I'm becoming an Italian...

Hello! 👋🏼

[Welcome to the first official email of this newsletter (that still doesn’t have a name). You can expect an email every week from me talking about travel, life, philosophy, and occasionally projects that I’m working on.]

This past week, I mailed a massive stack of papers to the Italian Consulate of Miami, officially applying for Italian citizenship.

I always knew that my great-grandfather came from Italy… my last name is DeCapri after all. One of my uncles claims that we are 6th cousins twice removed from Leonardo DiCaprio, but I’m definitely skeptical.

Want to take a guess at my great-grandfather’s name? Pasquale Di Caprio. It truly doesn’t get more Italian than that.

Over 2 years ago, I decided to actually look into this further and see if I qualify for Italian citizenship. After all, Italy offers citizenship via iure sanguinis, or “by right of blood”.

As long as your ancestral line comes from Italy at some point and you can prove some things about naturalization, you qualify. It just becomes a matter of collecting loads of historical and vital records, translating everything into Italian, and getting apostilles on everything.

AKA: a bureaucratic mess. Hence why it’s taken over 2 years to finally send in everything for my appointment. Now I just have to wait up to another 2 years to receive my passport! 😅

Despite the long wait times, I could not be more thrilled to be getting Italian citizenship.

When I bring this up with people in the United States, I am usually met with the question, “Why would you want that?”

I can break it down into 3 reasons:

1. Options and flexibility
   ​While the United States has good things going for it and has given me lots of opportunities that I am super thankful for, other countries simply do some things better. (I’m looking at you, healthcare). Since Italy is a member of the European Union, getting Italian citizenship will allow me to live indefinitely anywhere in the EU. That opens up a lot of countries to spend time in without worrying about overstaying a 180-day visa for most of Europe (which is what Americans get for tourism). With multiple citizenships, I can take advantage of more great benefits from multiple places. There’s no downside other than the cost of applying.
   ​
2. Travel to other countries
   ​A huge part of me wants to explore places like Iraq, Iran, and all of the “stan” countries in Central Asia at some point. Having a less controversial passport grants more travel opportunities in these places. Less friction with the visa process. Italy’s relationship with Iran is far less strained than the US’s relationship, for example.
   ​
3. Finding a better culture fit
   ​I am probably the least patriotic American I know. I don’t feel American, culturally. Every time I return to the United States, I’m reminded just how much more I jibe with other places that I’ve been to. Not to knock the US here. There isn’t good or bad, just different. And I value different things in life than traditional American values. My values have changed over time and will continue to change. I don’t see myself ever living for an extended amount of time in the United States again. There’s just so much more to explore - the world’s massive! This passport will allow me to explore most of Europe in far more depth and with much more time than I could with a US passport.
   ​

This entire process feels like it’s come full circle.

The first international trip I took was to Italy during the summer before my sophomore year of high school. Two teachers at my school organized a trip with 15 or so students, and I’ll never forget arriving in the first port town of Gaeta during the night.

It was as if I entered a whole new world. New people, new smells, new foods, new customs… I loved it. That’s where my thirst for travel and adventure was born. An insatiable desire to see the world and experience as much as possible before I die.

And you know what?

That random little town in Italy is in the same province that Pasquale Di Caprio was born in, just a 45-minute drive away.

That connection I felt at 15-years-old all makes sense now.

Have you ever thought about getting dual citizenship? What places or countries feel like a culture fit for you, if it’s not where you were born?

Thanks for reading,
Alex 🙃

[sent from my van in southern Mexico... driving into Guatemala after I hit send]

PS: If your family hails from Italy and you want to look into if you qualify for citizenship, shoot me an email. I’ll send some helpful resources your way to get you started.

PPS: I stumbled across Nathaniel Drew’s YouTube channel recently, and I’ve been loving the questions he asks and the conversations he has with the people he interviews on his podcast. This one is about why he lives in Paris and doesn’t have plans to go back to the US.

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​