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Back in 2003, I spent a semester in L’Aquila, Italy, and fell in love with the country. This experience of studying abroad has changed the trajectory of my life.
Two years later, I returned to get a master’s degree in marketing management and communications at Bokani University in Milan. Milan’s fashion, fast development was miles from the sleepy, good neighborly L’Aquila, and the night life of the city reminded me of my hometown in Miami.
After graduation, I realized what I wanted to stay. It was the beginning of two decades, and counting, love with Italy. I constantly moved here in 2012 after married to my husband Italian Diego.
Today we live in Milan with our six -year -old son Lorenzo. I manage a company called We do Italy To help other Americans make a house for themselves.
As we made your own house
We rent 327 square feet with 3 bedrooms, a 2-dollar apartment about 1850 dollars a month. We lived here for about three years.
We found this place when Lorenzo was three. Over the last 40 years, the apartment has not changed, so we started repairing to feel more relevant and more like us.
In the United States, the performance of considerable work can be furiously furrowed. But in Italy there are state incentives as Tax benefitsFor people who repair their homes, even tenants. Our landlord also gave us eight months free rental renovation
The reconstruction cost us about $ 41,000, but we saved about $ 33,400 between government discounts and pause.
Look inside our recently repaired Milan’s apartment
Bathroom
This bathroom is one of my favorite numbers, but it took a ton of work. We pulled it completely, changed the cranes and added a hex tile I love. We got a tile from a charming, friendly and family campaign in Tuscany.
The shape of the hexagon looks so elegant.
Photo credit: Thea Duncan Prando
Kitchen
When we arrived here, the kitchen was not renovated in about 40 years, so it needed a lot of work. We actually had our engines not only our kitchen products from the old apartment, but also appliances.
My husband and I love to cook. I often say I live in Italy for food.
Photo credit: Thea Duncan Prando
We pulled out the sink and the oven from the old apartment and installed them in a new place. It was an unforgettable transition. We also added some new cabinets and a new countertop.
We demolished the existing wall tiles, but kept those on the floor. We also closed two side doors that previously opened to the kitchen to give us more countertops.
Elegant but still effective, storage in our kitchen.
Photo credit: Thea Duncan Prando
Living room
To open the living space, we beat the whole wall. The living room has natural wooden floors, which we sanded and added a lighter spot.
A great place for seating and a relaxing glass of wine.
Photo: Andrea Miniol for CNBC do this
Because the floor in this corridor was a tile, we got a little wooden floor to best fit the rest of the room.
A great place to sit, work and collect your thoughts.
Photo: Andrea Miniol for CNBC do this
Book shelves, gray sofa and lighting device are interesting space centers.
My son’s room
The details on the map are so charming.
Photo credit: Thea Duncan Prando
The favorite part of my son is a giant map we put on one side of the wall. He likes to point to all different places. I like it because it helps to unite all our worlds in one place.
Our number
A calm oasis of space.
Photo: Andrea Miniol for CNBC do this
One of the most important additions we made to the apartment was the conditioner in our bedroom. I grew up in Miami, and my family is from the Caribbean, so I can handle little warmth. My husband, on the other hand, is not much.
Conditioner was mandatory.
Photo: Andrea Miniol for CNBC do this
I also love our chest of drawers, which in the 1800s was made by hand. To return it to life, we needed a little work, so we restored it.
Why i love living in Milan
I’m in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. An important shopping center in Milan, near the Duom
Foan: May
When we go to the market, there are so many quality ingredients to choose from. Fresh, delicious products here are relatively light and affordable. We fired items such as eggs, milk and butter or farms outside the city or from the farmer’s market.
I am on the fresh product stand in Milan Brara.
Foan: May
The time of leisure is also a serious business in Italy. The ideal example of this is the evening ritual and the tradition of the aperitif.
My husband Diego and our son Lorenzo, having dinner at Piedmona, about one and a half hours from Milan.
Photo credit: Thea Duncan Prando
As soon as the working day is over, people will stop at the cafe for a glass of wine and food for an hour. It is deeply rooted in cultural terms that every time we leave the park after school, my son says, “Facciamo Un ‘Peritivo” – although he does not say “A” very magically.
On a local family owned by a farm called Zipo. They sell fresh foods with slow food and own rice. They also organize cheese classes where you eat at the end.
Photo: Jessica Pepper
We will go to a neighbor with our friends. Children get their table with juice and chips, adults will sit at our table with our adult drinks, and no one looks at us the way we are uncomfortable.
I am in the Milan region of Abruts, where I lived when I just moved to Italy. I am in a super steep meat shop where you can buy meat and then fry it on the barbecue near the store. I eat a typical dish (essentially lamb skewers) from the area called Arrosticini.
Photo credit: Diego Prando
I love to raise my son in Milan. Birth here does not mean that your social life ends. There are many parks, galleries and museums, as well as a wide range of family activities.
In one of my local markets.
Photo: Andrea Miniol for CNBC do this
On average, the Italians receive four -six -weeks every year, and unlike the US, people actually use their vacation. From Milan we can get to Lake Kooma or Genova, at a maritime level, less than two hours, and it’s just light day trips.
I am in front of the random beautiful doors in my area.
Foan: May
I grew up in a middle -class immigrant family. What I now rest regularly in places such as Italian dolomites, and I spend the weekend in Vienna, this is not what I take for granted. I feel incredibly blessed and I couldn’t be happier to be here.
Theo Duncan Prando is the founder We do Italy. She lives in Milan with her husband and son. To learn more about her life in Italy, follow her @Doingitaly
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