Hi All, Silvia here from Italy Magazine

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Ciao Silvia,

mine is not a typical story: my father's boss was Italian and has just been transferred to England in 1980 as we had recently joined the EU. He convinced my dad to move to Italy so, when I was 5, we all moved to Lazio. There were no expat schools in our area so my brother and I went to the local school and learnt the language in a couple of months. We loved it. We moved around frequently and lived in Bergamo, France and eventually settled near Milan. We never connected with the expat community, I found them very snobby but we integrated well with the local community. People were never sure if we were Italian or not because we looked foreign but talked and behaved like Italians. However, I found some attitudes sexist and outdated so at 19 I was ready for a change. I went to study in Scotland, then America and eventually came to live in the UK, where I met my husband. We now have two teenage sons and have been going back to Italy for holidays for several years. I feel very much at home and I miss the warmth of the people, the food, the wine, the countryside, the cycling and the culture. When the situation with Brexit took a turn for the worse, we decided to buy a house in Tuscany. It needs a lot of work and it's not much to look at but it's big enough to be a practical and comfortable holiday home. We would have liked to move there eventually but Brexit has made that much more difficult. It has also meant that I no longer feel at home in England. I know very well that Italy is not a perfect country but there is no such thing as a perfect country and right now, and for the foreseeble future, we all prefer it to England. I'm sad about the current situation but also feel lucky to have an escape route.

I'd be happy to talk more about my experiences if you think this would be of interest.

All the best,