Hello everyone , 3 years ago we moved to Canada ,well now we thinking of moving on, prehaps north america isnt for us and feeling too far from my family.
So we are thinking of moving to Sicily.
many moons ago we had a dream of moving to Italy but its wasnt possible , well now some dreams have come true and am about to become a published author with a major publishing house , apart from the money this means i could work from anywhere in the world and my partner wouldnt have to work at all.
So we looking at spending some time there next year after the crazyness of the first book is over , we hoping to rent for a few months in sicily maybe travel around italy and europe and catch up with family who are all over europe.
We will then want to buy a small place to live and then a little while later buy a place to reno to keep the partner busy.
Sooo we umm dont speak a word of Italian and have never even been to Italy (but then we had never been to Canada before we fancied a change) We have a 2yr old boarder collie dog who is our pride and joy, is it even dog friendly out there ? what about groomers and vets ? We in our early 30's with no kids (yet)
Does anyone know if US/Canada power tools will work in Italy ?
I also have an illness so wondered about doctors and hospitals ? We would fly to the UK and buy a car there and drive down is right hand drive practical ?

We have 100 more questions but this was to get the ball rolling so to speak.

With regards to North American electronics being only 110v - 120v best to leave them there unless the have the option for 220v - 240v built into them. You may perhaps want to take some Italian lessons prior especially a sicily isn't like Rome or Milan where english is more widely spoken.

Or if you are planing on Sicily - fly to Malta and buy a rhd car and come over on the ferry -
As regards hospitals etc - this is SIcily, we dont have the standards of medical care in the north because the asl is starved of funds. HOwever, depending where you choose in Sicily you can get an acceptable level of care - but you will need full comprehensive health insurance as you wont be eligibile for the Italian system for years.

Sicily is big, (for an island) and very different depending where you go - the west is more Arabic - more African even, cheaper but with more 'problems' the east is more Greek, more expensive, more cultural and has more infrastructure. The north east is more like calabria except for Taormina whcih is like any other touristy hotspot, and not like Sicily and Palermo and Catania are not for everyone. Do your research and you will be ok -

there is the American/Italian hopsital in Palermo http://www.ismett.edu/?q=en

True some people speak English here in Rome especially if they work in tourism but I wouldn't say english is "widely spoken" even here in Rome. If I didn't speak Italian I'd be sunk frankly. Even just dealing with the medical system during this pregnancy would be impossible as none of my doctors speak English.

To answer your question - yes, you are crazy. Why don't you at least come and visit before you take the plunge? And Sicily is a very particular region of Italy- are you sure you want to live there? (and just wondering - why Sicily?) I've been there twice and it's very lovely as a tourist but are you really ready to live in Southern Italy with all that that entails without having even been there?

Also - I speak Italian and of course pretty much everyone in Sicily speaks Italian too also but it seemed that most conversations amongst Sicilians are conducted in Sicilian rather than Italian. Maybe expats in Sicily can comment but it seemed that you might be left out quite a lot if you didn't speak Sicilian as well as Italian.

Although there might be a private American hospital in Palermo, I've heard some horror stories about the medical system in Sicily. I'm sure there are some good doctors but I'm not sure I'd move there without speaking Italian and knowing the sytem if I had a medical condition.

We not even sure why we picked sicily But on our trip down next year we do plan on spending a few months exploring other places around italy , just go where the feeling takes us , but ending with a month or so in Sicily.
We dont want to do a big city, near but not in a town is enough. Ideally near the coast, but we dont want to live anywhere too full of tourist, want to visit them places not live in them. We are still researching, this is part of why we asking on here. At the moment we open to everything , half the fun tho is in the adventure of it.
We dont speak a word of italian but have just started to learn, still figuring out whats the best way for us to learn , there is 101 ways out there of learning it , give us 12 months and we should be able to say hello anyway.
We do have a good Italain friend in Malta when we do settle on a place we will get him over to help us on the finer details.
Oh yes we found that there is skiing in Sicily now this is like the icing on the cake anyone know if it is actualy any good tho ?

As for medical care you hear and see horror storys about all medical care everywhere in the world, but I have found a dry climate is good for my medical condition. Was planning on private anyway.

My husband has just undergone major surgery at a private hospital here in Puglia. The care he has had, and is continuing to have, is second to none. As for the UK having the best health care in the world, if they had been doing their job over the last 20 years this surgery would not have been necessary, or if it had been it would have been much earlier and much easier.

In all the years I've been here I've always felt that the GPs leave nothing to chance. At the seemingly drop of a hat they will send you off for blood tests or a scan or a specialist visit. Of course we have paid a small contribution to all these further tests and check ups but the waiting list has never been that long - depending as well as what level of emergency the GP warrants the visit.
When I speak to my family, they often get 3 month courses of this and that antibiotic or whatever before the GP will take things further and horrible waiting lists.

I have to say I've had good care here in Rome too. But I speak Italian! I have a friend in Sicily and she tells me, for example, that caesareans for childbirth are at something like 80%. Maybe it's OK for non-childbirth related things though. I just think it would be pretty hard to navigate the system, even here in Rome, if you didn't speak decent Italian let alone in a smaller town in Sicily.

I have no idea about the UK healthcare system but I've heard from many British people that it's quite bad. No idea what the Canadian system is like.

Im fascinated -- please explain what is entailed....

Don't agree at all with your comments on the health care system in Sicily.
I have a fantastic Doctor who answers his mobile even on New year's eve!!!!
The hospitals are a bit scruffy but at least you can understand the Dr!
In the Uk they are all foreign and speak very little English.
Here you pay for everything, hospital visits, medicines, scans,blood tests.
I have just been diagnosed as having an underactive thyroid so now I can get everything free.
My son was born at 7 months weighing 1.490kg,( he is now 18) he was at the Policlinic in Messina for 2 months and I must say he had excellent care.
So let's not tar Sicily with the same brush!!!!!

Well, we live in Southern Italy now, our only previous experience being 2 stays at the Caruso in Ravello - which is nowhere near living in the real world!! We have now travelled back in time to the "real" Southern Italy - you have to be crazy, if you are, then you already half way there!

Where is the "real southern Italy""??????

Different places to different people, for us it's Cilento, the land that time forgot!

Didnt mean to start a fight on healthcare.
Am used to paying anyway as its not so free over here. Been told antibiotics available without perscriptions which is usualy what i need a doctor for. I also will be travelling to UK 3-4 times a year so can keep my specialist there..
Anyway less on the dull stuff,
and back to the more exciting stuff
So no one actualy been skiing in Sicily ??
After some research we think we looking at the east side of sicily havent narrowed it down to NE or SE yet but we getting there. We going to spend a month there later next year any recomendations on the best town/village rock on the beach/ area to stay ?

Also any ideas about longer term rentals ? we not going to dive in and buy a place until we done lots of exploring and searching so would be looking at 6month plus rentals for later on.