Back in 2003, I spent a semester in L'Aquila, Italy and fell in love with the country. Studying abroad has changed the trajectory of my life.

Two years later, I returned to Bocconi University in Milan to pursue a master's degree in marketing and communications. The stylish, fast-paced Milan is drowsy from the sleepy L'Aquila, and the nightlife of the city actually reminds me of my hometown of Miami.

After finishing my studies, I knew I wanted to stay. This is the beginning of a romantic relationship with Italy and the love is counted. I moved here permanently in 2012 after marrying my Italian husband Diego.

Today, we live in Milan with our six-year-old son Lorenzo. I run a company called Do Italy to help other Americans live here for themselves.

We rented a 1,227 square foot 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment for about $1,850 per month. We lived here for about three years.

When Lorenzo was three years old, we discovered this place. The apartment hasn't changed much in the past 40 years, so we set out to renovate it to make it more up-to-date and more like us.

In the United States, doing important jobs can be frowning. But in Italy, government incentives such as tax credits are used to renovate homes, and even tenants. Our landlord also offered us a free rent for eight months to renovate the apartment

The renovation cost us about $41,000, but between government discounts and rent pauses, we saved about $33,400.

bathroom

This bathroom is one of my favorite rooms but requires a lot of work. We dug up completely, changed the faucet, and added the hexagonal tiles I liked. We sourced ceramic tiles from a lovely, friendly and family-owned company in Tuscany.

kitchen

When we got here, the kitchen hadn't been renovated for about 40 years, so it took a lot of work. In fact, our movers brought not only kitchen goods from the old apartment, but also appliances.

We ripped the sink and stove from the old apartment and installed them in a new place. It was an unforgettable transition. We also added some new cabinets and a new countertop.

We removed the existing wall tiles but placed them on the floor. We also closed two horizontal doors that once opened the kitchen, giving us more countertop space.

living room

To open up the living space, we knocked down the entire wall. The living room has natural hardwood floors that we polished and added lighter stains.

Since the floors in this corridor space are tile, we sourced some wood floors to best match the rest of the room.

Bookshelf, grey sofa and lighting fixtures are some interesting focal points in the space.

My son's room

My son’s favorite part in his room was the giant map we placed on one side of the wall. He likes to point out all the different positions above. I love it because it helps bring all of our worlds together.

Our room

One of the most important additions we make in the apartment is the air conditioning in the bedroom. I grew up in Miami and my family is from the Caribbean, so I can handle a little bit of calories. On the other hand, my husbands are not many.

I also love our dressing table, which my husband made in the 1800s by my husband's great-grandfather. It took some work to bring it back to life, so we recovered it.

When we go to the market, there are a lot of quality ingredients to choose from. Fresh, delicious produce is relatively easy and easy to use. We source eggs such as eggs outside the city, milk and butter, milk and butter, or farms outside the city’s farmers’ market.

Leisure time is also a serious business in Italy. A perfect example is the evening ritual and tradition of aperitif.

After the weekdays, people will stop in the cafe for an hour or two to drink a glass of wine and food. It is so deeply culturally entrenched that whenever we leave the park after school, my son says "Facciamo un'peritivo'" - even though he says "A" very adorable.

We will travel to the neighborhood with our friends. The kids took their own tables with juice and fries, and the adults would sit at our table with our adult drinks and no one looked at us like we were causing them inconvenience.

I love raising my son in Milan. Having kids here doesn’t mean the end of your social life. There are many parks, galleries and museums, as well as a variety of family-friendly activities.

On average, Italians get four to six weeks of paid leave each year, unlike in the United States, where people actually use vacation time. From Milan we can reach Lake Como or Lake Genoa by the sea in two hours, which is just a day trip.

I grew up in a middle-class immigrant family. The fact that I am now having to take regular vacations in the Italian Dolomites and places to spend weekends in Vienna is not something I take for granted. I feel so lucky that I can't be here with more joy.

Thea Duncan Prando yes Do Italy. She lives in Milan with her husband and son. To learn more about her life in Italy, please follow her @doingitaly

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