When you share your plans:  “I’m going to Italy for two (or three) months!” be pre­pared to han­dle the reac­tions.  You’ll find three main reactions.

1.The detrac­tors, who will try to tar­nish or take your dream.  (For exam­ple: “It is way too hot that time of year.”  “You really should not go alone.”)

2.The attach­ers, who will try to make your dream theirs.  I had one dis­tant rel­a­tive offer to stay with me for 2 of my 8 weeks, hav­ing never vis­ited me in over 30 years!  And another friend, to whom I offered a visit, spoke then only of “her sum­mer in Tus­cany,” and “her trip to Italy,” and noth­ing of vis­it­ing me!

3.And the best of the group, the enhancers.  These are your friends who are root­ing for you, and share the lit­tle restau­rant they found behind the Uffizi, or how to find the best olive oil.  They are savor­ing your adven­ture with you.

Some­times you will get hybrid reac­tions, like this one from my friend Terry: “Have I told you recently how much I hate you?!  Seri­ously, I’m so jeal­ous I can’t stand it.  I’m really proud of you!”

And, by the way, for non-EU cit­i­zens, the max­i­mum num­ber of days to go with­out request­ing an extended Visa is 90 days.  Used to be that you could just go over a bor­der and re-enter, but since the Euro­pean Eco­nomic Com­mu­nity, this has changed.  Now you may legally be in an EU coun­try (any coun­try or num­ber of them) for 3 months, then need to be out of all EU coun­tries for three months, then you can be back in for 3… you get the idea.

See www.expatsinitaly.com for more details.