Approaching retirement
 

I spent the first 20 years of my life in New Zealand, followed by four years in Australia, and I’ve been living in the UK since 1993. After 33 years in Greater London, I feel like it’s finally time for a change.

Now that I’m approaching 60, the winters feel tougher each year, and the daily Tube/train commute has really started to wear on me. I’ve always loved the ocean and warmer weather, so my wife and I are seriously considering retiring somewhere in southern Italy—most likely Salento in Puglia or Sicily (around the Noto area). Fortunately, we both have EU passports, which makes the move easier.

Over the years, I’ve also watched the UK change quite a lot—from what felt like a very prosperous country in the mid-90s, through Brexit, to somewhere that now seems to be struggling in many ways. Our sons are already working abroad elsewhere in Europe, which also makes the idea of moving feel more natural.

Salento is currently our first choice. When visiting, we particularly liked the areas around Nardò, Lecce, and Gallipoli.

Sicily is our second option. We’ve travelled around much of the island over four or five trips, and places like Noto, Modica, and Ragusa really stood out to us. I also love walking in the Vendicari Nature Reserve.

If anyone here has retired in either Salento or Sicily, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences—both the positives and the challenges.

We’ve also looked at Tuscany and parts of northern Italy, but they seem quite a bit more expensive, and being close to the ocean is important to us.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

The best thing would be to rent somewhere and see how you like it. I suspect Puglia might not be much warmer than London in the winter. Places that are dependent on tourism can be completely deserted out of season.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

I agree with philat98 , although renting adds cost, it could save you a great deal in the end.

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Wise one would rent over Dec/Jan, to get clear picture what like is place at its worst.

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Some good advice from others to rent firstly which makes complete sense, I like the idea of renting in Nov/Dec/Jan "at its worst". Can imagine these types of towns outside the summer season being dead, and I suppose if you retire, then it makes sense to try the off-season.

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I made the same choice over 20 years ago. What tipped it for me was driving round coastal Salento in March and not seeing another car or person for 3 days. I ended up in SE Sicily, where the coastal towns have a year round presence. Also Sicily has hills, which becomes important when there aren't any (see Salento) Noto is lovely to walk around in the winter, avoiding tour buses in the summer, useless for shopping but you are near the beach, even though Lido di Noto and Calabernardo arent top beaches. Living in the counry side around Noto is a good option. Going south to the Vendicari or San Lorenzo makes it all worthwhile. Marzamemi - again a tourist spot, and nightmare at weekends for clubbing Catanese. Other places which have year round populations are Pozzallo - great beach, not very pretty. Marina di Ragusa - overcrowded in the summer, Avola - working town but with improving beach, but a bit too gritty if you want Noto. Pachino - love it or hate it. Scicli gives you town with beaches 5km away, and would be my choice. However the sea on the east coast is always warmer.

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Although saying that, I think many people will feel the same about areas where they've lived for a long time. Be it English, Irish, French, Germans, Italians, Spanish, a lot of people I speak to don't feel they live in a wealthy country. Regardless of Brexit, it's similar speaking to Italian friends and they say the roads are getting worse, bridges and buildings falling apart, litter everywhere and no respect. Of course there are wealthier areas where people live in a bubble and things can look nice or have improved, but realistically cheap travel and globalisation also has downsides. Instead of improving the areas where we live, we all run away from problems until the same problems reach us again (sooner or later). Many don't want to work hard anymore and expect someone else will do the hard work.

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I think North Sea oil and privatization produced a wealthy feeling in the 80s and 90s. Both the UK and Italy are in economic decline and living by printing money.

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Salento has better beaches than Sicily; places like the small islands of Porto Cesareo are almost like the Caribbean, though, as you say, Salento is flat as a pancake! Sicily, with hills, makes things nicer, I feel. I stayed in Pozallo about 20 years ago, and yes, nice beach, but not much else, it was quite run down back then. Marzamemi, I can remember eating fritto misto di mare on a sunny afternoon, nice little tourist town in the summer! A disadvantage I see with Sicily, is been on an Island, for example, I have friend who retired north of Bari in Trani and he can travel to Naples in 2 hours by train. Or travel to Tuscany quite easily. Thanks for the Sicilian tips. Sicily is indeed a unique place, completely different from the mainland. Probably the most interesting place I have travelled in Europe, it's great fun.

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You are right there. Of course how we see wealth in Europe has also changed and while the previous generation were poor on paper, they seemed happier. Maybe because they went from nothing to seeing progress, it was a different feeling. But best example today are roads and nothing seems to last. If you are lucky enough to see a pothole repaired, the chances are high it will only last a few months. Probably similar with everything else and nothing is built to last.

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Some better beaches - Porto cesareo is lovely akin to San Lorenzo. Down to Gallipoli - just like the Vendicari. Sicily has more free beach, and we have the Aeolians and the Egadi. In my part we also dont get the snow Puglia now seems to get. For travel connections we are miles behind, but you find you want to travel less anyway when Sicily has everything you need.

