What I’ve learned so far in my move to Italy, along with links and resources to help guide anyone thinking of relocating to a new country

Kirsten Powers

Dec 09, 2024

The first thing you have to do is get clear on your “why.”

This will help you choose which countries to start investigating and also will be something to look back to when you face obstacles in your new home and wonder why you left everything you knew in the first place.

My “why” couldn’t have been clearer: the way we live in the United States is not normal.

Interestingly, the political situation was not a driving force in my decision. But it is for others: data has shown that since the presidential election, research on “how to move abroad” has surged, and the New York Times reported that interest in digital nomad visas also increased after the election results.

I started my move when Biden was president, and even if Kamala Harris (who I voted for) had won, I wouldn’t have reconsidered my decision.

The chronic stress, violence, disordered values1, and expense of life in the US that led to my move are not things that can be remedied easily. They can be fixed, but first, our leaders have to understand what’s wrong, and I heard nothing during the election that made me think that either party has a good handle on the systemic problems that plague America.2 I’m hopeful that will change, but for now it’s not somewhere I want to live.

I want a simpler existence in a culture that prioritizes community and quality of life—much like this woman who moved to Greece with her daughter and is not looking back.

Whatever your reason, make sure that it’s strong enough to carry you through the various frustrations that will arise as you adapt to a new culture.

When I get annoyed by Italian bureaucracy, I just stop and remind myself, “I’ll never pay $7000 for dental surgery here,” despite having insurance through my husband’s job, as I did a few weeks ago when I had the misfortune of being in the US when a tooth became infected and had to be removed. Had it happened a few weeks earlier when I was in Italy, the same surgery would have been around $300 dollars out of pocket.

Or, “I’ll never fight with my health insurance company to reimburse me for a visit that is clearly covered by my policy because they hired a firm to help them reject more claims.” I could list a million other things if I needed to, but that usually settles me right down.

The fact is, there are difficulties everywhere. You just have to decide which ones you want to live with.

II. WHAT

Once you have your “why,” you need your “what,” as in “What are my must-haves for my new home country?”

Here were the “must-a haves” I put on my list before I started looking:

• Affordable. For me, this means not having to overwork to provide for the basics of life: food, water, housing, quality health care, a vacation now and then, and one trip to the US a year to see family. In particular, I wanted to be able to live off of the average salary in the country,3 not based on a US salary, because I no longer have a US salary.
• Price Point: My husband and I decided our price point for purchasing a home would be $400,000. That was the amount we were comfortable taking (borrowing) from our retirement account, which we can repay when we sell our DC house in a few years.4 My husband’s job requires him to be in the US, so he won’t be joining me for a few years. So he will cover his expenses in DC, and I am responsible for mine in Italy. Renting is an excellent option if you don’t have the money or inclination to buy in a new country.
• Community-oriented. Key to this is having a government that creates the conditions for strong communities (worker protections, paid time off, walkable towns and cities, etc.).
• Dog Friendly. One of the things we have loved when traveling to Italy is how easy it has been to bring our little Shih Tzu Lucy along with us. Entering the country has been easy (though it recently got a little harder, but is still not that onerous) and she is welcomed everywhere from Michelin star restaurants to the grocery store. We wanted the same thing wherever we moved.
• Good investment property. Because my husband and I like to travel so much, we wanted a property that could be rented out during high season, which would help pay for the property over time and also give us a chance to explore.
• Friendly people who are welcoming to outsiders. I did not want to move to a place where we were displacing people and participating in ruining the local culture or where people are disinterested in getting to know outsiders.
• Thriving expat community: Though I planned to learn the language of my new home, I wanted to have a community of English speakers to socialize with until I became proficient in the language (the common language of expat communities is typically English).
• Easy access to restaurants, museums, and cultural events
• Close to (or in) nature, ideally near a swimmable ocean
• Safe (No mass shootings or scourge of gun violence)
• Good travel hub, meaning easy access to an international airport and train stations

III. WHERE

Our “where” and “why” put a lot of places in play, but as I ticked through the few that caught my eye—Panama, Spain, Portugal—my husband wasn’t super excited. He has been nurturing a 35-year love affair with Italy, during which he learned to speak Italian. He also got me to fall in love with the people and the place through many trips to the land of la dolce vita over the last decade.

But our price point put it out of reach (or so we thought).

