Douglas Ritter

Douglas Ritter had the good fortune to grow up in Italy, as his father was transferred there for business in 1960. Douglas was 8 years old at the time and his family lived in Rome until he was 15 before they returned to the USA in 1967. In 1970 Douglas began to visit Rome almost annually for the next 50 years, and planned on retiring there at 65. He biggest regret was that he didn't learn Italian despite growing up there.

In 2018 he retired to Italy, not to Rome, but to a small town, Bassano del Grappa, near the Dolomites that he had fallen in love with on cycling vacations he and his wife had taken for 18 years. Here he decided to chronicle what it's really like to move to Italy for an American, bureaucracy and all. In his book, Love, Loss & Bicycling he details exactly what an American must do to live in Italy, dealing with multiple trips to the local state immigration department for residence permits, buying a car, buying insurance, finding an apartment and finally learning the language. As a avid cyclist he finds a local cycling team and rides with them most Sundays.

"It's a book I wish I had read before I moved" said Douglas in an interview. "I had read almost every book I could find by people buying farmhouses, falling in love and living a carefree existence in Italy and I always wondered, but what about obtaining their Permesso di Soggiorno, how did they get that?".

He continues, "I wanted to write a book that detailed what really happens when you move here. That isn't typically covered in the other books."

Douglas Ritter spent over forty years working in Advertising and marketing, retiring to Italy in 2018 at the age of 65. Life, Loss & Bicycling is his third book.