I’m a Little More Italian Every Day

My wallet holds two new additions that despite my lack of language skills make me feel more like a real Italian than ever before. The first is my ARCI membership card. ARCI - the Italian Recreational and Cultural Association is the country’s biggest non-profit not linked to the Catholic Church.

My brand new ARCI membership card- my name and address in Panzano are on the back1

ARCI, pronounced Archie, is the important social organization in Italian society. Every town and village has an ARCI center, of which there are almost 5000 throughout the country. It is at the ARCI center, the Casa del Popolo of the community, where locals and immigrants can relax over a coffee or a beer, attend a class, hear a lecture or a concert or enjoy a weekend dance.

Riccardo, our sensi handed me my very own ARCI card at the first tai chi class of the new year. When the class moved to the Casa del Popolo from the gym in Panzano, all the studnts were required to join the ARCI to participate. For E13, I now have my shiny new card, good for the year, at any ARCI in Italy.

Panzano’s Casa del Popolo is probably one of the smallest ARCI locations. It’s just a small storefront halfway up the hill to the historic centro. There’s a small bar upstairs and a larger meeting room downstairs. It’s hours and fare are limited.

Greve, on the other hand has a more robost Casa. In addition to a well stocked bar for coffee or something stronger, there is a display case with a limited offering of prepared foods and a deli case featuring the most popular Italian meats and cheeses. Here the barista doubles as a sort of short order cook, making fresh panini or heating up one of the ready made dishes. It is at this Casa del Popolo that Chris, Pam and I (and often Gordon and Avril too) share a Saturday lunch date for the best Caprese panini around. And now I am officially a proud member of this Italian institution!

Best of all, behind my PA drivers’s license now sits a precious card that documents my legal status as an Italian resident. With clever wrangling by my very savvy Italian attorney I walked out of the Florence Questura (police station) last Friday with my Permesso di Soggiorno in hand, a scant fifteen minutes after my appointment. This may be a story for another day. For now, I will just celebrate this amazing conclusion of the process that began with my first appointment at the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia in November 2023 when I began the confounding application for a “retirement visa”. One of the best benefits of my new status as a legal resident is eligibility to access services such as healthcare through the national healthcare system as a resident rather than a visitor.

Perhaps I will entertain you another day with the amusing details of the crazy Italian system that got me from that day in Philadelphia to here, but for now I am excited to be able to flash my Permesso, rather than my passport, for ID throughout Italy and in most of the EU.. at least until September!

I may look like a thug…but hey, I’m officially an Italian resident!