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Kirsten Powers's avatar

I love that my post about moving to Italy inspired such a wonderful conversation among American expats in Italy 💜

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Laura's avatar

Hi my name is Laura I’m Italian, I can definitely understand that seeing from a point of view of US people it’s really convenient in particular for the health care. Plus we have INPS that for now provides our retirement and gave us money for some months when someone fired us, was really a great thing during the pandemic, unluckily even here a lot of people lost their job.

But isn’t so easy for an Italian person staying here, our salaries are the same from decades it’s really difficult finding a permanent job (I took me 12yrs to finally have this contract, and I worked and still working giving the 100%), the inflation increase but with the same salary it will be harder. If u want to start something u have to fight with bureaucracy and maybe it will be so hard starting that u will give up after few months.

A lot of Italian people go away from there to finding better conditions, I always wanted to move in other countries where I was sure I could have a better life but I didn’t want to leave my family alone here. Now I’m trying to understand how to work for some foreign brand where I could work at home and become a digital nomad, because maybe I could find a job that will gave me more joy and more balance between private life and work.

Now I work like shop assistant, the shop where I work it is open 364 day on 365 we are closed only for Christmas on 25 dec. all the other days we are open.

Sometimes healthcare isn’t so great and u have to go private but I still can understand that for US it’s still affordable.

The life here is expensive but it depends from the zone, in the south of Italy the price are lower than in the rest of the country, in the North is extremely expensive and freaking expensive if u go in Milan.

U are right about the fact that we are friendly and we give each others support anytime even when we don’t know who there is in front of us.

We enjoy a glass of wine or of different types of alcohol but we rarely get drunk, of course there are some exceptions.

We put the family before everything.

One of my friend is Aussie and he bought a 1€ house in Sicily that is also one of the region with the lowest life cost and he opened a Community Kitchen in Mussomeli, he worked 20yrs for Jamie Oliver for him moving here was convenient of course and he is a part of the community now.

I just want to say yeah of course moving here is great for the major part of people, but do it if u don’t have enough money to effort this adventure and if ur job requires only a web connection or if u are a digital nomad.

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Diana Strinati Baur's avatar

I want to add, Laura, that it's extremely complicated and expensive to start a business in Italy. After running a small business there for 10 years, we sold and left, returning to Germany, where my husband is from. I tell people that Italian bank accounts have a payment category for fines. And that banks give credits for the payment of fines, which can, and do, destroy lives. We now have a small home in Piemonte, just a second residence.I'll never have a business in Italy again.

I absolutely love Italy, but ten years of trying to run a business showed me what the government is capable of doing to people.

So there are always two sides, right?

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Deanna Lee's avatar

There's actually more than two sides. Because right when you think things are rolling along, you get caught up in a new bureaucratic bind, or work or visa or tax rules change. There are a LOT of challenges that would take many more words to cover. For this group, though, the plusses still outweigh the minuses.

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Diana Strinati Baur's avatar

Yes, Italy ( and most countries, I believe) is multi faceted and it takes time to fully understand what life really entails. I do agree, the tradeoffs are worth it. It's also different now than 20 years back when there were very few people who actually did what we did. There's so much more information and people to help with the process.

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Denis jackson's avatar

I thought health care was free in Italy 🇮🇹? My daughter lives near Lecco and speaks highly of the health care system there ….both for her , husband and children . Is it different further south …Roma ?

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Laura's avatar

I live near Bologna so I’m in the center north, in Emilia Romagna the region of all the medical innovations.

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Laura's avatar

Yes and no.

Firstly u fill a paper where u write how much money you make in a year of work and that determines how many money u will spend for medicines.

When u go to the hospital at the emergency room we have different code for define the priority, the lower is the white and if u go with a white code u pay a “ticket” that isn’t high it’s always affordable, if u go with other diseases u haven’t to pay.

If u need to have blood test u pay but it’s always affordable, I payed 24€ for the blood test for hypothyroidism my mum 80€ but she needed a lot more exams.

When I had problems in the past I always had to pay a LOT! I had problems with appendicitis, every time I went to the emergency room they keep telling me to go at home that wasn’t so bad and I had to pay 5000€ in a private hospital to have the surgery and when I arrived in that hospital I was really in bad condition.

When I needed another surgery the time of waiting was of 2yrs so once again I payed for it but this time in a public hospital who made also private surgery during the weekend, they found immediately a bed for me for 4300€.

