# Biella



## raFL

Hello all: I am in the process of applying for the Italian citizenship recognition based on the "iure sanguinis" provision, and I have been reading posts on this Forum for quite a few months. Finally I have decided to add one of my own: Is there anyone familiar with Biella? That's where my family comes from -and Torino- and even if I have visited for a few hours and got a general idea of the city in winter, I am still missing the whole picture. Can anyone provide some assessment about its year-round quality of life, I mean transportation connections, nightlife, crime, things to do, friendliness?


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## raFL

Nobody? What a cold response! I have to assume I’ll be living a very secluded, semi-monastic existence in this city at the feet of the Alps… Thank you all for reading my post…


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## Bevdeforges

It really has only been a couple of days. Some of our forum "regulars" only stop by once a week or so. And flagging down someone who knows the particular town you're interested in could take a bit longer.
Cheers,
Bev


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## pudd 2

raFL said:


> Nobody? What a cold response! I have to assume I’ll be living a very secluded, semi-monastic existence in this city at the feet of the Alps… Thank you all for reading my post…


or pehaps there is nobody on the forum living there , this inot normal to have no responce 
to
a ?? ask about the south you might get a better warmer like the weather respnce 

please dont judge us on your post


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## raFL

pudd 2 said:


> or pehaps there is nobody on the forum living there , this inot normal to have no responce
> to
> a ?? ask about the south you might get a better warmer like the weather respnce
> 
> please dont judge us on your post


No, not at all. I have nothing but admiration for the forum, Biellese members or not. It has been very useful for me to get a feel of the practical side of life in Italy, which before reading so many posts here about a myriad of subjects, seemed very challenging, in spite of knowing the language and having visited often. Now I am readier to make the move when the time, hopefully, comes. Thanks for your words.


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## Alexander85

Hi raFL!
Biella is a small quiet city with 45000 people....as you can understand, it's a safe city with crime index/rate lower than larger cities. Anyway, the city is well-connected by rail/bus. 
I don't think there are so many things to do (except visiting some particular places) but you could move to Milan or Turin (Biella is between Turin and Milan) sometimes....you can see the temperature during winter in celsius scale searching Stazione_meteorologica_di_Biella on wikipedia (I cannot give you the link because of expatforum). 
Italians are warm/expansive but most of us don't speak english/american language so you could have difficultes to make friends 
I don't speak english very well (me too) so I wish I didn't make so many mistakes
PS: I know Biella just because i live in Turin


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## yosheryosh

small italian towns (i.e. biella) you are going to be pretty bored unless you are looking for a 'retired' kind of life. looks like you dont even have a big city within an hour driving. 

so expect total and complete boredom (which is fine if you are ok with that)

oh, and between your first and second post you waited 5 days then said no one responded and was cold. before you get on the plane the first thing to do is drop the NOW and neuroticism of America. Otherwise you wont last a week in italy - especially biella


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## raFL

yosheryosh said:


> small italian towns (i.e. biella) you are going to be pretty bored unless you are looking for a 'retired' kind of life. looks like you dont even have a big city within an hour driving.
> 
> so expect total and complete boredom (which is fine if you are ok with that)
> 
> oh, and between your first and second post you waited 5 days then said no one responded and was cold. before you get on the plane the first thing to do is drop the NOW and neuroticism of America. Otherwise you wont last a week in italy - especially biella


Thanks for the free, unsolicited psychoanalysis, of a whole nation of more than 300 million people and my two or three posts. If some people knew how foolishly clueless they sound in these internet venues when they dare to advance opinions on other posters based on no information whatsoever… Talk about neurosis...


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## yosheryosh

first america *is* different. anyone who has lived outside the states can say that. i'm not sure if you have done it yet or not.

second, you waited 5 days then then went on to say nobody?, what a cold response, and sarcastically 'thanks for reading my post'.

there's hundreds, maybe thousands of posts with 0 replies. relax.


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## raFL

Yes, dear yosheryosh, I have lived on both sides of the pond. "America", our old USA, if that is what you mean, is indeed different. As I see that you are counting the days I take to reply to your entries, and on this occasion I am terribly overdue, and being that I would hate myself for distracting you from more serious duties, this will have to do as my last reply to you: Let's leave Biella there happily quiet under the shadows of the Alps and go back to our more pressing affairs. Nevertheless, I appreciate your contributions.


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## Molino 6

I do not know Biella much but I have visited Ivrea which is very near and the Canavese / Valchiusella area. I loved it so much I have bought a large property there which I am refurbishing to turn into rental accommodation soon. It is very lovely and peaceful. There are plenty of things to do. You just need to find them. When you move to the area let me know will be happy to give you some tips or assist with accommodation!


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## raFL

LargeLewis said:


> I must say I had never heard of Biella and having read many a similar post thought it not worth the original OP time to respond. I did however read the post and have followed it again with the further posts. Sorry, but I had to laugh a little at the tone of them. Typical American in part, but that's just a stupid Brit point of view. Seriously however, since having to use these forums to get such wonderful advice, and my attempts to pay back by trying to now help others, I have to say I've been amazed at the different general attitude between nationalities. What I find so surprising is at how obvious to me it comes across. I'm sure this cuts both ways and therefore try to take a little more time over any response/reaction I get from people. Perhaps some reward here for others would be the fact they have at least entertained someone a little with their posts.
> On returning to actual information, whilst I realise (see no "z") it may seem nice to have on the ground information about a place, it may well turn out not be your idea of heaven or hell. There is a lot of information out there on places such as the site I mentioned in another post that gives you an idea of the size of a place, how many "stranieri" live there and even broken down by nationality. For things like the weather you can look historically for at least temperatures on the likes of AccuWeather (almost sure they are American  ). Google street view is a great way to check out the views, road conditions and houses and covers many small roads. Looking at it myself, it looks far too big for us and it too far North, just goes to show differing views... Our comune totals just over 2000. Have a look at the comune site, it has lots of information on there. I can't post links,but it will come up in any "comune biella it" search I'm sure.


Exactly… the whole thing has indeed some humorous undertones. It certainly took a meddling Englishman to bring some good sense to this silly exchange going on between what he terms “typical Americans”. Far from it at least from my side, just an accidental and adoptive son. That settled, Biella for me has the appeal of being where my forbearers come from –la famiglia Ferrero Lamarmora- But I only visited for a few hours during a recent Christmas and I was unable to gauge how I would feel using it as a base for a long stay in the Piemonte. Some Italian smaller towns can be utterly depressive when you exhaust the charming places to visit, particularly after this ravaging economic crisis, which has affected so many people everywhere, and being that visiting this place just in itself has a deep personal nostalgic connotation, I am concerned about how much I can handle.


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## maryjane222

I used to work there..what exactly do you want to know?


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## mattaman25

maryjane222 said:


> I used to work there..what exactly do you want to know?


Hello Maryjane22 - we were thinking of buying a cheap house in Biella. We love Milan, and Torrino is good too. The cities are too expensive for us, we also considered Alessandria. rail links and at least some shops is what we are looking for. Immersive Italian culture would be our aim. Dont want to be around English speakers too much. I am guessing there are lots of lovely hikes/walks around Biella and its easy enough to catch train to the city for other stuff?

Thanks

Scott


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