Lettere da Bologna - Elena Vizzini

In continuing our blog series Lettere da Bologna (Letters from Bologna), we are sharing the story of PBSCA’s current board member Elena Vizzini who has recently moved to Bologna to pursue dual citizenship and strengthen her Italian language skills all while discovering the deep connections between life in Portland and Bologna. After getting laid off from her job in May, Elena saved diligently and put together a plan to move to Italy in September and realize her dream of obtaining Italian citizenship. It’s an exciting and ambitious endeavor, especially during such challenging and unprecedented times. Learn more about Elena’s story in the interview below and follow her weekly podcast “With Her Own Wings”. 

Q: How did you get into Italy this past September? Aren’t the borders closed to Americans?

A: Great question, I’m surprised myself that I was able to accomplish this! After doing my research, I found out that Americans are permitted to enter Italy for purposes of study. Fortunately, Bologna has many full-time language schools that will assist students with providing proper documentation to obtain visas or other permissions to enter the country. Thanks to the wealth of information on blogs, I found a very affordable school called ARCA which provides flexible programming with rolling enrollment on a weekly basis. I was able to choose which week I wanted to start and how many weeks of courses I wanted to take and they provided all the paperwork for my auto-certification (required for entry to Italy). To avoid the lengthy process of applying for a student visa, I opted for an initial 90 day stay in Italy. To learn more about the process you can check out my podcast episode titled “Andiamo”. 

Q: What’s the situation like with COVID in Bologna? Did you have to quarantine when you arrived?

A: As it is all over the world, the status of cases and corresponding COVID regulations are constantly evolving on a weekly basis. In the past month I’ve been here, it’s gone from nearly full of freedom to move about the city to a partial lockdown. When I arrived I was required to complete a 14-day self-isolation in my apartment and complete two COVID tests. I found the Italian system to be organized with access to rapid test results, though much of the information on procedures was not well publicized, especially for foreigners. I’m so thankful to have a foundation of Italian language and local friends and family to assist, but as you can imagine there was a lot of bureaucracy involved. As of today, October 26th, there are new countrywide restrictions in place such as required closure of restaurants, bars, and cafes at 6 pm every night, 75% remote learning for high schools, and mandatory closures of gyms, cinemas, theaters, etc. Some regions also have a mandatory curfew, Bologna is likely to head in that direction as the number of cases and deaths continue to increase.  It’s going to get really interesting over the next few weeks, especially since Italians are less willing to follow these strict regulations in comparison to the first wave of the pandemic this past spring. There are already riots starting in Naples and I can hear similar sentiment with some Italians here in Bologna. 

Stay up to date with Elena’s story by following her podcast. You can also leave her a personal voice message with your comments, questions, or episode ideas at her Anchor site or by email at epvizzini@gmail.com. 

In bocca al lupo! (Crepi)