monji

Hi everyone!

I left Italy 10 years ago and spent most of them in the UK where I currently live. But as I turned 40 and haven't been able to get into the house ladder in London, plus my parents health issues, I decided to move back to Italy in December. Lately though, I am having a lot of second thoughts or better, fears. The Italy I left was a place of narrow minded people that valued conformity and where finding a job was a nightmare. I am pretty scared to go back to THIS kind of environment but I want to question my own point of view and gain a more positive perspective.

Could you please tell me what is that you like most of living in Italy, what do you think are the challenges but also the positive things that make you want to live there? Also, I'll be moving to Pesaro, do you know any expats social groups in the area?

Thank you very much!

Geordieborn

Well I guess not many here think there is anything good about it But it could just be they, like me, don't think I'm qualified to say being a Brit living here I can hardly tell an Italian what is good about the place! However I could see your point on trying to get an alternative perspective from a none Italian source with an Italian link/like. I suspect the very reason you left Italy makes it one of the things I really like about the place.Narrow minded conformists they might well be, but perhaps that’s part of their makeup that makes them seem to me a lot more happy with life than my own countrymen? Okay at times it can be too laid back, but half the time my slight irritation is probably more to do with my dogmatic Englishness! I doubt much has changed here since you left except perhaps you yourself. On the minor side the weather and the quality of the food and wine here are way beyond that of the UK. Technology, customer service are improving slightly, but still way behind the UK. One last thing, there are a lot more nicer and cheaper to live places in the UK than London

modicasa

Im down in the deep south, so people are a bit different. I dont think they're narrow minded, but they are set in their ways - what they do is best because its what their parents and grandparents did. Veer from that and you are an eccentric but not a bad person. They refuse to recognise racism, sexism etc - and are blind to their failings, but charmingly so - Yes, italys terrible, but so is everywhere else. Actually getting up and doing something about it is pretty alien to most, though the younger generation is changing. Food climate and people are what make Italy so appealing. Bureaucracy and the indifference to the abuse of power is what drives me up the wall. What the Brits would regard as a blazing row here is a discussion, and people dont hold grudges unless you impugn their family. Getting a job will be horrendous, getting paid equally so. But I would never go back to Britain, it scares the hell out of me when i go back and see how telefonini and social media run everyones lives. Here at least, we are a few years behind the worst trends.

monji

Thank you both for your replies!
I guess it's a bit weird an Italian asking for tips to move to Italy
What you like is what put me off a bit, but I love the dogmatic Englishness!
Anyway, the things you guys said helped me understand that I am looking at it from a more judgmental point of view while I should try to be more appreciative. Those annoying things don't really make it a rotten place!

Geordiborn, I did spent a few years in Stevenage, not sure I should mention it though, people tend to make fun of me whenever I say that

Thanks again!
Have a lovely day!

ononno

Thank you modicasa, you have expressed perfectly my feelings on being a long term expat in Italy.
However, in some circumstances I would perhaps contemplate a return to North Wales or Yorkshire, because of their excellent social care and services.
'o nonno

Serrano

An interesting question, and useful to us as well, as trying to answer it means stepping back a bit to review how we feel, rather than just living our lives.

You'll find that almost everybody on here will have a slightly different experience from everybody else, and thus a different story to tell and probably different advice and recommendations.

For me - been here 13 years, inland in Provincia di Ancona, came to retire. IMHO the quality of life is much better than the UK, and unlike ononno I can't imagine the situation in which I would consider returning to the UK. Plusses: quality of life in general, climate, quality of food & drink, people, views, house prices, medical services, tradition - oh and no traffic problems. Most of which have their (generally weaker) negative sides, of course. I would think that paid work would be the most difficult problem you would face, it depends so much on what you do / want to do (and of course on who you know / are related to). The bureaucracy as mentioned by Modicasa can be frustrating, but you need to find the right balance in each situation between being forceful and determined, and resigned and accepting.

As for challenges - for most expats the language and the completely different way of doing many things are significant, but for you shouldn't be a problem. The aforementioned jobs situation of course. I am finding it difficult to think of much else.

