He said that this process starts with the gathering of the documentation, then correcting any inconsistencies in the documents (misspellings, etc.), getting an apostille on each of the documents, getting the ones in English translated into Italian, and then applying. He said there are two ways to apply – the first is to use the consulate in the US (the one which services my state) and the other is in Italy. The consulate, he says, costs less money but takes the longest time as appointments are often not available for 18 months and if there is an issue with my application, I would have to make more appointments. Applying in Italy, he says, takes two weeks and is coupled with a sort of “back to your roots” vacation while you work through the application process. Of course, this option is more expensive (with airfare and lodging), but seems, to me, to be the better way. A follow-up email from Peter with a list of documentation that is needed confirms my initial step – I now just wait for all of these documents to arrive.