When we looked at houses in Northern Italy, where we tend to spend the most time, the prices were well above what we wanted to spend (in the 600-800K range). Mortgages in Italy are hard to get for Italians and impossible for non-Italians with no credit history in Italy, so we had to pay cash for whatever we bought.

This was the point where I should have done some more research into Italy’s real estate by region, and I’m not sure why I didn’t.

Instead, we headed to Portugal to check it out.

While Portugal is lovely, it didn’t feel right for us. There was a bit of a backlash to all the Americans who had moved there, causing prices to rise, and we didn’t want to be somewhere where locals resented us. It’s still possible (I believe) to move to Portugal in less developed areas where there is a need for more investment, but those areas didn’t appeal to us. We also kept comparing Portugal to Italy, and by the end of the trip, we knew that anything other than Italy would feel like settling.

We were already familiar with the cost of living in Italy because we had traveled there so much and had extended stays. If you lack this familiarity, you should do research about the cost of living and find people to follow on social media and Substack who are transparent about their expenses as they compare to the US (or wherever you may be relocating from). For example,

from

explained that compared to the US, she and her partner spend 25 percent less to live in Portugal than they did in the US. If you want a comparison between the US and Spain, check out this Instagram post.

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The difference in the cost of living will obviously depend on where you are coming from and where you move. I moved from Washington, DC, one of the more expensive places to live in the US, to one of the least expensive areas in Italy. So, the cost of living in Italy as compared to DC is at least 50 percent less. I will be able to provide a more exact breakdown of costs after I’ve lived there a full year. An American expat in Italy outlines her expenses in Italy in this Instagram post.

I also love this Instagram account which doesn’t focus on one country or region but instead provides information about locations all over the world. This is good to follow to figure out if you want to move, where you might move and what your options are in terms of getting a visa or citizenship in that country.

IV. HOW

My husband and I were clear on what we were looking for in our new home, wherever it may be. We had settled on the “where” and the “why,” but the “how” was an open question. Here are my suggestions for determining the answer to “how” you can move to a country that meets your requirements:

1. Determine your financial situation.

If you are able to work remotely with your current job or will be living off of retirement income you shouldn’t have a problem finding a wonderful place to relocate, because there are many options that are less expensive than the US or at the same level of cost as the US.

If you do not fall into one of these categories, you can try to be hired by a local company. The difficulty of this differs by country, but expect it to be pretty hard. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible—I know people who have done it, but it’s the most difficult option in terms of employment.

If your current position doesn’t allow you to work remotely, you can always try and find a job that will. Here is a guide (NYT paywall) to check out. There are also international companies that are hiring for global remote positions that would work with the digital nomad visas some countries are offering.

2. Research, research, research.

Do as much research as you can at every stage of this process. Be patient. It took me years to narrow our target down to Puglia, where we ended up buying. If, like me, you want a lower cost of living, you will need to do research to determine your options.

• Interact with expat groups on Facebook. As much as I loathe Facebook, it really is a great resource for this. In my interview with Courtney Leak about moving to Panama, she shares how it all started with her joining a Facebook group for Black expats in Panama.
• Follow people on Instagram who have relocated to your country of choice. There are many accounts full of great information and the people running them will often answer questions about their experience and the process of moving to the country they chose. Thea Duncan at the Doing Italy Instagram account has great content based on her 20 years of living as an American in Italy and I also love the Italy Travel & Lifestyle account run by an American couple who has relocated to Italy.
• Use the Internet. Search for articles about people from your country who have made the move to the place you have targeted or programs offered by the target country. You will find articles like one about an Italian village that is making it easier for expats to move to their village by providing free temporary housing to certain digital nomads, one-euro homes in need of renovations, and move-in homes for prices up to $105,000.
• Blab. Tell everyone you know that you want to do this and ask if they know anyone who has made such a move. Ask to talk to those people to get their advice. Blabbing is what got us looking at Puglia. A colleague of my husband’s heard we were looking in Italy, told him that he and his husband had just renovated a house there, and shared the price. It was right in our range. He connected us with his project manager, who sent us listings and confirmed we could find what we wanted in our price range.

3. Determine the legal process to move to the country you have chosen and understand your tax obligations.

Fellow Substacker

from

has done a great post that offers an overview of the options in terms of legal ways to enter and live in other countries. I’m not going to get into the tax situation except to say that if you are an American and move to another country, you are required to file taxes in the US and that country as long as you maintain your US citizenship. Be sure you are clear on your responsibilities.

