It is a very long sad story but here is the summary....We took early retirement, took out our pensions and set out to live in Italy. We followed all the rules. Went through all the bureaucratic hoops in Italy. Put a deposit on a home. Bought a car. Shipped our goods over by boat. Bought health insurance. We were even shipping over our dogs. We sold our cars here in America...had our home rented out. We got the OK on our paperwork from the Italian consulate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The last thing was obtaining residency visas for our new home....Italy here we come! Five days before we were flying out to start our new life....the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....denied us for the 3rd time. Stating...NOT ENOUGH $$$$. The first time we applied we did what was told to us by our local consulate. We provided the bank statements etc necessary. We were told....need more money! Fine we applied again and this time provided documentation showing all of our assets etc....once again we were told....more $$$. Fine....we applied for the 3rd time showing more...more...more $$$. Denied again!!!! It was a Thursday....we were leaving on Monday. I later found out that the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia has not given out a residency visa in 8 years. Yet....while in Italy we talked to people from all over the WORLD who had easily obtained visas and were living there. I just don't understand it???? Any help or information is greatly appreciated.