My Italian passport expires at the end of July. As an Italian formally resident abroad (AIRE), I depend for all bureaucratic matters on the Italian Consulate General in my country of residence, in my case is London. This includes the renewal of my passport. In order to do so, a visit to the Consulate in London is mandatory. However, except for documented emergencies, to arrange a visit an appointment needs to be booked beforehand exclusively via phone. If you are lucky this means a waiting time of well over a month, but if you are not, this means no appointment at all. Having tried myself quite a few times in the last month or so and having checked various online discussion fora, it is indeed a matter a luck and perseverance (which requires a PA or a lot of spare time, neither of which are available to me) to have…