This US family moved to Italy sight unseen nine years ago and never looked back

Jason Salesberry had never set foot on Italian soil before moving there in October 2017. Today, he owns a house in a hill town and plans to harvest from his two-acre olive tree grove.

In the nine years since his family arrived unseen in Naples, their lives have become a whirlwind of European adventures, from paragliding in Switzerland and scuba diving in Greece to days spent at the local beach and enjoying Neapolitan ice cream.

“Living in the heart of Europe has opened up a world of adventure for our family,” Jason told CNN Travel today.

It was a life the U.S. Navy veteran, who grew up in San Diego, California and previously served in Puerto Rico and Japan, never imagined. But he had long admired Italian culture and dreamed of one day experiencing it firsthand.

After meeting his wife, Sherry, a U.S. Navy veteran originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and deciding to start a family, that dream became an active plan.

A leap into the unknown

“I never imagined my life’s path would lead to a hill town in southern Italy,” says Jason.

“It was really just an adventure. We wanted to try something new.”

There were also practical motivations. Jason says he’s increasingly concerned about violent crime in Chesapeake, Virginia, where the family has lived since 2009. She wanted a safer, more stable environment for her little girl.

“When I compared crime rates in Europe to those in the United States, the verdict became clear,” he says. He applied to a military base near Naples and was hired soon after.

But while Jason was eager to step into the unknown, Sherry needed some serious convincing.

“I almost protested coming here,” Sherry admits. He finally agreed to move on one condition: they would only stay for three years. “I’m an only child and my mother didn’t want me to come.”

They retained their three rights because they viewed relocation as a temporary duty.–Instead of selling his one-bedroom house in Virginia. They packed light because they weren’t sure what to expect from Italian residences.

They came to Naples with their daughter and dog in October 2017. They were initially apprehensive about the move and couldn’t help but wonder if they had made the right decision. Jason vividly remembers their first night in the country, when “the sheer weight of unfamiliarity” reduced Sherry to tears.

They eventually found a house to rent at the U.S. Navy complex in Pozzuoli, a historic town located directly above a volcanic caldera. It offered spectacular views but also isolated them from local life “in the American bubble.”

learning to slow down

As they settled in, the family fell in love with the local food scene and the slow pace of life in Naples.

“Everyone is busy in the US,” says Sherry. “You have nine to five, then you have to get ready to go to school and work the next day. That’s not the case here.”

He jokes that they must learn to adapt to the local culture, where a dinner can take two to three hours.

“We had to learn the art of slowing down,” adds Jason. “However, the benefits far outweighed the adjustments.”

Naples, the birthplace of pizza, offered many opportunities for culinary discovery. The family loved trying the city’s mom and pop restaurants and marveled at how each cuisine had its own take on classic pasta and pizza.

However, local programs brought some culture shocks.

Restaurants rarely opened for dinner before 19:00; this was a time when the family often slowed down. Adding to this challenge, Jason and Sherry, who worked at the bank, also often kept their US hours.

Then there was traffic. The “intense” driving style in Naples scared Sherry so much that it took her eight months to work up the courage to get behind the wheel.

“I still can’t get used to it,” he says, describing local drivers as extremely “unpredictable” and constantly “spinning 360 degrees.” “In America, you know what the other driver is doing,” he says. “They do whatever they want here.”

Even the local waste management system proved to be a minefield; Trash had to be sorted into five different categories, and the rules had to vary from one neighborhood to the next.

Financially, the family has seen their dollars grow much more than they did in Virginia. Although the cost of eating out is comparable to the United States, the lower cost of fresh produce and services has allowed them to live comfortably on a single income for years.

Jason notes that although they missed the convenience of American fast-food options, they relied heavily on fast, processed meals before the move. He says it would be “really unhealthy” today if they had stayed in Virginia.

As the Salesberries overcame the initial hurdles, they began to find themselves less eager to return to America. By the three-year anniversary in 2020, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global lockdowns made sheltering in place seem like the logical choice.

“I really thought we were going back and I was ready to go,” says Sherry, noting that there is still a part of her that resists life in Italy, even refusing to hang picture frames on the walls. He says Jason is different. “I guess deep down he always wanted to stay.”

But Sherry decided to embrace her new home, moving from relying on language apps to learning Italian and enrolling in formal Italian classes. He is now the family’s most proficient Italian speaker and manages daily interactions with a variety of words and hand gestures.

“We need to be fluent this year,” he says. “Because none of our Italian neighbors speak English, so I can’t be the only one struggling with this situation.”

By 2022, the family had reached another important crossroads as they began considering returning to the United States. Jason said it was “about 50-50” but a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, in November of that year tipped the balance.

Safety factor

“I was really worried about her safety,” she says of her daughters, now 10 and attending an American school on a military base.

“That was a big turning point.” Jason says he knows there is crime in Naples too, but not to the same level. “You never hear that here,” he adds. “That’s what matters. Safety was paramount.”

But they had other problems to deal with. For eight years, they experienced increased seismic activity around the Campi Flegrei Volcano, resulting in an earthquake reaching a magnitude of 4.4.

“It kind of destroyed the city,” Jason says. “So we said, ‘We need to move.'”

Those desiring a quieter, more rural lifestyle away from the earthquake zone have found the ideal destination in the town of Caiazzo, north of Naples. There, they purchased a seven-bedroom, five-bathroom property surrounded by two acres of land and a historic grove of 40 olive trees; all of this for approximately 250,000 euros or $285,797.

Although he and Sherry both work on a military base and hold Permesso di Soggiorno residence permits, which allow them to live and work in the country for extended periods of time, Jason says spending more time with Italians has made them feel more integrated into the local culture.

“You have to consciously choose to go out and learn, mingle and immerse yourself in the culture,” he says, adding that his own Italian language skills have improved significantly since moving to the countryside.

new adventure

Now his days are filled with property renovations and farming lessons. “We’re starting our next big Italian adventure: learning how to care for the land and harvest our own olives,” says Jason, adding that they hope to have “beautiful olive oil” by October.

Nearly a decade after what was supposed to be a short, temporary assignment in Italy, the Salesberry family has now closed the door on returning to the United States. They even added a new member to the household; a local stray dog ​​who “adopted” them. (Sadly, the family dog ​​that came with them from Virginia also passed away.)

“We stand with him because he chose us,” Sherry says.

Reflecting on her experiences, Sherry says she has noticed an increasing number of Americans trying to move to Italy, but warns against following their own paths in doing so blindly.

“I don’t think it’s for everyone,” he says, emphasizing that it takes at least a year to get used to the culture shock and understand the lay of the land. “But you never know until you try… When we came here, we didn’t know we would stay here, buy a house, and be here years later.”

The family did not completely rule out the possibility of returning to Virginia a few years later and held on to their home there. However, they think that Italian life suits them better and makes them happier.

“Life is so quiet,” says Sherry. “And honestly, I don’t think I’ll be going back. Even though all of my family is there, we spent most of our time here as a family.”

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