Carta d'Indentita'

After over a year and 3 months, I have finally received my residence card. I am now a resident of Torino and entitled to all resident benefits. The main reason I wanted to get my residence card was so that I did not have to carry my passport around with me as a valid form of identification. Once in a while I would get nightmares about my purse being stolen or more likely, me misplacing it and having to go through all the red tape that comes with getting it replaced. I also don’t have to carry my permesso around with me anymore, although I have copies of both my passport and my permesso with me at all times. Those Italians sure love paper!

The nest step is for me to use my residence card to apply for a drivers’ license. I have heard quite a few hairy stories about the written test but I think I will be fine during the driven part. Funny but the drivers’ licenses here in Italy are NOT a valid form of identification and only get renewed something like every 10 years or so. Wish me luck!

Strange that Italian government expects you to keep this piece of paper on you at all times but they will not let you laminate it. The old cartas used regular staples to affix the photo and this was easily falsified. Nowadays they use a more secure system to fasten your photo.

So glad this bit of red tape is out of the way. When and if we move to Rome I get to start all over again.

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