Subject: The 180-day rule
As most folks here probably know, US passport holders can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period in Schengen countries without any special visa. What I didn't understand (but do now, thanks to the EU website) is that this means that an uninterrupted absence of 90 days from those countries allows for a new stay of up to 90 days. Thus, US passport holders could live nearly 6 months in total out of every year in the Schengen zone.

For DW and me, this works fine. So, I don't think we'll pursue obtaining a "passive income" visa for France or Italy unless a certain former President should happen to get elected this fall. :-)