Welcome back dear Going Expat readers,
today we go on with our appointement to find out the top tips tomove to another Country. As usual at the end of the article you’ll find a video, in this case you’ll find even 2!
After the articles about moving to the Netherlands and to Spain, today we go to my home country: Italy.
Some useful links if you are moving to Italy
As usual the first step is to register. The procedure can be slightly different if you come from an EU country or not.
If you come from another EU Countrya and you want to stay in Italy for less than 3 months you are not required to register or inform aout your staying. On the contrary, if you want to stay longer you must register in the first 8 days.
Here you can find more info about the VISA if you are coming from a non-EU country, instead.
Codice fiscale: it is very important since it will be your identification code and it is going to be used also to pay taxes. You will get one via the Agenzia delle entrate and it is based on personal info of the citizen.
SSN – it is the acronymus for Sistema Sanitario Nazionale, the health system in Italy which is free and public. Anyways, it occurs that you need to pay a specific amount if you go for a specialistic visit to the hospital. This bill is always based on your income and you must get a prescription from your GP.
In order to get GP it is needed to register at the SSN via the ASL or the given police department, depending – again – if you are or not an european citizen.
It is common to refer to Italy with the expression Bella vita! (Beutiful life), and probably in the past it was really this way, cost of life, landscape, food, weather, art and cultue. On paper Italy got it all.
Cost of life nowadays really change from city to city, region to region and, of course, between South and North we see many differences.
I can assure some of the most expensive cities are Milan, Rome, Venice. Maybe they are not expensive for all the elements of life, surely for the renting.
Obviosuly it is always possible to chose an apartment a bit further than in the city centre, or share it for the first period, to have a decent life without having to miss much.
Let’s see some details. If the average cost of one bedroom apartment in Italy is around €700 (in the city centre) it goes up to €1270 in Milan and Rome. Choosing to live in different areas brings the price back to €600 in Milan and approximately €500/€600 in the rest of the country.
Be careful with the maths, all these prices exclude the utilities!
The big problem is the salary
It is well known that Italy is one of the few countries in Europe where a minimum wage is not applied and this creates a lot of differences in the salaries of 2 peopele who do the same job, maybe for 2 different companies or in 2 different cities.
Nevertheless, the average is €1500 (bruto) and as you have seen, in some cities, it is just anough to pay for the rent and the utilities
I have always a smile in my face when I talk about Italy or to people who have found their “home” there.
It is a mix feeling, a bit of kindness, a bit of sadness. I guess all expats can understand
As promised you find 2 videos aboit Italy, the first is for the series “Moving to…” with the top tips by Barbora, who lives in Milan, and the second is the story of Sally, who lives in Modica
You might also be interested in knowing how the School System works in Italy
Do you have any questions or you want to share you experience? Text me or drop a comment
Talk to you soon
Ciao
Rossella
