OK, I received a call from the Italian Consulate yesterday and my appointment will be 3 March, at 9:30 am. I already have everything I need for my appointment except maybe a few extra copies of the documents, but that is just a matter of printing them out at this point. So if all goes well, and I expect no problems for this stage, Mom should become an Italian citizen in a few more weeks. Then we start planning for step 2.