How it’s going

Ciao a tutti!

So, it’s been a little while since I last wrote! I had this idea in my head of posting weekly, and it’s been um… 9 months. I could have had a baby in that time! No newborn news though, sorry.
Well, life has been happening. COVID has still been happening. And to be frank, I had no idea how to actually use WordPress (it is SO different to Tumblr!).
Learning how to use WordPress (so I can actually use my blog and not waste the tenner I paid for a year’s worth of web hosting) has been on my to-do list since I moved back to Italy in July, but working full time has made me lazy and all I want to do on the weekend is sleep! Okay, I admit I’m a massive procrastinator (no, really?!) but this past weekend I watched hours and hours of Youtube videos and now have a vague idea of how to customise my pages.
Anywhoo, a brief update of the past 9 months since moving back to bella Italia:

July 2020

I found a job with an Italian marketing company, as a content editor for their UK website. The office has a really nice international vibe as there are teams for 10 different countries. I get to speak both Italian and English for my job which is what I was hoping for when I arrived. I’ve also met some really lovely people at work and it’s been a lifeline since moving back and only getting to go to the office or the supermarket during the lockdowns!
When I first came back in summer, things seemed kind of ‘normal’ compared to the UK. Restaurants and bars were open, you just had to wear a mask until you were seated at your table and once you were outside you could take it off. Now, masks are obligatory both inside and outside, and have been since around October.

August

My boyfriend and I moved into a really cute apartment together (with a terrace!) after I temporarily moved in with him and his flatmates whilst we were still looking for a place for ourselves. With the pandemic ongoing, lots of airbnbs are up for rent, and there’s way much more choice than in normal times, as the lack of tourism has almost emptied the city. We still haven’t figured out if our place is normally an airbnb, so hopefully not and they will renew our contract when it’s up as we really love it here. Otherwise, we will have to hunt for somewhere else with a terrace as it’s a real life saver to be able to sit outside in lockdown.
My sister managed to come over and visit us for a long weekend at the end of August, it was so lovely to host her in our new apartment but by gosh was it hot! It normally reaches past 40 degrees centigrade in the city, which is why the locals all head to the beach and the streets were eerily quiet without the hoards of tourists replacing them.

September

Winter is coming! Some tourists did return in the summer, and Italians were able to move around the country and also go abroad. Unfortunately this meant that the COVID cases were rising again, and the ‘second wave’ started to become a reality. We decided to go to Viareggio on the last day of summer, the beaches were basically empty and it felt weird pairing my bikini with a face mask, but I was so happy to feel the sand between my toes and take a dip in the sea.

October

The situation was deteriorating but we managed to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday out with friends at his favourite bar. My parents had booked flights to come and visit us for my birthday the week after, and it was touch and go whether they would make it, but thankfully they did and we had such a lovely time together! It was the first time my dad and boyfriend had met so I was relieved he got the seal of approval.
We went to my favourite restaurant, Acqua al 2, and had their tasting menu. They do miniature portions of their best pastas, steaks (oh my GOODness the blueberry steak is to DIE for) and desserts!
However, the best thing we did together was go to Fiesole and do an electric bike tour through the hills surrounding Florence. We had a glorious birds-eye view of the Duomo from atop Fiesole and Settignano. The e-bikes were amazing, we were going UP-hill and didn’t even break a sweat!
2 days after my parents left, we couldn’t escape lockdown any longer – the yellow, orange and red zones were introduced. Yellow being the least restrictive zone; orange more-so with restaurants and cafes only open for takeaway; red zone having the most restrictive measures in place and only being allowed to go out to the supermarket or pharmacy etc with an autocertificazione (a document stating your address, ID number and the address you’re going to), otherwise staying indoors.

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November

By the time November rolled around, things were still getting progressively worse COVID-wise and a ‘coprifuoco’ (curfew) was imposed from 10pm meaning if we were outside of the house after that time (except for a nightshift) then we would be fined by the police. I think this is also around the time I started working from home instead of going into the office.