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It's about trying both locations, which is my plan, renting in each location. Thanks for the info/comparisons.

A friend of mine asked why I don't move to northern Italy, being from NZ, I was amongst mountains and lakes my whole youth, I wouldn't appreciate it, it was the norm every time I walked outside. He still couldn't understand.............Sicily has both Etna and beaches anyway.

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Whilst it's true what has been said about the Winter, I'd try the Summer also. Months and months of heat and no rain isn't always that great. Sure you have some experience of that from Australia (depending on where exactly you were). Plus there's going to be lots and lots of tourists.

If you do look further north then Northern Lazio is a good, cheaper option that has a similar feel to Tuscany.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Having lived as an expat for many years in both Italy and France my advice to would be retirees would be to sit down with each other and make a list of things you actually want to do in your retirement as you will be leaving behind friends a known situation and work.This means that you need to replace it with another lifestyle.So for example my wife was an art teacher so we decided that being close to art centres such as Florence and Siena suited us,so we bought in Umbria near the Tuscan border.It also had the advantage of good rail links. Certainly either rent or look to buy in the winter . For example where we lived could get down to well below freezing in winter and 40 in the summer. Two other things to bear in mind - medical facilities and the "litre of milk" test ie do you want to be driving kms when you run out of milk ?
And lastly seriously learn Italian-you will get so much more out of your retirement and will be invaluable for dealing with bureaucracy

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Sound advice.

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Your friend must have found a magical train. Trains from Bari to Napoli take ftom 4hours to 7.5hours.And that is assuming that they are running on time.

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:hysterical:lol..............is that right, I'll let him know!

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I think a list like that is a sensible and important plan. Sitting on the beach and eating great food is one thing, but you need to be on the move, keep your brain ticking, and enjoy the things you love. It's a bit different for me; I don't have any family in the UK (sons are now in Switzerland), though friends will be sadly missed. I do have some family who settled in Switzerland 30 years ago + sons there. For this reason, Tuscany been in half way is doable by train. Sicily means airports. My wife's father is from Genoa, and she speaks fluent Italian. I need to improve my Italian, which is very important as I am well aware, most don't speak out of big cities, I'd imagine. Medical facilities are important. Your health only deteriorates with age!

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Living in Sicily as I have done is or rather was wonderful, but before making any decisions I would examine the financial and medical consequencies very carefully. For myself although I am now 80% Sicilian and totally integrated, I sometimes think it has been a mistake coming here but now aged 72 I can't move as my partner has an invalid child. It might be better to remain an English resident and come here for 3 month periods at least for a year or two or choose another sunny paradise. I do know (or have heard of) lots of americans who are very happy in Sicily but they are generally people who are benefitting from the tax breaks (7% flat tax) of living in a tiny town (population less than 20,000) and enjoy the fact that medical care here is so much cheaper than in the US so if you enjoy the isolation that is a good choice. Financially you loose the English personal allowance and if you keep your UK house and rent here this can be an expensive choice as you are only allowed 15% deductions from the rental income for expenses which barely covers the management fee and certainly not the total cost of keeping a UK home spick and span. Not only that but a lot of retirement income comes from savings such as ISAs and these are all taxed here and not in the UK. Medically I would say there are major problems in Sicily that don't exist in other parts of Italy. Going to A&E in Palermo is pretty shattering experience and free specialist care is very hard to find with long waiting lists so basically you have to pay to see a specialist and for quite a lot of other things. Lets just say that since I fell ill last summer I dont feel safe here or that I would get as good a care here as elsewhere though apparently things are getting bad everywhere now!

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Good points there, thanks. We are looking at a 7% flat tax incentive for towns with >20 K. This is where Noto commune comes to mind, with a population of less than >20K, and is officially a 7% place to live. Noto is our option because there is a large international community, though we do not intend to mix with expats all the time. 7% only applies to Southern Italy, I think.

I'd only retire in Italy with the 7% for 6-10 years incentive; otherwise, forget it. A lot of my wealth is in private pensions. My house in Greater London, up in the air, either sell it or keep and rent, am aware of the pitfalls of renting whilst residing in Italy. Selling a house in London is very hard to return and buy again, not saying I would like to be older living in London, definitely not! Though I must say the UK is very poor economically now and has been since 2008, much worse since 2019. High crime, the infrastructure is very poor these days. Hospitals in the UK, good luck, yes, it's free here, unless it's an absolute emergency, where the service is excellent, you could be waiting for years for an op. Generally, you will be seen and waiting in A&E for hours is very common in the UK. Now self-employed, I miss Bupa for my family, which was a godsend. Oh yes, ISAs, I would withdraw all of them and initially live off ISA withdrawals.

US citizens understand. The cost of medical insurance in the US is totally ridiculous, espeically when retiring. US citizens, I am sure, are happy in Italy for that reason alone.
Sorry to hear the situation in Palmero with medical facilities, TBH sounds similar to the UK. Very well-established doctors have left the UK for greener pastures, so it's getting worse here, not better.

