Faces in Time: Padua's Mayors

Welcome to a miniature gallery of Padua's mayors which you can find at City Hall. I have found them interesting for anthropological reasons: the hair styles, facial hair flair, big glasses and distinguished titles. Here are a few of the most interesting:









To contrast, this is our current mayor, Flavio Zanonato, 2005-now, looking "fly" in a non-institutional portrait.



Images: framed pictures by An American in Padua, color picture of Zanonato from Il Mattino online

A Shocking Healthcare Story as a Foreigner in Italy

This entry is dedicated to those who may be coming to Italy soon for an extended stay. You might find this story eye-opening.

Before I had a Permit of Stay as a worker in Italy, I was not covered under the Italian healthcare system. Instead I paid for an international policy through Lloyds of London that would cover any hospital stays, ambulance services and any recovery therapy. It was not exactly cheap. It almost cost typical individual insurance rates in the US at the time, which was the years 2001-2002.

Unfortunately I had to use the policy one day when I went to the emergency room for stitches in my inner ear, a series of facial x-rays and an overnight in the hospital.

Firstly I was surprised by how lazy the service was in the hospital in Venice, where I was living. The doctor checked on me for 2 minutes at 7 a.m., after I had checked into the hospital the night before, and I basically never saw him again. I felt I was wasting my time with only an ear injury and some bruises. The hospital had given me a glorified bed to rest in. I had to beg the staff to properly schedule my x-rays, which were the main reason I was staying checked in at the hospital. I left as soon as the images were made because I knew I was being billed privately for their services.

In fact, I found out 3 months later that they had billed me "royally". For the services mentioned above, the grand total was Euro 3900, with no billing details provided to understand how they arrived at that number. Then I discovered that Lloyds would only pay for Euro 1000, not even half the sum. I was shocked and horrified.

I started to ask for more information from the hospital billing administration, but their attitude was that I was an American and should expect hefty bills from a hospital. They were under no obligation by law to provide me with any further details. I simply needed to pay up.

After complaining to many Italians who had no idea that I would be billed so much, I was told by a nurse that I should not have given any insurance information. In that case, the costs would have been absorbed differently by the hospital. But I had wanted to use the policy I had been paying for. Also, it seemed devious to force the hospital to absorb my costs. I feel that I was over-billed in the end since they knew I was American and supposedly was used to high fees.

Now I know that I should bought insurance directly through the Italian ULSS system that would have cost less and guaranteed better coverage while in Italy.

Since I changed my Permit of Stay for work status, I have been put into the national system automatically so these problems no longer apply. At this point, I just pay a "ticket" which is a "co-pay", according to the American insurance system. I am finally enjoying socialized medecine, although it's even better in other European countries, with even less fees or even none at all.

For an American looking to come here to settle or finding yourself a tourist in Italy for more than 90 days, you should first get a Tourist Permit of Stay. That permit requires private insurance coverage. The basic permit requirements are listed on the website for the Polizia di Stato (in italiano). For English-speakers, The Informer is a great resource to get details about all permits and requirements.

Other useful links (in italiano):
explanation of health coverage situations and policies for foreigners in Italy: stranieriinitalia
information about buying the national healthcare card (tessera sanitaria): ministero della salute

McDonald's Goes Italian 100%

McItaly

This new release is a sandwich that is being sold around the world by McDonald's for 7 weeks, using 100% Italian products: Asiago DOP, Bresaola della Valtellina IGP, Insalata Batavia, Italian meat, artichoke cream and extra-virgin olve oil.

The Italian sandwich debuted on January 27. The Food Minister, Luca Zaia (left in photo), is thrilled to have Italian tastes be promoted at such a large scale by the fast food giant. He is also happy about the Euro 3.5 bln that Italian food producers will enjoy from the massive sale of the globalized panino that uses national resources to satisfy worldwide customers from Seoul to London.

For a savory picture of the McItaly and descriptions in italiano, go to the McDonald's Italia website.

So what are Italy's slowfoodies saying about this DOP sandwich?

My First List for Filling a House

'We like lists because we don't want to die'

In honor of Umberto Eco's new book release, The Infinity of Lists, and the exhibition he curated which is currently on display at the Louvre, I am writing my first list on my blog.

My husband are finishing the paperwork to buy our first house (or rather flat, in typical Italian living style). Since we have been renting a furnished apartment, now we need to buy EVERYTHING new. Here goes the basic list:

Sofabed
Coffee table
Chairs
Dining room table
Light fixtures
Full kitchen with appliances
Washing machine
Bedroom set
Wardrobes: at least 2
Shelving for house and garage
Chest of drawers
Desk for study
Bookcases
Lamps
Bathroom sink
Curtains for all rooms
Throw rugs
New door with lock


It feels quite overwhelming and the choices are limited given our small budget. I don't know how much I want my house to look like it's out of an IKEA catalogue.

