Painless visit to the Questura

At about 11AM, I decided that I'd swing by the Questura (police station) where Dave and I will need to go to renew our permessi di soggiorno (permits to stay) for another year. It's a tedious process I don't like, but I'm hoping that this time will be the last since I should be getting my Italian citizenship next year.

Normally, if would have begun the process to get Italian citizenship in Italy, I could have gotten a permesso di soggiorno until I got my citizenship and passport. But, since I was a resident in California, I started it there. Unfortunately, the wait is longer and I'm still deciding whether or not to get my papers and just file here as it would be much, much quicker.

I arrived at the Questura without the usual fanfare that is normally outside in the morning between 8 and 9:30 AM each day when the permesso di soggiorno office is open. I made a point of coming later since I just needed to pick up the renewal forms and copy down the list of requirements that we'll need to renew our permessi di soggiorno.

I copied everything down and went to the tabaccheria (tobacconist's shop) to purchase the two marche da bollo (stamps) necessary for our renewal. On the list inside the Questura, it said that the cost was 10,33 Euros and on the website it said 14,62 Euros. So, when I asked the woman at the tabaccheria for two marche da bollo at 10,33 Euros each, she told me that the price was raised three times since last year and the cost is now 14,62 Euros. I figured she was right as was the website, but I figured they'd update a piece of paper inside the Questura much easier than the website.

Now, I'm just trying to decide when to go so we can stand in line for hours (and yes, I do mean physically stand in line) and be told something is missing from our documents so that we can run and get photocopies and then wait some more.

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