When I had thyroid problems to solve it I payed only 30€ for the radio

metabolic therapy.

It’s great the fact we can pay lower prices and that u can have part of the things for free, but it isn’t gold, I understand that in US people spend money even to call the ambulance but Italy still need to work a lot on the healthcare.

I totally prefer thousands times the prices in Italy even if I would have preferred to spend that 9300€ for a travel instead for surgery that I could have to a lower price with healthcare.

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Deanna Thomas's avatar

I so enjoyed reading this piece from another Deanna! I also left the US in 2018 and moved to Jamaica. I enjoyed reading about the expat community in Italy that you have connected with...that is something I don't have where I live as I am in the countryside of Jamaica and while we do get tourists here, it's rare that they stay for any length of time (even many who fall in love with this part of Jamaica have found it challenging to live here). I live 40 minutes drive away from an ATM machine or grocery store and it's been quite the journey to adjust to that after being born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area! I've deeply enjoyed the challenges that moving here has brought...it's given me a richness to life that I never experienced living in the hustle culture of the US. I honestly can't see myself ever returning to the US to live. Thank you again for a great read and I just subscribed to your publication as I'm excited to hear more about your experience! ❤️

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Deanna Lee's avatar

Always nice to hear from another Deanna too! I'm so pleased for your rich experience. It really is something to suddenly find a whole new way and rhythm of life that you never expected, isn't it?

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Deanna Thomas's avatar

Yes, it is really an unexpected gift in this life! I am the first person in my family to travel abroad and live overseas and I hold hope that I am lighting the way for others to explore and see what other ways of living there are outside of the US. 🙏

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Deanna Lee's avatar

Hi Micheline, It really depends on your field and experience. The overall employment situation is not good in Italy. But for expats in fields where there are American companies here or ones with English-speaking needs, there are possibilities. Shortly after I arrived I taught at an American university here. Many expats I know work for the U.N. organizations here. Others do translating and teach English. For American and UN orgs chauvinism and female support are similar to the US, always depending on the field and company. If you want to work in an Italian company everything would be much harder.

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Hudson E Baldwin lll's avatar

Cuz, Italians know how to live.

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Christopher Meesto Erato's avatar

Yes - From my own travels in Europe I find Italy the most chill as far as post Super Power/Empire syndrome goes. As the current empire - the USA gets a lot of crap (some deserved - some not so much) in most of the other once empire countries like Spain and France and even the UK. But I never felt that in the time I spent in Italy. I guess it’s because they were so awesome (along with some serious darkness as only empires can make happen) for so long that they have no regrets or jealousy of America and appreciate us for the tacky, plastic vibes we possess - most likely based on our great classic Rock music and films, TV entertainment etc. aka soft power. Ciao!

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Maria Anderson's avatar

Thank you for sharing this story. We can claim many, if not all of the same experiences as ex-pats in Portugal. The conscious choice to live here is life-changing and affirming.

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Charlotte Freeman's avatar

It would be France for me, if I had a different, more portable partner …

(I can’t complain, we live in a gorgeous place — there’s just too many Trumpsters who’ve moved in.)

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Micheline Maynard's avatar

I’d be very interested to know what life is like for professional women who move to Italy. It’s one thing to be a retiree or have the wealth to live there. Do expat women find opportunities? Do they deal with chauvinism? Are they welcomed by other professional women?

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Brenna's avatar

I relate to this! Although I did have a great community in California

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Tom Flanagin's avatar

Interesting read. I’m curious where in Italy these folks are living? In bigger cities or countryside.

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Deanna Lee's avatar

Both - all lived in Rome for long spells and some are still there. Others have moved to lake towns an hour outside of Rome. (That said, the Rome experience is different from, say, the Milan experience, or Naples experience--just like cities in countries everywhere, of course.)

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Diana Strinati Baur's avatar

Ahhhh. Yes, it's true in so many ways. Living in Italy means living a more social life, with people more interested in how you are rather than what you do. The Italian bar is the quintessential place for both quick and long conversations. Also, children come out with parents until late in the evening, especially in the warmer months. Children are an absolutely essential part of Italian social life. Everything feels more real. Especially compared to the states.

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Deanna Lee's avatar

Yes, more elemental.

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Kirsten Powers's avatar

THIS: You don't have to make an appointment to see people.

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