Regular Mirabilis.ca readers will know that I'm tempted to go live in Italy. Almost everything appeals... except the infuriating Italian bureaucracy. Here's an example:
Luciana Buonocore would like to be known as Luciano. In fact, he would like to be known as a man. Because he is one. He was born a male 28 years ago, but the birth certificate mistakenly calls him Luciana and designates him "female."
You might think that correcting such an error would be simple. But a succession of schoolteachers, priests, town officials, central government authorities, cops and judges have unwittingly conspired to keep Buonocore trapped in the bureaucratic body of a female.
So seven years ago, Buonocore went to court to try to become Luciano, "male." Setback followed setback there, and finally things became urgent when he decided to get married. Italy does not recognize same-sex unions, so it was impossible for him, as Luciana, to tie the knot with his fiancee.
So off he went to get the problem sorted out. And oh my, what it took to get that error fixed. Read the rest of The Strange Tale of Unlucky Luciano at the Washington Post website.
Posted on November 4, 2002 10:28 PM. Filed under: Italy.