Having said all this, I'm envisaging not residing in Italy to start with. Even thinking about buying a place in Noto and visiting 3-5 times a year for periods.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

A lot of common sense there, especially that last sentence. Not sure where you are planning to be tax resident/domiciled ?

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Having said all this, I'm envisaging not residing in Italy to start with. Even thinking about buying a place in Noto and visiting 3-5 times a year for periods.[/QUOTE]
Noto is one of the few places in Sicily that ticks all the boxes. There is a beautiful road (no potholes either) via Noto antica to another wonderful place that you might look at, Palazzolo Acreide, with a colder climate .You are wise to restrict yourself to towns of less that 20,000 as you are also exempt from the yearly tax on your London home and your pension funds. The only other town I would recommend would be Castellammare del Golfo, about 35 minues from Palermo airport and the birthplace of the current Italian President

Re: Approaching retirement
 

to start with, tax resident in the UK, then eventually Italy if we like it. I need an international tax advisor, I think, before retirement.

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Wow, Castellammare del Golfo, just googled, what a stunning looking town. Palermo is my favourite city in Italy, along with Napoli, and nearby Mondello has a nice beach. Palermo was full of life, with incredible markets, great restaurants, and beautiful architecture. Best pasta le con sarinde in Sicily, and street food, panelle. Remember buying the most incredible tasting cannoli from a nun's monastery, this is going back 25 years ago! When I arrived in Catania on the same trip, I asked for an arancine, reply was "no arancino". What is this, then? I realised the shape of Etna, unlike in Palemro, was basically a large rice ball! 1st difference I spotted from East to West.

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No need to go to Mondello, Castellamare is close to the best beach in Sicily at San Vito Lo Capo as well as the Zingaro reserve and Erice. For financial advice, you can get excellent information with AI which is far better than my commericalista, and rather than an international tax advisor try a good CAF in Palermo. Everything here works through personal relations and quick calls to family members working in the tax office. Some CAF really show the best of Italy, dedicated to help you, very precise and extremely cheap.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Interesting, reading all this handy advice for someone wanting to move to Italy. I totally agree with everything that has been said here, I've been living in the South for over thirty years now, after twentysix years in the UK. Learning Italian is fundamental if you are not already bilingual, I was lucky in this way.
I strongly recommend you spend lots and lots of time in the places you mention, outside of the tourist season to see what it's really like, this is a MUST!

One thing's for sure, no matter how many difficulties I have encountered over the years, I've never had any regrets, I love it here and would never think of moving back to the UK. My elderly parents are able to lead a comfortable life with their UK pensions, surely much better off than they would have been if still living in London.

I wish you luck. "In bocca al lupo", as we say here. Your first Italian proverb, or perhaps you already know it.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

On 7th April, the number increased from 20.000 to 30.000 inhabitants

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I found this out after investigating about 2 weeks ago. Noto has 25,000, I believe, above the threshold for 7% tax, which is 20K. Places like Cefalu, capo d'orlando, Castellammare del Golfo are under 20K

In Salento where you are located, there are plenty, such as Galatone or Oria. I see no advantage in moving to Italy without the 10-year tax exemption for my personal financial situation. Will have to be a town under 20K. I'll continue the search!

thanks.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

This threshold has been raised to 30,000 this year

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Thanks for this update. Yeah, I just googled, and from 7th April 2026, it's now 30K.
Great news: as many popular towns are surpassing 20K, this would bring Noto, Sicily, back to a retirement town.:thumb:

Re: Approaching retirement
 

Noto is a big comune - but Id never live inthe town. First off you will always need a car, becuase any shopping you need to do will take you to Avola, Rosolini or Modica/siracusa. The hospital is poor and is probably closing. it can get very hot - mid 40's in the summer. In the winter you need a car to get to the beach. IN the summer there are 4 buses a day. However the comune stretches up to Cassibile and down to Pachino, from the sea to well inland, so there is plenty of space. I know various people on instagram keep saying its the ideal place to relocate to, but they have only ever been tourists. Go and rent there before you make a leap - but obviously not for more than 90 days otherwise you invalidate your 7% tax regime for the next 5 years.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

I am visiting Sicily in August for a few weeks with a car, staying in Palermo, Cefalu, Enna, Agrigento, and Ortiga. All Airbnbs, obviously completely different atmosphere in the summer!

We are very much looking forward to visiting Enna, which I visited 25 years ago; the view from the top is incredible. Other towns, planned as well for day trips etc, possibly Erice, Trapani, Modica, Noto, Ragusa, let's see.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

We have a super El Nino this year. You might need some air conditioning in August. Sicily holds the European record temperature of 49C from August 2021.

Re: Approaching retirement
 

In 1993, I was in Phoenix, Arizona, and it hit 48 °C, almost the same temperature. My sneakers were sticking to the road when I dashed to the service station for some water and food. I'll never forget that!
Summers like that are unbearable, though I did live in Australia for 3 years some 37 years ago, and their summers were very hot.