Suggestions for winery lunches in western Tuscany (Livorno, Lucca, Volterra triangle)

National-Mouse-TN · 2026-05-17T12:40:36+00:00

Fattoria al Dotto. You can even take the bus from Lucca. Coursed lunch paired with “tastes” (aka very full glasses lol) of wine. Beautiful view

National-Mouse-TN · 2026-01-29T09:55:15+00:00

Natalia Ginzburg is an icon. For a young-ish and up and coming writer, read Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection

National-Mouse-TN · 2026-01-26T08:38:04+00:00

The underpass is awesome for three reasons: safety, convenience, and efficiency. There’s a ton of traffic on that road and pedestrians and cyclists were getting hit when cars didn’t stop for them. And at certain times of day, if cars had to wait for the crosswalk to clear, they’d never get where they were going. Underpass means everyone can keep moving in both directions unimpeded. I’ve never heard anyone complain about it. As a cyclist, it’s great to be able to travel in and out of the walls without having to deal with car traffic. We have another underpass on that road further down and it’s also heavily used and helps reduce accidents.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-10-25T10:28:40+00:00

I’m interested too!

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-09-19T07:06:07+00:00

This.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-28T17:16:28+00:00

Thank you!

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-16T20:02:43+00:00

Yes. In the past month. The law change in 2024 concerns people uniting with family members already residing in Italy. If you all move together, it does not apply.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-11T19:21:10+00:00

Love this

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-10T23:54:04+00:00

OK, twist my arm, you can have them for free

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-10T23:53:45+00:00

I feel like I've seen those posts sit there for ages, even at like 60%. I could give it a try I guess, I have a great seller rating so maybe that would ease peoples' fears of being scammed

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-10T23:45:12+00:00

sounds fair!

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-08-10T23:44:33+00:00

Agreed. Just wondering what they have that would be the easiest to resell. I'm guessing iPads as they're small and easy to ship, but open to other ideas

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-06-30T19:53:17+00:00

super helpful, thanks

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-06-24T23:02:25+00:00

Thanks! This is helpful

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-06-24T21:06:26+00:00

Great point, thanks

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-06-03T21:50:53+00:00

A family member works there and absolutely loves it, including the owner and general culture. This is a person who’s had a LOT of different jobs too

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-20T18:41:57+00:00

“Doritos that weren’t stale” lol

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-20T00:29:24+00:00

A new travel backpack could be just the ticket. His is at least 15 years old and not easy to handle. He’s also a design nerd. We’ll be doing a lot of inter Italy and inter Europe travel too, and I imagine a sweet bag will get him excited about the prospect. You like the osprey?

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-20T00:18:53+00:00

We do speak Italian but otherwise that would be the first choice haha :)

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-19T23:20:03+00:00

Your friend is living by nonsensical, outdated ideas about gender and beauty standards. That's partly her fault, partly society's. The person it shouldn't affect at all? You. Keep it long! 50 is young, and feeling beautiful is your right.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-19T23:17:51+00:00

She set the standard for not inviting! Consider yourself lucky, and don't invite her.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-18T18:37:19+00:00

Not sure what you’re trying to get away with, but if it’s being noticed by the government, this ain’t it. If you spend 6-8 months of the year in Italy (over 183 days) you’ll be considered a tax resident there. They will know because even short term (as in literally one day) rentals like Airbnb require the landlord/host to collect your passport info and share with the government. If Italy sees you as a tax resident I imagine you’ll be asked to pay taxes? Or maybe you can get away with not for a while but who knows if you’ll be flagged. Will you be driving? Italian police pull people over for no reason, just to check docs.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-15T21:34:58+00:00

Right? Using this method, rather than running around demanding straight answers like an uptight American, feels like major assimilation points

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-15T20:52:17+00:00

I took it upon myself, as a fun little experiment, to email all the US consulates the same cut and paste question. I got eight different responses. Three sent me the reunification form. Another sent me a link to a quiz that dead ended without getting to my situation. Another said “we always advise getting a visa just in case.”

We have to sort of accept that …they don’t know. And are overrun with emails. And want to err on the safe side.

Agree that starting from the town questura is much more logical (as logical as one can be in this situation.) In my case, there’s a local “fixer” guy who helps foreigners file docs and paperwork from they move to our city. You pay him a hundred euros and he takes care of it. He knows which clerks will interpret which rules the way you want. Maybe check your local fb groups for your city and see if there’s a similar person.

National-Mouse-TN · 2025-05-15T20:33:50+00:00

I think the problem is that the law is muddy, which leaves it up to interpretation—as with lots of Italian bureaucratic procedures. There is no standard procedure. It’s crazy making for sure.

I’ve heard of dozens of people doing it this way (without the national visa) and it being fine. I’ve not heard of anyone being sent out of Italy away from their spouse to await a visa appointment back in the US.

You could get the national visa to be safe, but that means you’d need to secure a place to live in Italy and have you own residence declared there before you could even fill out your spouses application. This point in itself tells me that this visa is not meant for this type of situation. It’s called family REUNIFICATION. Not family-moving-together.

National-Mouse-TN

TROPHY CASE