Hi all! This is an alt for anonymity. Please be gentle, this is a hard topic for me to discuss.

I’m a progressive United States citizen who is looking to get out. I’m of Italian descent so I’m working on getting Italian citizenship through jure sanguinis, but it’s going to take some time, if it works at all (gotta substantiate some relations) and won’t extend to my husband until he completes a citizenship test, which he can do after living in Italy for two years.

Here’s my big question: is moving to Italy even a good idea?

I know there’s a significant element of fascism there, but that seems to be the case to varying extents throughout Europe. I’ve visited a few times as a tourist and everyone was very kind. I also have a US cousin that lives there as a permanent resident near Napoli and she is very encouraging, saying people will be welcoming. We don’t want much, just to make a living and maybe have a kid.

  • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de
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    6 days ago

    As I haven’t seen this mentioned so far: Be sure that you both learn the language.

    Seen a lot of posts in other immigration heavy subs/communities where people move to europe and don’t make any effort on learning the local language, and then are surprised/depressed that they can’t find any friends or jobs

    • DJDarren@thelemmy.club
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      6 days ago

      I have an Italian friend, so tried to learn Italian. I did French at school (30 years ago), so how hard can it be, right?

      Real fucking hard.

      WHY DO SO MANY THINGS HAVE GENDERS?! WHY IS AN APPLE TREE HE, BUT AN APPLE IS SHE?! (or is it the other way around?)

      I’m English, so I guess I’ll just carry on the grand tradition of talking louder and using hand gestures.

      • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        fun fact! In french, the slang word for penis (bite) is feminine, so it’s la bite.

        Makes total sense

      • Damage@feddit.it
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        5 days ago

        Most Italians don’t speak correct Italian. As long as you make yourself understood, in day-to-day life it doesn’t matter.

        Of course work may require you to perfect your language skills for certain roles.

    • friendlyghost@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      I agree only like 20% with this. I’m an European who migrated for studies and work to 5 other European countries. It does help to learn the language but if you go to a big city or a university town, most people will speak English and you only need to learn the coffee place/restaurant/supermarket basics. It’s still a big decision and op shouldn’t do it on a whim

    • AHamSandwich@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 days ago

      100%. We’re taking classes and using Babbel already, just in preparation. I doubt we’ll be fluent by the time we’d move, but we’ll be functional. We just don’t want to be more entitled Americans who expect everyone to speak English. We want to do the work.