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December

The deadline of Brexit was looming and my residency finally went through, after it being rejected twice. I went home for Christmas and 3 days after I arrived back in the UK they implemented a national lockdown after finding a new variant of the virus in the South of England. The EU closed its borders to the UK and I was stuck for a month. Thankfully, I was at home with my family and not marooned somewhere in between without anyone to stay with. I felt awful leaving my boyfriend for a full month alone at both Christmas and New Year when I was only supposed to be away for 2 weeks! Luckily, I’d taken my laptop with me so I could work remotely and I was even offered my promotion over Google Hangouts because I wasn’t in the office.

January 2021

I finally arrived back in Italy and had to quarantine for 2 weeks because the UK was marked as a very high-risk area due to the new strain of the virus that had been found, and that was now spreading across Europe. After 6 months of working for the same company, as well as getting a promotion, I was finally given a permanent work contract! The contratto indeterminato is not given out willy-nilly, and especially as the job market in Italy isn’t the best, I was extremely grateful to have been able to find work in the midst of a pandemic, let alone getting a permanent contract. Although, in the UK I doubt I would have worked for this long without one. As well, there is no tax threshold like in the UK, I am taxed on everything I earn. Whereas in the UK, I would only be taxed on what I earned over £12,570 (as of 2021). Paying more for rent and food as well as keeping less of my income is tricky but I am very happy here and have a better quality of life in certain respects such as food quality and access to art and culture.

February

Happy Valentine’s! And… back into lockdown! To be honest with you, all of the lockdowns have kind of merged together as have the different restrictions we’ve faced so looking back even mere months later is difficult to pick apart what happened when. I remember we went into lockdown on Valentine’s because my boyfriend and I had a lunch reservation (restaurants were only allowed to be open until 6pm) which unfortunately didn’t go ahead. On the 22nd however, I had my appointment at the questura here in Florence to apply for my Carta di Soggiorno. The CdS, for those who don’t know, is like a 5 year Permesso di Soggiorno which means we have a legal document stating our right to live and work in Italy. It’s not mandatory for Brits to get this, as having residency before the Brexit deadline of 31st December 2020 was supposed to be enough. But, with it being Italy, it’s definitely advised as most bureaucratic institutions will ask for a Permesso now we aren’t European citizens anymore, regardless of the actual rules.

March

The 8th of March was International Women’s Day and Italy, surprisingly (given its rampant sexism), celebrates Festa della Donna every year by giving women Mimosa flowers. I remember a few years ago when I was still living in the UK, an Italian friend of mine sent me a bouquet and I was a bit weirded out as I thought he had a crush on me (well initially, I thought they were a surprise from my then-boyfriend, so a bit awkward all-round!), as I didn’t know that Italy celebrated it properly. In the UK, it’s gradually more and more recognised but never actually marked in a national way.

April

Well, here we are. Up to date, almost! Over the Easter weekend the entirety of Italy went into lockdown, but Florence did not emerge until 2 weeks later as the COVID cases here have sadly been overfilling our hospitals. With my work contract and Carta di Soggiorno receipt I was able to finally apply for my Tessera Sanitaria (health insurance card). I had to go twice because, y’know, Italy. The first time they couldn’t locate my codice fiscale (fiscal code) on their system, even though I’ve been registered since 2018. Living here for a little while, I’ve come to get used to things not going ahead the first (or even second) time like they do in the UK. On my second visit, I had a stroke of luck and was even let in early for the first time ever to an appointment, probably in the history of this particular ASL (azienda sanitaria locale, the local health service office). I now have a receipt for my Tessera Sanitaria (which was due to be sent out within a week and has now obviously surpassed that timeframe, but like I said, I’m getting used to this not bothering me) and my Permesso di Soggiorno, so all that is left for now is the Carta d’Identità (Italian ID card).

Looking ahead, we are already in Spring, and Italy tends to get quite hot fairly quickly, so hopefully with the warm weather we will be able to open up again safely, with less people falling ill with the coronavirus. Unfortunately, the vaccine situation isn’t going very rapidly, so I’m trying to stay hopeful and realistic in equal measure to shield myself from disappointment, but fingers crossed our lives can regain a smidgen of normality by summertime.

Stay safe folks.

Ciao, Holly x

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