{"id":84,"date":"2012-10-20T08:03:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-20T12:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=84"},"modified":"2017-06-22T15:47:17","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T13:47:17","slug":"il-permesso-di-soggiorno-a-k-a-the-holy-grail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/il-permesso-di-soggiorno-a-k-a-the-holy-grail\/","title":{"rendered":"Il Permesso di Soggiorno (a.k.a. The Holy Grail)"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things that you\u2019ll notice about living in Italy is that many things are still done the old-fashioned way; which is to say as inefficiently as possible.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>often\u00a0<\/span>you must physically go to the post office and wait in endless lines to accomplish the smallest of tasks\u2014the least<\/em> of which has anything to do with mailing letters and other such things that Americans normally associate with post office activities.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, there is an enormous sense of victory when these goals are (eventually) achieved.\u00a0 Case in point is the coveted \u201cIl\u00a0Permesso di Soggiorno<\/em>,\u201d which is a sort of residency card that long-term sojourners in Italy should (theoretically) obtain.\u00a0 The first step in the process is to go to the nearest post office and pick up an application packet.\u00a0 I know, this sounds like something that your beagle could do for you, but let me assure you that it is not.\u00a0 The trick is that there are\u2014for some unknown reason\u2014a limited number of these little jewels scattered throughout the city and your job is to engage in a sort of scavenger hunt in order to secure one in your own possession.<\/p>\n

Il Permesso di Soggiorno<\/h2>\n

You might best approach this quixotic expedition by making a game out of it: pretend that you are Indiana Jones and you are searching for the Holy Grail while evil forces conspire to foil your plans.\u00a0 You may chuckle, but this analogy is closer to the truth than you\u2019d believe.\u00a0 As I said, the precious packet is as rare as a black pearl and you\u2019re opposed by indifferent (or worse, antagonistic) public employees who seem to gain sadistic pleasure in thwarting your efforts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
La solita folla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So you must recruit allies for these missions.\u00a0 The ultimate maneuver would be to make friends with a post office worker.\u00a0 While this may seem like a solid plan, I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0count on it.\u00a0 Post office workers have no friends\u2014indeed, this was a condition of their employment.\u00a0 These people are un-friendable, so don\u2019t even waste your time.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0really matter, though, because any random Italian will do.\u00a0 If they grew up in Italy, then they\u2019ll have a few shortcuts to share with you, gleaned from a lifetime of working the system.\u00a0 It is an innate sort of knowledge that all Italians seem to possess and I never cease to marvel at it.\u00a0 They know how to figure things out, to find creative solutions to ostensibly insurmountable obstacles.\u00a0 It is \u201cl\u2019arte d\u2019arrangiarsi<\/em>,\u201d the art of getting by, as they say.<\/p>\n

From my own experience, I can offer a few small pieces of advice.\u00a0 First, you\u2019ll likely have more success finding this packet at a bigger post office than the smaller ones.\u00a0 At least your odds are better because they are allotted a great number of these precious gems.\u00a0 I eventually had luck at the post office located on the north side of the newly renovated Piazza di San Silvestro (see map in the tool bar).<\/p>\n

\"il<\/p>\n

Second piece of advice; go in the morning shortly after the post office opens.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t really have to wait in the line to just pick up the packet.<\/p>\n

Third, go directly to the \u201cSportello Amico<\/em>,\u201d which are windows dedicated to this type of activity and should<\/em> contain someone who speaks at least a little English.\u00a0 But don\u2019t let the word \u201camico<\/em>\u201d fool you.\u00a0 He\/she is no friend of yours, believe me.\u00a0 Indeed, they are the enemy. \u00a0Stay focused and show no fear–they can smell it and once they do, you might as well turn around and go home.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s Part One of your mission, should you choose to accept it. \u00a0Once you actually have the packet in hand, I’ll discuss the next steps in your quest. \u00a0Maybe in about a month or so…<\/p>\n

In bocca al lupo!<\/em> (good luck!)<\/p>\n

*2016 UPDATE*<\/h2>\n

I’ve recently compiled ALL of my Permesso di Soggiorno<\/em> knowledge into one handy guide, including the info from this post. Get it here:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the first things that you\u2019ll notice about living in Italy is that many things are still done the old-fashioned way; which is to say as inefficiently as possible.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0\u00a0often\u00a0you must physically go to the post office and wait in endless lines to accomplish the smallest of tasks\u2014the least of which has anything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,6],"tags":[380,52,28,15,23,50,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}