srd1

Hi all I'm around 10-12 years out from semi retirement and after much consideration am looking seriously at Italy as a retirement spot. I'd probably buy somewhere in around 5 years and in the interim get my French language in much better shape A major consideration is climate change in the 30-40 years I hope to be alive (let's forget the other things which may happen). Have looked at various sources for temperature change, forest fire risk, etc and really interested in people's views on where would be a good spot to move that considered. I'd be looking at country living, ideally not long , cold winters (short cold or long mild are fine) and summers which I know will be generally warm but not painfully so Thoughts appreciated!

philat98

Why are you improving your French when moving to Italy?

Listen Very Carefully

Cos to speak Italian you just speak French but add on O A or I to the word-at least that is what a friend of mine who came to stay in Italy with us reckoned....
I lived in Umbria from 2005-12,and at first there were without fail 3 separate periods of about 7 days where the temperature got in the high 30s but the last two summers we were there it was in the 40s virtually from June to Aug inclusive.
And winter always began on the 11 Nov-a good date

Pulaski

Because multiple threads posted in diferent country forums.

philat98

Since you departed it has got warmer. Last June and July were very hot. I live 300m above sea level and it has reached 40C most summers. This year it has been cooler and wetter than the last few years. Another problem is general lack of rainfall.

C.2s

If you are thinking of Italy (and not France!) then I'd echo what has been said by others above, and suggest that you are underestimating things. We have today returned to Italy by road, having spent two months in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. Therefore I am currently near Trento. About as far north as it's possible to get. The temperature here is about 36 degrees. I don't live in this part of Italy, so I don't know for certain how common this is, but I think it's not that uncommon, based on the fact that I am actually at a campsite at 1300m above sea level, and there are lots and lots of Italians here on the site. They have sort of semi permanent caravans and chalets that they use as holiday homes in the summer, precisely to escape the heat. In general the Po valley across the north is stiflingly, unbearably hot in the summer, and you get more thunderstorms etc as you head further north towards the lakes. We had a holiday home on Lake Maggiore for several years.

Now I live near the border of northern Lazio and southern Umbria and Tuscany meet. Based on the weather for the last five years I would say with about 99% certainty that you could expect at least two months where every single day the maximum temperature is around 35 (or higher) and the minimum during the night is about 23. Last year we had five months without rain.

I imagine it's hotter further south.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily climate change because it's already really ingrained in Italian lifestyles to respond to the summer heat by abandoning the cities the summer and spending weeks in the mountains or at the sea. This isn't a new phenomenon. Plus there's the siesta of course... which is all about the summer heat.

It's beyond me to predict what the climate will be in the future. But it's not likely to become cooler.

That's not to say that you shouldn't move to Italy. In a way you're asking exactly the right type of question. But just understand that you will have to adapt the way you live even now during the summer (let alone in the future).

ChrisM4

I speak conversational Italian, and decent French and Spanish, and reckon your friend was speaking tongue in cheek... It is common to understand the gist of other Romance languages, especially between Spanish and Italian, but fundamentally grammar, vocabulary, etc, are different. If you opt for Italy, it's best to learn Italian for sure.

Listen Very Carefully

No he was actually being serious.....I always found Italian Grammar the hardest part of the Italian language frankly

ChrisM4

You're right about Italian grammar. Every language I've learned has its particular challenges; pronunciation for French, and grammar for Italian.

Pulaski

My French pronunciation was the only thing my high school French teacher praised me for.

On bumping into my mother in Sainsbury's shortly after the GCSE results were published, he told her that my grade C (which was the minimum I needed for uni), was "a bloody miracle!"

mfdabbs

Climate change is a HOAX!
I live in Abruzzo we get about 3 weeks of snow in the winter and long summers - some warm, some very warm. That's life and the sun-spot cycle

philat98

What does 3 weeks snow in the Abruzzo have to do with anything? Are you a subscriber to the Conservative Woman by any chance?

mfdabbs

Have you read the original post???
My reading material's none of your business

C.2s

Isn't this a bit contradictory? Usually when people refer to the sun-spot cycle they mean that they attribute any warming or cooling in the Earth's atmosphere to sun-spot activity... they agree that climate change exists but feel it is part of a natural change in temperature that has occurred throughout history ... not that climate change is not happening (they just don't agree that it's being caused by human activity).

Thinking about the original poster, I wonder is it really necessary to argue about the possible causes of the increased temperatures and adverse/extreme weather events, or the scientific evidence for this? If they wanted to know this then there are better places to seek that information. They just wanted to hear our experience of the conditions before deciding where to consider living (it's clearly going to be anecdotal evidence not really scientific evidence). Why it's happening doesn't really matter to the original poster