Fire Exit

Italy was in his blood. Proving it to the Italian government was another matter.

Sixty-five-year-old Glen P. Vecchione was done with the corporate world, but he wasn't ready for the "happy hour and pickleball" culture of San Diego. Restless, disconnected, and aching for his roots, he has a chance meeting with a tourist that sparks a radical idea: What if he swapped his retirement community for a village in Umbria?

Fire Exit: A Senior American's Search for a Better Life in Italy is the authentic, intensely personal, and often funny memoir of one gay man's quest to reclaim his heritage and find a new home in Europe. Following the trail of his Italian ancestry, Glen winds through the maze of applying for dual citizenship while attempting to buy a house in a small Italian village. It isn't the breezy cultural reset he imagined - it's an adventure filled with bureaucratic near-disasters, comic blunders, and the unlikely joys of a life reinvented.

Whether you're looking for a good read or are one of the many people seriously researching how to move to Europe, Fire Exit proves it's never too late to learn a new language, explore faraway places, and dance the Tarantella. Most importantly, it's proof that it's possible to find the courage to leave the familiar behind, try something different, and even find love in the most surprising of places - no matter how old you are.