A nice tale, and how true is the line 'I suddenly understood that all I had to do to be happy in Italy was remember that time is fluid';

I like that, well done, keep it going, piano piano !

S

How easy was it to get the necessary approvals from the Comune?

I must print this off for t'other half, it might help him to understand patience is a virtue

Glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback. Piano, piano is right!

Not sure which ones you mean. Our permesso di soggiorno process as non EU members, in order to be resident in Milan, was arduous but greatly aided by a paid consultant who specializes in that area. My husband's company paid for her but if I were trying to enter without a company to back me I'd pay to use her myself, she made it all so much smoother.

For the rebuild of the house the permits were all handled by our local geometra and that was relatively simple, apart from some issues of perceived 'volume enlargement' because we were raising the roof to the rafters.