Lorna at Vicenza

Hello there and welcome.
Presumably you're moving back alone so you won't have the horrors of school to deal with. Already being Italian should mean you have less red tape to jump through for things like a tessera sanitaria. As for everything else............. I agree with the other posters and as my dad would say: it's swings and roundabouts. Cheaper, seasonal fruit and veg here - higher gas. electric and petrol. Not sure how comune taxes compare with the UK council tax but I know my bins are emptied regularly here in the north though the roads aren't all in good shape.
Nice, relaxed social life as in meeting for an aperitivo or a pizza and it's not weird to be drinking a spritz or a glass of prosecco at 12.30pm. Some of the locals think I'm weird, strange, abnormal or an alcoholic because I'm not always running home at 12 o'clock to make pasta ...... but they also know that I don't give a damn about what they think and that I don't wear a scarf 10 months of the year, have been known to go out with damp hair and walk around my home barefoot. The teens are changing because fast food joints exist here now and a few Mexican or Indian restaurants in the larger towns or cities and they're not afraid to try non-Italian dishes. They are all all over social media. Bullying is relatively new here and unfortunately spreading. Teens are out drinking more than they used to be but I've never seen a pub fight or anyone stumbling down a street or being sick. Drugs are on the rise and sniffer dogs go into high schools at least once a year to sniff out weed. Italy is waking up to internet and quite a few things can be done online but some of the websites are so badly designed they're barely user-friendly and not all of Italy has decent internet connections anyway. I suppose those are some of the biggest changes I have seen over the last decade. Lots of Chinese bazars cropping up, Chines running bars and lots of horrible slot machine and gambling bars.

PaxPacis

And I am in the deep, deep north; a hamlet of 27 people 30 kms from the border with Austria. People are a bit different here too, in the sense that they are more reserved than the average Italian -this, however, we do not mind.
We moved here 5 years ago because we were fed up with London, where we had been living for 22 years. We are in our 40s, so still quite young.
We were really lucky because after 17 days of moving here in this beautiful mountain village, I found a wonderful job which meant that we had never had a problem paying rent or bills. My husband found a job a few months afterwards, so I can say that our move was a success. Unfortunately this year I have had to take months off work as I have been very ill, but I have found that the health care system in this area is superb. Perhaps because the 3 hospitals I had to stay at are small, and therefore better organised? I don't know.
Italy is a country full of beauty, good food, great weather. It is also full of Italians who are the most anarchical people in the world as soon as they get behind the wheel. That is our pet peeve. Really, Italian drivers are the worst (even worse than the Romanians). That, and the fact that no one knows how to queue!!! When we first moved and had to visit many different offices (bureaucracy x10) we were swearing like mad every time we had to queue anywhere, because even though you had to wait for your number to be called, people still jumped the queue. Bleeeeming heck!

Good luck with your move, Monji!

Lorna at Vicenza

Hamlet ............. a word I'd almost forgotten about it.

monji

Thank you all!
Lorna at Vicenza, If it helps, I'm a weirdo too, I don't have lunch at 12pm and...wait for it...I don't really like pasta
PaxPacis, yes, Italians are the worst drivers, and don't stop for pedestrians (police included). Regarding queues, don't make me started. There's an halo of rudeness in Italians which I haven't found here, it seems to me in UK people are more respectful.
Serrano, you're right, as I can check off language difference and most of the bureaucratic procedures to move there, the only issue left would be finding a job.
All your replies made me understand that the only real problem is the job (getting one, dealing with unfairness and lack of meritocracy). There's a general agreement around the quality of life in Italy and I have to say, even though I like London and living here, I won't miss its pollution and noisy traffic, and something I find sad, there are always new places opening, each of them offering the most unusual experience: a naked pub, a prison pub, a cinema with beds...fantastic, but at the same time it make me think we are so overstimulated that we lost the ability to appreciate the simple things in life and nothing really inspires us anymore. Italy is not there yet, it's still a very traditional place and things are changing but slowly.
Well, the decision has been made and I'll move in December, whatever comes, I'm sure I'll handle it!
Thank you all!

philat98

Good luck with your move. I had the impression that in the Marche people are very polite. If you are looking for a "halo of rudness" south Umbria is the place. Words like hello, please and thankyou are rare in some places. Anyway the rudeness does not go along with violence and vandalism as it does sometimes in the UK.

Rupertbrooke

HaHa, nobody mentioned some the best things-heritage and culture. Palaces, castles, villas, antiquties, cathedrals, ancient churches, paintings, sculpture etc. etc. I have seen many of these wonderful things over the years, but still hope to see thousands more!! As an art historian, even Britain's wonderful heritage pales besides that of Italy. There is a certain spirtituality about Italian culture which makes other places around the world seem barren - I should know as I live in Hong Kong! (Reminder to myself to watch Room with a View again lol). I can't wait to get there...
Good luck!

arjacey

chris120

A crash out BREXIT is really a worry; in a recent meeting with Jill Morris and a couple of Italian ministerial seniors it became very evident that they have no idea what will happen in the case of no deal, all their answers to our questions assumed that the deal, which is currently on offer, would be accepted by the UK.However my main gripe with Italy is the ingrained high level of corruption and dishonesty that is found in almost all walks of life and at all levels, in my opinion this suppresses economic growth of the country in the long run and has stopped Italy recovering from the 2008 credit crunch (now history for most of Europe) and has kept Italy bordering on recession for a decade.My company subscribes to a service that provides information and comparisons for most countries in the world. They rank Italy as the most corrupt country in Europe by quite a margin and more corrupt than Turkey (a country with a certain reputation).

arjacey