Permission to stay...AGAIN!

Since my handbag and personal belongings were permanently borrowed by an Italian, I have been slowly starting to replace all those missing items.  A new purse has been purchased, Italian bank card received, some loyalty cards replaced, and I evem managed to persuade my Australian Bank to send my new credit card to my parents address, (after a long heated discussion as to why I can not just collect it at my local Australian branch next time I am 'in the area').  Now it was time to get the ball rolling in regards to my permit to stay paperwork... AGAIN.

I would rather swim in a pool of freshly squeezed lemon juice while being covered from head to toe in paper cuts, then to negotiate the rocky path that is "Italian Paperwork".  I had my appointment at the post office last month, money was paid, paperwork signed and then I received my appointment for the police station one month following, again  This is when you get all your fingerprints done, again, provide photos, again, then wait another month or so before making another appointment to collect an ID permission to stay card, again.  Still perplexed as to why this type of thing is not on record, I have accepted that it is just 'the way things are done here'.  I also accept the fact that an appointment time is about as truthful as a second hand car sales man.  We arrive for our appointment at 8.25, (we are not the first appointment, I think they start them from 8 or 8.15), which is a little bizarre to me considering that the Police Station does not actually open until 8.30...

Finally called into the office, we are told that there appears to be a bit of a problem, again.  Our original permit to stay cards have not been cancelled.  We can not issue another permit to stay card until the originals are cancelled.  It takes one month to cancel the original cards.  So, I have a permit to stay, that I do not physically have, so I need to cancel it to get another one... comprehend?  Guess what?  I need to come back again.  Next month.  To get my fingerprints done then, again.  I should receive my permit to stay, again, a month or so after that, depending on the mood of the 'Italian Paperwork Mafia'.  Oh by the way, legally, you can not leave the country.  Is the EU just one big country?