PdiS & A 20,061-Step Shopping Spree

(PdiS = Permesso di Soggiorno)

Busy day with lots of steps.

First up — a most important errand that we are required to complete within 8 days of arriving Italy … applying for the “Permesso di Soggiorno” (residence permit) … not to be confused with registering our residence, which is a whole different thing we have to do after we receive our PdiS.

We submitted our packages this morning at the designated post office — Piazza Minghetti … a short walk from the apartment. The postal clerk reviewed our forms, collected the additional paperwork and the fee, and sealed everything inside the government-provided envelope, which will go to Rome before being re-directed to Bologna for action.

The clerk also gave us our appointments for the in-person-interviews with the Questura (the provincial headquarters of the state police). Alas, we have to wait until mid-June for that step … earlier appointment slots already taken.

That done, we used the Trenitalia app to buy tickets for the train to Casalecchio di Reno … €1.50 pp each way. We had a bit of time to kill, so on our way to Bologna Centrale we stopped at L’Incontro for a coffee break.

The train ride to Casalecchio’s Palasport stop is about 15 minutes long. From the siding platform where passengers detrain, it is a 5 minute walk to the Gran Reno Mall; IKEA and Leroy Merlin (the local Home Depot, if you will) are about the same distance as well.

Our shopping trip was a success. Having done our research in advance, each stop we made was primarily to “touch and feel” and make sure our selections were satisfactory.

At Media World, we placed the appliance order on the app … delivery scheduled for tomorrow.

At IKEA, we confirmed that the items we had taken photos of last fall were still available, and that they still suited our needs. We added a few items; removed a few items; filled our shopping cart with the smaller items; placed an order for the big-box items … delivery scheduled for 10 March.

At Leroy Merlin, we were in and out rather quickly. Both because we were shopped-out, but also because for this shopping spree, we had just a few items to hand-carry from there. I did feel like a drum majorette carrying the curtain rod all the way home. Yes, I resisted twirling it and throwing it in the air like a baton!

We had just enough time before the 8:38p train back to Bologna to stop by the food court at the mall and pick up a piadina to share … a sandwich made with a thin flatbread that is from the Romagna region.

The train was 5 minutes late … so be it. By the way, if you buy your train tickets on the app, you don’t have to search for a validation machine on the platform… the tickets are validated automatically as soon as the train departs the station.

By 9:15p, having walked well-lit, nearly-deserted streets from Bologna Centrale to the apartment, we were more than ready to put up our feet.

With our Media World delivery scheduled for tomorrow, we’ll be home and not gallivanting about. Our feet will appreciate that.Læs mere