Now you may have heard of Emily in Paris, where a young twenty something with a perfect teeny figure moves to Paris and becomes a hotshot social media queen at a Parisian agency. She has a wardrobe that rivals Sarah Jessica Parkers and all kinds of cool and amazing stuff happens to her.

Well, Zadia in Italy is just a teensy bit different as I am fifty something who threw caution to the wind and uprooted myself, my elderly mother and my dog Pandy to Lucca Italy. From the day I had a conniption standing in my Melbourne kitchen to getting on a plane and legitimately moving to Lucca took exactly 8 months and 16 days. This is a true story, unlike Emily’s.

How it was actually going to happen I really wasn’t sure because back in early 2020 I had made a plan to go to Italy on a reconnaissance mission to look into the actual logistics of moving there. I was lucky enough to have a British/European passport and so could have more or less swanned in no problem, bought a home, started working but then plans came to a screeching halt courtesy of the Covid19. The Australian PM shut the borders, no one was getting out, and this feeling of being trapped really hit me as the air space above became so quiet and during lockdown you could hear a pin drop as the streets became deserted. My plans went out the window and then just to make my dreams seem even further away, at the end of 2020 the unthinkable happened. BREXIT!!! My aspirations of swanning over to Italy were crushed and severe malaise set in. I was so cross with myself, why hadn’t I done this sooner, what was I thinking?

Anyway, the evening of August 9th, 2021 when I had my conniption, I had ‘smuggled’ my mum over to my house for a few days because she was beyond the 5km travel limit during yet another lockdown. As we hadn’t seen each other for months except over messenger I thought it was getting ridiculous. Conniption in full swing, I yelled and said what the heck are we waiting for? Its been a dream for years I’m going , wanna come?

I asked my mum to come because we are the only family we’ve got and I love her of course even though we can argue like cats and dogs on occasion, but also get into giggling fits when we find something funny. There are no aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins to lean on. To my utter surprise and delight she said yes, for which I am eternally grateful! If she had said no I could not possibly have abandoned her in Australia with no one to look after her. With the state of aged care in Australia there is no way I would have ever let her go into a place there and so I figured I would be looking after my mum anyway eventually so why not do it in Lucca, Italy? We can walk, ride, not deal with insane traffic and mum loves Italy too. She’s a teeny, slim lady who can eat ten times more than me and LOVES pasta. And just like that the plan was set in motion and the Airbnb we are staying in as I write this, was booked all that very same night.

Thanks to a Youtube Vlog I had been watching about a girl who moved to Italy, met some handsome dreamboat and was now renovating an old farm in Tuscany with said dreamboat, now husband, I discovered an amazing lawyer Michele in Firenze who knew all about buying houses, and as it turned out, about getting visas too. He was so clear and concise that I thought I would give him a call, and he was lovely and did not disappoint, and so after a video chat we got started on the whole moving to Italy process.

Of course, we started getting excited looking at the real estate in Italy to see what was out there and crazy nutters that we are, we saw two places in Lucca that we thought would be perfect. Next minute we were doing a video tour and then a few days later I was speaking to Michele in Firenze telling him we wanted to make an offer on an apartment, all before there was any sign of a visa for either of us. Putting the cart before the horse I told him.

Anyway, long story short, Michele put in an offer for us with was accepted with the very clever proviso that mum got her Elective Residency Visa (ERV) by November 15th at which point the sale would go through. After weeks of gathering and compiling documents in a very logical order, placed in colour coded folders one for mum, one for the consulate officer with indexes, tabs all in poly pockets, mum thought I had completely lost my mind, and accused me of being a hard task master as I ran possible questions by her, but I told her we have to be prepared for the worst possible interrogation. Mum had her appointment at the Italian consulate in Melbourne and after a tense wait in the cafe downstairs mum returned victorious flashing her passport with her Italian ERV. We were jumping for joy, tried to take a selfie to commemorate but both kinda looked like shite unlike Emily. Suddenly reality set in we were about to buy a home in Italy that we had never seen before….in person, and our Italian dreams were starting to materialise.

The next few months were a blur as I put my little home on the market and it sold two days before Christmas, mum put her house on the market, and we both commenced sorting, chucking, donating and getting ready to make a major move. At the same time I was running my vegan ice cream business which was now back in full swing as the warmer weather had finally appeared and the Covid restrictions had somewhat lifted. On top of that I was organising flights, getting documents signed, apostilled, couriered to Italy, transferring money, dealing with overseas shipping companies and trying to arrange Pandy’s travel with various pet transportation companies who were all still a bit up in the air about what was possible since air space in Australia was still closed except for athletes and movie stars (don’t get me started). I also had to prepare myself for my own self-employment visa application and possible interrogation at the Consulate.

March 10th was a most auspicious day. My house settled and was transferred to the new owners, I jumped for joy as I got approved for my visa (no interrogation, just a delightful chat with the totally dreamy guy at the consulate), and mum got an offer on her house all on the same day. I couldn't believe it. This is happening!!

On March 20th I did my last event with my ice cream van and in the 4 weeks before we left, sold the van and various equipment, the assets, gutted and cleaned two homes, finalised documentation got Pandy accustomed to her flight crate which she really was having none of, looking at it with great suspicion even though it sat on my living room floor for months before we left. Looking back on that time makes me feel wrecked just thinking about it, but after a 36 hour journey, a transfer with what could only be described as a Formula 1 driver from Milan to Lucca, Siamo qui! We are here.

I have arrived with two pairs of jeans a couple of sweaters, some tops a couple of dresses, some sandals, a pair of sneakers and unlike Emily, pretty much wearing the same thing every day as I brought more summery clothes with me and it is still a bit cool in Lucca. It did not help when the washing machine in the little Airbnb I am staying in got stuck mid-cycle with most of my clothes in it, for about 5 days before it could be fixed and so I have been wearing the same jeans and sweater for almost a week, dressing it up with different scarves to make my outfit look different!

How This Happened!

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