AIRE

The AIRE, Anagrafe Italiani Residenti All'Estero, is a register of all Italians currently residing abroad. Previous to today, I'd been living in a semi-legal limbo (is there any other kind of    limbo?), officially residing in a small Italian town called Mirandola, whose greatest hero is Pico Della Mirandola, a philosopher who issued one of the first 'against all comers' challenges, loudly bragging that he could defend almost a thousand theses against any man. These theses, the wikipedia article asserts, 'he believed to provide a complete and sufficient basis for the discovery of all knowledge, and hence a model for mankind's ascent of the chain of being', making him irrevocably an hero. The article doesn't mention whether he was ever challenged, and if so, what happened, but since in contemporary Mirandola only 23 000 inhabitants remain, we can only assume it was such an epic clash that the decimating repercussions are still keenly felt today. 

In any case, being a resident of Mirandola meant that I could not access any consular services here in London, such as renewing my passport or more importantly, voting. Since being a resident of Mirandola actually doesn't benefit me in any way now that I am no longer officially my father's dependent, I decided to subscribe to the AIRE in a belated attempt at teenage rebellion. Imagine my surprise when, in response to a hastily compiled and sloppily signed form slotted under the doorway of the Italian consulate 2 months ago, I received back notification that I had been removed from the registry in Mirandola and placed on the AIRE! My surprise was great. 

So now I am officially a citizen of the world, and shall be signing all my cheques that way, which won't make them any more valid, but it certainly, certainly won't make them any less valid. I am also allowed to vote, which is nice, as Italy is possessed of one of the more peculiar voting systems that includes a constituency specifically for Italians living abroad. Stay tuned for the inevitable waves you'll see in the parliamentary system. This also represents the second of my life goals I have achieved since I started this blog, making this officially the most self-realised period of my life.