Sweet Carnival Tra Breve

The signs are popping up across town.

-at the bakery-
-at the pastry shop-

*Fritelle*
*Galani* or *Crostoli*

Fried wonders with sugar and sometimes cream remind us that Carnival is coming. For now, just our tastebuds get the thrill.

Soon the rest will come!



Image from blogdolci

Finding my Hidden Pulse for Mountaineering

As a little girl growing up in Baltimore, USA, I would have never told you that I was interested in becoming a mountaineer. Yet here I am at 34, scaling mountains in heat, ice and snow in the Alps.
This hobby exemplifies the surprising twists a life can take, especially by changing countries. Even though I could have moved to a place like Colorado from my own country, in Italy, the mountains became accessible by accident. I moved to the Veneto for cultural and personal reasons and I found not only cities of great historic interest like Venice and Padua, but also a nearby seaside on the Adriatic and mountain area, the Dolomites and Italian Alps.
In the USA, I would have needed to choose a completely mountain life in the move to a place like the Rockies.
My Italian husband first introduced me to hiking in the Dolomites. Those initial hikes were surprisingly steep and difficult yet I saw even elderly Italians easily walking up the rock trails so I made sure that I could do the same. After all, I was in my mid-twenties at the time! Once at the top, the views were spectacular and made the fatigue worthwhile. I enjoyed the direct contact with the magficient towers of nature which turned rosy at sunset. I found my mind would be cleared of everyday stress from jobs and city life while hiking. My husband and I started to walk higher and higher. Soon I leared how to climb ferratas, with the assistance of steel wire and ladders bolted into the mountainside. We began to hit the BIG peaks of Monte Civetta and the Marmolada, which includes a glacier. That was the first time I put on crampons.

Photo: Pisciadù ferrata outside of Cortina (2006)

Photo: The peak of Marmolada, 3445 meters (2006) with husband and another couple, S and R

To round off the experience, rock climbing was included in the new bag of techniques to learn and utilize in the Alps. Through a course we took last year, we discovered nearby rock faces and natural outdoor gyms such as Rocca Pendice in the Euganean Hills and started scaling them, too.

Photo: Piccolo Torre Falzarego (2009)

Unbelievably, despite having broken both bones in my left forearm twice in my twenties, I can actually rock climb. Who would have known?

Our rock climbing teacher and alpine guide, Andrea, mentioned a course that he was teaching on Monte Rosa that summer. We decided to join another couple and do the experience, practicing our mountaineering abilities on a higher and even more famous mountain and learning new techniques for snow and ice. Among other things, I learned 8 knots, understood how the materials work such as ice axes and ice nails and pretended to fall and save people in a glacier crevace. I found myself hiking and rock climbing on the second tallest mountain in Europe just this past summer.

Photo: left: faking having fallen into a glacier crevace while my husband practices saving me; right: learning pirolet traction with my husband as my sicura (Monte Rosa, July 2009)

That's what I get for moving to the Veneto: I'm now a alpinist.

Funny how things work out.

Photo: Ferrata Merlone (2006)

Top post photo: Along the hike to Mulaz (2005)

Sweat and Sweets

I belong to a little health club called Palestra Synergym in town. They've managed to cram a full set of exercise machines, weight room and aerobics space in the tiniest athletic complex I've ever seen. At rush hour, which is between 6-7:30 p.m. on weekdays, we are packed in like sardines. However I love it there anyway. Where else would I be able to finish off a work out with a glass of prosecco and some cookies? Yes, this is possible when someone has a birthday. They bring sweets and sparkling wine for everyone to enjoy! The owners and clients are all friends. It's like an extended family at this palestra.

It may seem to be a contradiction to be eating fatty foods and alcohol in a gym setting, a place that it supposed to be wholly concentrated on your physical well-being. Italians are great when it comes to moderation in this regard. The gym-goers are not as "obsessed" with their workout schedule and regime as many Americans are. They balance the exercise with fun, which might include "devilish" foods or the occasional cigarette.

On the other hand, when I am in the states, I go to Bally's health club and witness a lot of exaggeration with women spending 2 1/2 hours straight doing aerobics, running on machines and pumping weights. A lot of the men are too muscular for my tastes, too. Some of them have trouble walking normally from the bulging muscles developed in their thighs, for example.

Back in Italy, I also come across the following situation at the gym: before and after an aerobics class, the women are exchanging recipes for sweets and favorite dinner plates. They are freely talking about lovely food while sweating away some of those future calories.

It's another case of those little differences lived in this different country.