The easiest way to legally live year-round in another country is to become a citizen by descent. If you don’t know your family’s heritage, here is a good place to start figuring it out.

If you aren’t one of the lucky ones who can establish citizenship by descent (I’m not), you will need to get a visa to enter the country and then follow that country’s policy for staying in the country. In Italy, you are required to apply for a permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) within eight days of entering the country with your visa, for example.

To determine your options, you can start by looking online at consulates for the country you have chosen, but remember that what you find may leave much out in terms of specifics or may not mean what you think it means because of cultural differences.5

After you do some initial research, I suggest:

• Speaking to an immigration lawyer or expert on immigration issues in the country you are interested in: This is what we did; the cost was $150. We not only found out that it was possible, but the immigration lawyer pointed us to southern Italy, where, because of a population drain, real estate is less expensive. When we got the Puglia tip, we knew that this was an area we should explore.
  • Ultimately, I hired a company based in Puglia, which is run by two Italian women, to help me with the visa application and residency application. They were much more affordable than hiring an immigration lawyer, and I would have been lost without them. I learned of them through the Pugila expat Facebook group.
• Joining a Facebook group of expats in your target country and post your questions there. At a minimum, you should get a sense of the parameters. After that, I’d still talk to an immigration lawyer if you can afford it. People in the Facebook group should have recommendations.

If you are interested in Italy, here are some links about the different visas that Italy offers and their requirements: Residency Visa, Student Visa, Digital Nomad/Remote Worker Visa. Be aware that Italy just launched its digital nomad visa, so getting clarity on what is needed isn’t always easy. I’m in the process of applying for this visa and will keep you posted on that. You will have to apply for the visa in your country of origin; you cannot apply in Italy. If you are looking for something easier and faster in Europe, I suggest you look into Spain. Here is a great Instagram post explaining how Spain’s digital nomad visa works.

You can also check out this newsletter that provides information and tools for those interested in the digital nomad visa in Europe.

Once you decide on your location, research how to open a bank account and how to get their version of a social security number (in Italy it’s the coda fiscale). You will need these whether you are buying property or renting.

4. Make a Visit to the Location

Ideally, you should spend some time in the area before moving there. While we had spent a lot of time in Italy, we had never been to Puglia until our trip to look at the property a few months after my husband’s colleague connected us with his project manager there.

After looking at ten properties over three days, we fell in love with the last one and made an offer, which was accepted. In hindsight, putting an offer on land in an area we were visiting for the first time might have been a little crazy.

But I have no regrets. So far, Puglia has exceeded my expectations.

It helps that the area met all of the criteria that I set out earlier in this essay.

The stunning six acres we bought is close to many lovely historic towns that provide grocery stores, restaurants, farmers markets, cultural activities and community. It’s a 25 minute drive to world class beaches. It’s 40 minutes from an international airport. This same land in the US would be priced in the millions; since it would have to be in southern California to even come close to looking like what we purchased and have proximity to beaches along the ocean.

Shockingly, it more than met our price point: The unused farm land, which is blanketed in olive trees and surrounded by a hundreds year old stone wall—was $200,000, and the cost of renovating the tiny Trullo that sits on it was estimated to be $100,000 (I’ll provide final numbers once it’s completed, hopefully in March). Where we ended up buying has a booming tourist economy for 3-6 months out of the year, making renting out easy. The Italian government has created tax incentives to draw people to Puglia and other parts of Southern Italy because of under population.

The health care system is excellent and very affordable. For one year’s worth of private health insurance I’m paying $1000 a year and it covers everything, including dental.

The people are friendly and welcoming, and the community is wonderful. A dynamic young Italian woman runs a group for “expats and internationally minded Italians” (meaning Italians who have lived or spent a lot of time abroad) that has kept my social calendar packed. There are few Americans, which was fine with me, but many Brits, Italians, and Germans have moved to the area for the same reason I did: for a slower pace of life and more connection and community.

V. CONCLUSION

I know there are many other issues to consider when moving abroad, but I wanted to touch on the ones I thought were the most important. I plan to do more posts on this topic, so feel free to drop any questions in the comments and I’ll be sure to address them in future posts.

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New York Times bestselling author Kirsten Powers writes about the life shifts we yearn to make, those that are thrust upon us, and the changes we need to make as individuals and as a society.