Rick3

I'm retiring soon and we are thinking of moving to Italy. Visited numerous times and my partner is 1/4 Italian. W e want to go somewhere just for a change of life really (before its too late!!) We will rent somewhere for a couple of months before making a commitment.

So we need to start a list of costings to see if affordable on our pensions. Does anyone know where I could get a cost of living comparison with UK.

Does anyone know what pensioners get compared to here re healthcare, dentists, travel etc.

Would be grateful for any pointers.

Rick

Garbatellamike

Hi Rick,

firstly welcome to the Italy Forum and if I may I would say that I think it is a wise move to come and rent here to try the ground.

Bit early for me to comment on the details of the retirement bit but there are members here with the experience you need to benefit from and I am sure someone will be along soon to help as they are avery helpful bunch.

any ideas where you are looking, geographically speaking?

linseed oil

we moved to abruzzo pre retirement I was 58 opened a BB and joined their health service had lots of medical probs so used it a lot after 11 years hve we any regrets no no as for cst a lot depends how you live at first your on holliday and go out to eat a lot then you settle down and we find costs are lower than the uk our water rates is 100 eros a year measured that is
it depends a lot were you live north or south , here in the middle is the best in my opinion any way feel fre to ask lots of questions and yes big yes rent first is good advise

Rick3

Thank you for your welcome Garbatellamike.

Where, will all come down to cost! Not south of Rome or north of Parma but anywhere in between. We are quite easy to please, realising that property prices appear to be higher than UK unless in the middle of nowhere. We don't want to be in high earthquake area though.

Rick

Rick3

thank you linseed.

Is the health service free as a pensioner and resident?

Are you still doing B&B? Someone suggested that to us but my wife doesn't like cooking so she wouldn't be happy with that!

Rick

ps meant to ask are prescriptions free or not - my wife is asthmatic and needs regular inhalers.

Garbatellamike

So Lazio, Abruzzo, Umbria and Marche look like your areas of interest as Tuscany probably too dear.

linseed oil

hi yes heath service is virtualy free for eu penshoners some small fees for tests ect but if you have some bad condition you can get exemtion
whe I say bb that's the Italian term we actuly have a self catring apartment so there is no cooking involeved and it pays the bills

37100

Hi, and welcome.

It is very difficult to give a list of costs as prices vary from region to region. In fact, almost everything varies from region to region.

Access to free health care is limited to serious illnesses, which asthma is, low incomes, and small children. Otherwise there is a prescription for everything including specialist visit and blood tests. Only exception is GP's. GP's do not run practices as in the UK. They will usually refer you to a specialist. Your wife will only be entitled to free care for things stictly related to her condition and only after she has been 'certified'. Known as 'ticket' here, it can vary from a few euro's for an antibiotic to €36 for each specialist test. There is also a ticket on non-emergency A&E visits. It varies from region to region what is consider non-urgent. Dental care on the NHS is very basic and not widely available, but there are plenty of good private dentists. My dentists charges €100 for a clean.

One thing that shocks most expats here is the price of electricity.

Take a look at here for BnB's. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/ If you know where you intend to visit, trying asking first as some posters on here run businesses.

Ruby2

Hi Rick and welcome!

We did what you're planning 18 months ago and we're still here and renting.

Here's my take on the pension and age-related entitlements:
1. if you're in receipt of a UK state pension then you can transfer your right to state health care to Italy, and as linseed says it's virtually free. You just pay as Italians would - a small contribution towards tests and specialist consultations, and for prescriptions unless you're exempt. I'm not sure about the criteria for exemption.
2. dental services you pay for.
3. no free travel!
4. some entrance fee reductions - cinema, museums etc but the age criterion is usually over 65.

We've absolutely no regrets about coming here. As everyone says the bureaucracy is maddening but at least if you're retired you've got the time to wade your way through it. Heaven knows how people with jobs and families manage!

clint

On that basis most of central Italy is out as it is a very seismic part of the country. You might find this map useful http://www.eurometeo.com/english/read/doc_zone-sismiche]

linseed oil

nice to see our part of abruzzo is pretty low

Rick3

Thank you for all your replies. Good to know it won't cost us a fortune for wife's treatment.
Clint - We had already decided to stay on the west coast as less seismic activity!
Ruby - The queues in the post office will be an experience ...and pass the time!
A friend told me how cheap the electric was but he must have been very frugal.
Good for you Linseed but I don't think I could cope with the tax side and presumably lots of regulations?

Rick

Pecora Nera

It is a good idea to rent first. We thought we had found a nice little village, unfortunately each year when they flood the surrounding fields to grow the rice 2 things happen 1) the water table rises and all the septic tanks start to smell 2) the mosquitoes ate us alive.

We have since moved away from the rice fields.....

Someone mentioned the cost of electric, we don't seem to have a big problem with high electric bills. Mainly because if we use more than 2 or three appliances the meter trips out (same as the last house) The gas bills in the winter are really scary. We now use wood burning stoves to heat the house.

The good news is the food is great, the people are generally nice and the wine is good-

Garbatellamike

linseed oil

I agree we were dam lucky were we were dumped by the house agent when we steped of the plane at Pescara airport every thing is good about the area we live in no floods land slides or roads blocked by snow for more than a few hours , on the road to ski resort the only reason we were so lucky I happened to say to the skout in my then pidgion Italian I was a joiner , ah he said we have a house for sale in the village of wood Pretoro
and we have lived here 11 happy years but we were lucky not clever
Rent try buy