B1 is also not fluent: Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."

B2 is also not fluent, but is considered close: "Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options."

C1 is almost fluent, and is described as: Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices."

C2 is described as "fluent," a level that few foreigners ever achieve: "Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations."