Related article Why this American woman has ditched the US for Portugal Our friends were like, ‘What is going on?’” “We both had to quit our jobs,” says Stevens. Once they’d made up their minds, the couple went about making arrangements to sell their home in New Jersey and completely leave their lives in the US behind, a process that took them just three months. Stevens was able to get a carta di soggiorno, which allows him to remain in the country for five years, as the spouse of an Italian. “So legally, I just needed to be recognized as an Italian.” “My father was an Italian citizen when I was born,” he explains. “And Europe just gave us a better quality of life – and I could be closer to my family here.”ĭi Rienzo’s Italian heritage meant that the visa process was much simpler for the pair. “We analyzed our quality of life in the United States versus our quality of life in Europe,” he says. Related article San Francisco was too expensive so they moved to Spain and bought a beautiful house for $50,000. “But the beauty of this one was that it came with two stone ruins that we are actually going to work on.” This one just needed a little bit of cosmetic work.” “And I was looking at ones for around 40,000 to 60,000 euros in this town. “We had seen all the one euro houses,” adds Stevens. The pair went on to purchase the two-bedroom property in September 2021 for just under 100,000 euros (around $108,000.) “The view is what sold us on the house,” admits Stevens. They soon found a listing for a property in an older section of the town, where Di Rienzo’s great aunt had once lived, and were immediately impressed by the views of the Apennine mountains and the valley below the town. “Ben said, ‘If we’re going to do this, I’d like to be close to my family,’” explains Stevens. Here’s what happenedĪlthough they were searching throughout all of Italy initially, the couple decided to focus on the town of Vinchiaturo Molise in southern Italy’s Molise, known as the “forgotten region,” which happens to be where Di Rienzo’s family are from. Related article They bought a house in France for $20,000 without seeing it. Life-changing purchase: Ellen and Joseph from the US, who had dreamed of living in France for years, came across a tiny rundown home in the historic village of Lonlay l'Abbaye in Normandy online back in 2014, and decided to purchase it unseen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |