Morning all,

Brand new to this forum, so please go easy on me

My wife (Canadian), is a teacher and has an outlet to some job opportunities in Europe and the Middle East.

Italy is without doubt, one of our more favoured options...

We are naturally trying to plan out destinations that we could easily slide into - with minimal fuss and accommodate a lovely childhood for our two young children.

In terms of cost of living, does anyone on here live in Milan? Could you perhaps give an idea as to rent costs, cost of living i.e. groceries milk/meat/petrol? Also are there areas of Milan to avoid (or focus towards living in)?

What would be considered a decent living wage? Or a fantastic one?

As a non Italian speaker myself, what is Milan like for employment opportunities? Or must someone have a certain level of Italian language ability, even in a large city environment where hopefully the international business language holds more merit?

Many thanks in advance

Maybe someone who is living in Milan will give you a better appreciation of the place. My experience is only from a one week stay. While really liking the city, we did find living expenses quite high. I guess supermarket prices were about the same as elsewhere in Italy but eating out seemed to be quite expensive. OK, we were in the centre but even some way out we ended up with a €90 euro bill for Lasagne, Bresaola, a bottle of Prosecco and coffee. Petrol is, like most of the rest of Europe, expensive, we think a little higher in Italy than in the UK. You'll also find other motoring expenses (insurance, for example) high.

The common theme here about working is that it is very difficult to find jobs, probably more difficult if you don't have Italian and more difficult again if you want a decent wage and decent conditions.

Also, if you going to be paying tax in Italy, bear in mind that there is no 0% band so you will inevitably be paying more.

We were staying in Quadronno which was a quiet residential area but only 20 minutes from the Duomo. Apartment prices appeared to be astronomically high. If you want somewhere to stay while you check it out, I can recommend an apartment (for 2-3 people).

Good luck.

Many thanks for the input.

Anyone on here actually live (or have lived) in Milan?

Hi GlobetrottersX4

I live just outside Milan, but work in Milan. I've been here close to 15 years now, so rent etc is a bit of a distant memory! However I can confirm rent in central Milan is quite expensive, depends what you are after I guess and where your wife would be teaching but if you would like to be central Isola, Navigli, Porta Romana etc are all really nice areas. To be avoided places like Baggio, Bisceglie etc which are basically on the suburbs. If you would like to be slightly outside Central Milan Cernusco is nice and still on the metro line, or alternatively Milano 2 seems to be popular particularly with expats. Re employment I'm sure you know that the unemployment rate is high unfortunately in italy and the majority of jobs would require Italian. Probably the best thing about Milan however is that its the best place in Italy to find employment, once you speak English it would be quite easy from what I've seen to teach English in a private school, with low wage I will add, but it's a start and then creates potential openings. Re Milan being expensive definitely if you have children that would attend an international school that would add costs. My children attend the local Italian public schools but again they were born here. Cost of living is acceptable from my opinion however again I compare things to the UK and Ireland. Finally take into account Milan can get quite polluted in the winter thats why during the weekend the population drops while everyone takes off the mountains or the sea. Let me know if I can help and Good luck!

Hello Monzagirl,
Spouse and I are looking to check out Monza when we go to Milan next month. Is that an expensive area to live? Are there neighborhoods (postal codes) that you could recommend for us? We have no children and are looking for single family homes that we would either buy or rent in the next couple of years. Thank you for your time. Appreciate any information you might have to share. Cheers.
Edit spelling.

Hi Aging hippy

Monza is a really nice place. As you guys are without kids I would aim for as central as possible, also as you are close to the train station there and can be in Milan in 15 minutes, I say this as Monza in the evening doesn't really have a lot to offer and I'm sure you would like to be able to go to Milan to enjoy the nightlife there. Again anywhere central also close to Monza Park is really nice. I would avoid San Rocco, San Albino, San Biagio.
Also remember that if people are referring to Monza Brianza that is the whole region and refers to a lot more than just Monza City.

Happy House Hunting!!!

Hi monzagirl,
Actually, we're close to retiring so being central is not something we will look for. We don't want night life anymore, we're too old for that, lol. We want to find a property with 3-4 bedrooms, a nice garden/yard and maybe a pool. Do you know of any Italian web sites that have real estate photos of properties that we could browse? We'd like to get an idea of what kind of money we'll need for a property like that. We want a quiet neighborhood that would be safe and probably boring. ;-) Thanks so much for your time in responding. Cheers.

Hi AgingHippy


I should have gotten from your name name that you are that not into partying:-)
Ok so if you wish to go further outside Monza center, you can go towards Lesmo still within the Monza/Brianza region and still just 10 mins approx from Monza, so the little villages towards Brianza. I live on the other side of Monza towards Milan, again 10 mins from Monza and its a little village. Towards this side is a nice village called Vimercate, with lovely restaurants, some nice parks etc. Otherwise I have some friends in Desio who really like it, never been myself though.
Anyway take a look at this website, I just googled houses Monza Brianza with a pool, this should give you an indication of prices. You could also go from Brianza towards Lecco (one of the lakes, the house prices I think would drop as you are further away from Milan.)
https://www.idealista.it/vendita-cas...a/con-piscina/

Hi monzagirl,
You have been so helpful and that link is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much. And we like to party but we can barely stay awake until midnight so ha ha...we're old. And we have about 10 yrs before we can retire so spouse still has to work until then and there are a couple of homes in that link that I would love to retire in. I could work in the yard, swim in the pool and live life happily ever after. (Of course, some of those above 400k E would be way over our limits, wink). Once again, you've been so very helpful and I can't thank you enough. Bravo, ciao.

Glad to hear it AgingHippy! I would love to spend the day in the garden too, still a few years of working for me too. Anyway just shout if you need anything else!