The advantages of living in Italy and doing business go far beyond the opportunities and the amazing lifestyle. – Italian Bureaucracy.

However, the other side of the coin is that when doing business here, you have to deal with the Italian bureaucracy.

Official tasks may require a lot of documents and a long, complicated process. There may be several parts of the process that just plain don’t make sense, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you want to reach certain goals, you have to jump through certain hoops. There’s no way around it.

The important thing is to be mentally prepared for this extra effort you may have to do, for what may seem like simple transactions. Just allow extra time in your schedule and bring a book to read while you are waiting in line at government offices. Occupying your mind with something else is the key to not feeling like you are wasting time.

Italian cultural values and cultural awareness plays a big part in Italian bureaucracy.

Take it from someone who has waited countless hours in lines at public offices and still loves living in Italy. Here are my top 10 observations:

1. You may visit a public office on one day, and speak to a certain person. The person sends you away with instructions. When you come back, having completed said instructions and documents, you meet a different person who sends you away with a completely different set of instructions.

2. You get to practice your Italian a lot, as you spend time explaining all the information about your situation…again.

3. If you’re lucky, you find that one person in the public office who understands exactly what to do.

4. Often this person will understand that the process is lengthy and difficult, and will genuinely want to help you.

5. The kindness and altruism of Italian people always transcends the complications of the bureaucracy. They will often do everything they can to help you, and you will be amazed at their kindness.

6. With politeness, patience and gratitude, you can manage to complete tedious operations more quickly.

7. You can even make lifelong friends with people you meet in public offices. I have developed close friendships that lasted over a decade with workers I met in public offices.

8. Speaking of friends: if you know someone who works in a public office, you can ask that person’s help in completing certain operations. Knowing someone always helps. It doesn’t mean they will do anything illegitimate. It just means you can get things done a tiny bit faster.

9. The fact that certain processes have been moved online does not necessarily mean that it is easier.

10. You need patience, patience, patience!