{"id":6535,"date":"2023-08-09T09:39:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T13:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=6535"},"modified":"2023-08-09T09:39:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T13:39:43","slug":"this-family-is-moving-to-italy-because-theyve-had-enough-of-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/09\/this-family-is-moving-to-italy-because-theyve-had-enough-of-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"This family is moving to Italy because they\u2019ve had enough of the US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By\u00a0Silvia Marchetti, CNN &#8211;<\/em><\/strong> As dozens of Italian towns sell off old houses on the cheap, foreigners who rush to grab one are often in search of a year-round sunshine spot, a vacation retreat, or just to live their Italian dream.<\/p><p>But one American family has done it to start a new life far from the United States.<\/p><p>In 2019, the Dawkins family \u2013 Nadine, 59, her husband, Kim, 61, and their children Lorenzo, 29, and DeNae, 27 \u2013 bought a charming home in the town of Latronico. In the southern region of Basilicata, the town of 4,000 inhabitants is located within the pristine Pollino National Park and surrounded by hot springs.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter\" data-effect=\"slide\"><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container\"><ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\"><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"779\" height=\"522\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-6541\" data-id=\"6541\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1.jpg 779w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-600x402.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-400x269.jpg 400w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-90x60.jpg 90w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-2-1-134x90.jpg 134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"657\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-6542\" data-id=\"6542\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1.jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1-292x300.jpeg 292w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1-600x616.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1-58x60.jpeg 58w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1-1-88x90.jpeg 88w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"924\" height=\"509\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-6543\" data-id=\"6543\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1.jpg 924w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1-768x423.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1-600x331.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1-109x60.jpg 109w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-3-1-163x90.jpg 163w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"><\/a><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><p>They got excited after reading CNN\u2019s article about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.preview.cnn.com\/travel\/article\/italy-cheap-houses-latronico-carrega-liguere-cmd\/index.html\">Latronico\u2019s initiative<\/a>&nbsp;to sell cheap houses that are already inhabitable, rather than ruins for one euro, or a little over a dollar. The town advertises available properties on a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/casalatronico.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dedicated website<\/a>.<\/p><p>Reading the article at her home in El Paso, Texas, Nadine Dawkins, a retired former soldier and businesswoman, felt the pull of her ancestry.<\/p><p>Her great-great-grandfather was Italian and came to America in the 19th century. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cAfter hearing my nonna\u2019s stories, I always felt a connection to Italy,\u201d she tells CNN Travel.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure><p>\u201cAs a soldier stationed in the region many years later, I vowed to return. Years more, my husband and I brought our children over to see where they hailed from.\u201d<\/p><p>Her Italian ancestor took on an American name when he landed in the States: Clint Jeffrey. Nadine doesn\u2019t know much about her great-great-grandmother, Lucinda, who was an enslaved woman on an Arkansas plantation when Jeffreybought her, and \u201clived out the rest of his days with her,\u201d she says.<\/p><p>\u201cUnfortunately, I have no additional information about Lucinda. All I know is that she was a slave, and he purchased her. My grandmother and great-grandmother never told me anything else about her. I believe it was because of such atrocities that slavery, and the memories of it had on them; because of course being born in the 1800s and early 1900s was a hard time for all Black people in America.\u201d <\/p><p>The family decided they wanted to leave the US in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd.<\/p><p>\u201c[It] showed the world how we as Black people in America have been treated for centuries,\u201d says Nadine.<\/p><p>\u201cAll the racism, all the divisiveness, all the hate that the last administration brought to the forefront\u201d has caused an \u201cexodus\u201d from America of Black people who have the means to do so, she says.<\/p><p>\u201cBasically, police brutality towards Black people, mass shootings from domestic terrorists, and just the overall hate in this country is why we are leaving the USA.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Their move follows Nadine\u2019s 30-year career in the military, while Kim Dawkins works for the US government.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure><p>The family will be shortly moving to Panama before taking the final leap across the Atlantic to Latronico.<\/p><p>Nadine doesn\u2019t know where exactly her ancestor hailed from, but snapping up one of Latronico\u2019s cheap homes seemed like a good way to reconnect with her roots.<\/p><p>\u201cI was up in the middle of the night during Covid, with lots of time to read, when I came across the CNN story. Immediately we sent an email to the deputy mayor Vincenzo Castellano and looked at properties online.<\/p><p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect it \u2013 he contacted us the very next day. We set up a video call, he sent us a video of our selected home. That sealed our fate: We bought the house sight unseen, without going to Italy,\u201d she recalls.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/travel\/latronico-italy-cheap-house-escape-us\/index.html\">Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Silvia Marchetti, CNN &#8211; As dozens of Italian towns sell off old houses on the cheap, foreigners who rush to grab one are often in search of a year-round sunshine&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[975,1458],"class_list":{"0":"post-6535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-moving-to-italy","9":"tag-us-couple-moving-to-italy"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nadine-and-kim-1.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6544,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions\/6544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}