Beware, if you have say a US licence and trade it in for a UK licence, you cannot then simply exchange the UK licence here in Italy. The form the UK sends them has on it that it was exchanged from a US licence. We know of this because this happened to someone we met here that found this out to their cost - she is currently trying to take the her test here in Italy!

20 years driving in U.K. With a UK license. UK road test passed too many years ago.

Ha! Not a problem then...

I hope not, but you never know...

I know a New Zealander here who speaks little Italian and has been unable to pass the driving test as he keeps flunking the theory due to linguistic problems. So if you can, take the test in the UK and then you *should* get reciprocal entitlement, Brexit-permitting.

Regarding pensions & tax: there is a scheme which significantly reduces your tax burden but subjects you to a €30k per annum income limit (and that's gross income, not net). It's designed for the self-employed so I don't know if pensioners would be eligible but if you think your income would be under that, then the contribuito forfettario system might be of interest. I think the current scheme caps income at 15% (plus INPS - national insurance - contributions which can be deducted when calculating your tax for subsequent years).