Ok guys so I have had another think about where I would like to move to and have been looking at Lecce and Catania. Now they both have their merits (i know Catania as did a work away there) but looking at Lecce I think it would work also. so any advice on the 2 would be nice

Worlds apart. Lecce is about 100th of the size of Catania, and the salento in winter is empty apart from Lecce, which seems to have students and some pensioners.
Strange choice to have narrowed it down to - why Catania? why not Siracusa or Messina or .... anywhere else?

Salento empty in winter? I don't think so plenty of people where we are

I can only tell you something about Lecce because I only got as far as Taormina and didn't make it to Catania.

Lecce is a well-kept secret and is really beautiful. A lot has been done to restore the old buildings (it is a candidate for the European Culture Capital 2019) and deserves its name of Florence of the South. They are also becoming very "green" with electric busses, public bike hire and the only electric charging station for cars in Salento. Lecce is positioned in the middle of the Salento so you can choose from the marinas on the Adriatic (San Foca or Torre dell'Orso) or the Ionian side (Porto Cesareo or Torre Lapillo (30 min. drive each way) to go to the beautiful sandy beaches. They have recently finished the tangenziale and Brindisi airport (direct flights to Stansted) is 20 mins. away and a shuttle bus service to Lecce. There is also the busy national train station of Trenitalia as well as a local network Ferrovie Sudest and long-distant and local coaches that take you all over Italy Restaurants are cheap and the local wine is wonderful (negroamaron and primitivo). There is a very big and good public hospital (Fazzi) and a private one (Città di Lecce). It has a big university and lots of students who liven up the movida in the pubs and wine bars in the evenings (all year round).

I'll have a break now cos my son wants his dinner. Ask me specific questions what you are interested in and I will let you know.

and they're not just pensioners and students, either - I go there . I read in the newspaper this morning that it is all booked out with tourists over Easter .

thanks for the replies well I guess that I am looking for somewhere with a low living cost (living in Catania offers that) and Catania for me was just the right size. But Lecce looks lovely. I will be taking enough cash to rent for a year and also live for a year (while in Catania i could live on 25 euros a week and have another 75 euros for anything else i wanted). So yeh how does Lecce compare on cost of living.

If you come to Salento you will find quite of few of us Geordies down here.

whay ay man

lmao might need to have a look

ignore that my heads doing tricks on me (i would say mind but need to find it first

I was in Catania 3 weeks ago and in Salento 2 weeks ago.
I found Catania smoggy and aggressive plus the normal Sicilian rubbish strewn around. I also was there during a police stop policy and was stopped several times even in a UK car, they were happy with a passport but locals were being fined right left and centre. All the roads leaving Catania had prostitutes every few kilometers even at 8 in the morning.
Lecce was much cleaner and more relaxed.