tim gordon

I have been to both places my brother is in whangarie NI it is great there
but it dose get a fair bit of cloud property is cheap but if you want more
buzz you need to be in Auckland obviously. We have family in Italy so
we can get there a lot more often that is the county of Abruzzo but
the weather is clearly a lot better and it has a lot more basic identity and
culture and is technically much easier to get to as well. Obviously there is
the issue of language! But NZ is a long way!
Regards Tim

Clarky7

Hi,

I think CarrieW gave you a great explaination. I too live in Italy, Vicenza to be exact where you'll find the work of the great Palladio. Italy is a fantastic place to live once you get used to the culture. You have to adapt or it's not the place for you. It took me 18 MONTHS to get used to the place.To me, Italy is the ultimate country for culture, art & architecture. Italy is where you will find the finest!

I live 30 mins from Venice, THE most beautiful cities in the world. 30 mins the other direction is Verona, where you can see the greatest opera's in an open Amphitheatre. 15 mins past that is the beautiful lake Garda. 2 hours south of me is beautiful Florence which is filled with most of Michelangelo's work. Who was in fact THE greatest artist and sculpturer. And one hour north of me you have snow filled mountains if your a lover of skiing!!!! The beaches, people way of life..............there's so much to tell!

Anyway, I hope all the sugestions give you a good idea of how life is in Italy.

All the best,

Wayne

So, as you can tell from the above..........I love where I live. The only thing I could do without in Italy is the beaurocrasy!!!! But, this still doesn't put a dent in my feelings.

mazi

How are the plans etc. going?

chris120

Italy is certainly a good place to live and the previous replies have outlined all of the positive points. There are major differences between north and south, town and country. Italy has only been a country for less then 150 years, a lot of Italians identify with their region rather than Italy itself. I would guess that, being well travelled, you might find Italy conservative and a bit old fashioned. Other problematic areas you need to consider are bureaucracy (tons of it, in every aspect of life, even if you are EU citizens). Driving standards, especially in big cities and the south, can be daunting (some Americans stay years and never drive, through fear) and most of all; what will you live on? Salaries for mundane jobs are painfully low and jobs are generally difficult to get unless you are connected. To get a good job you will generally need to be pretty fluent in the language and have a university education or a good professional qualification. Some professional qualifications (e.g. medical ones) are notoriously difficult to get recognised here, even if they are from another EU country.
I am not trying to put you off, after 25 years I feel as though I have never lived anywhere else, but I have seen dreams shattered when reality dawns.

Awineor2

Hi Chris and Hi Mazi

Thanks for the replies and the relevant points that you have made. Having just returned to Australia from 3 weeks in New Zealands we are definately making plans to move to Italy. Having spent my formative years living in a little village on the outskirts of Famagusta in Cyprus I consider life in Italy very similar and it is the life style that I relate to. Yes I am very lucky to have travelled extensively through my lifestyle and work, but I now want to make a permanent home for my self and my family close to my extensive family members. I am extremely lucky that my husband works in the oil industry and so would not be looking to work in Italy, but if I were to look for work I am a qualified secondary school teacher teaching all aspects of design and technology with a first class honours degree. We have heard about all the bureaucracy and red tape but our views are that if others have overcome this then hopefully we can too. We are all currently studying the Italian language so that we have some basic knowledge as I have found from passed experience that you really begin to pick the language up when you actually live in the country itself. We are planning a 'recky' between April and June this year with the hope of finding something and narrowing our locations as soon as possible, as at the moment we are considering a very wide area of lower Tuscany, Umbria and even Marche and Abruzzi, though we think that we would like to live nearer the west coast than the east coast, someone did mention Siena as being a good place to make a start. But we would like to have things sorted by August time if we can, but as they say even the best laid plans do not always work. Hope to hear from you again with further help, advice or information as I really do appreciate every little bit of help that I can get. Many thanks once again. Mandy

bermudaby

Hi there, hope your plans work out... Is there any particular reason why you chose Italy over (say) Spain or Portugal? I know the problems though, having been an expat in some 14 different countries for nearly 40 years, it's very hard to decide where to settle. I don't know your ages but you are probably doing the sensible thing by settling now. We didn't stop travelling til well into our 50's and I think we should have settled sooner so that we had more time to become part of a community.

mazi

A serial-ex-pat...scary!!

bermudaby

In what way 'scary' - my husband just doing his job and going where he was sent!

mazi

just jesting with you - I'm impressed actually.

bermudaby

I wouldn't have missed most of it (except some of the the three and a half years in Saudi, praps!) but it does leave us as a pair of misfits in some respects. Always interesting to read the papers when 'poverty' is discussed....having spent 2 years in Delhi we've got a slightly different view of the meaning! Have to bite my tongue sometimes.... On another subject, we're considering moving to Portugal but hadn't thought about Italy until recently. Prob having another look there soon. It's the smoking in restaurants that gets to us. At least it will hopefully be banned here soon.

Awineor2

Hi

I have not been on this site for a while due to lot's of travelling. Just read your message and now replying. Why Italy over Portugal and Spain? my reasons are because I find Portugal and Spain both overcrowded and very touristy - all year round, secondly less British ex-pats live in Italy! and I find the Italians very friendly and love their countryside and architecture. My reason's only and may not suit everyone else.
Like you, I have spent my life travelling the world and just want somewhere that I can consider home before it is tooooooooo late :-)
We are presently in Australia, moving to Oman in 8 weeks time for 3-4 years, but want to buy in Italy asap and use it as our base for holidays etc until we retire and then move there permanently. This is our hope, only time will tell if it all actually goes according to plan, but my hopes and dreams are that it will. Where are you currently living? and when do you plan to move and why? Just interested to know, as I find the lives of others fascinating, especially when they have made something of their lives. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye for now or should I say Ciao