advice on moving to italy

[james hathway]

Hi everyone
and have a great 2009. looking to move family to italy in next few years when we have learnt italian e.t.c married and still very much in love ,two beautiful children 17yr boy and 6yr girl. After advice pos or neg on italy i am a plumber by trade wife doing floristry so any advice gratefully recieved .
grazie

[zungzwang]

Hello everybody,

I would like to live in Italy. However, I am too young to retire (I'm 32) and my family doesn't own Gazprom. That means I will have to work for a living.
So, I thought that perhaps I could find some job in the Russian community, if there are any in Italian cities.
Or perhaps I could work in some travel agency. I know that quite many well-to-do Russians arrive to holiday to Italy. And some Italians go to Russia.
Or perhaps I could continue working in the real estate. If I can help Russians rent/buy real property in the Czech Republic, perhaps I can do the same in Venice or Rome.
My problem is that though I like Italy, my Italian is very bad. However, Italian is one of the easiest languages to learn, especially for Russians.
My other assets are good knowledge of German and Czech.
Well, if you can give me any advice, please do.
In return, perhaps I can tell you about being an expat in Prague (finding accommodation, etc) or refer you to people that know more.

[roleary]

Hello!

I'm an Irishman living in Lecce, which is in Puglia in the south of Italy. I've been here for a while, and the biggest advice I could give to someone coming to Italy is to be aware that this country is full full full of bureaucracy and rules and laws that have to be followed to the letter.

Unlike many places - you need to jump through hoops for absolutely everything here - from providing a fiscal code to buy a mobile phone, to producing a passport and maybe even a birth certificate to open a bank account - forms for applying for other forms - government offices that are never open - the list is just never-ending, and even the locals struggle to follow the maze of rules and regulations for every little thing.

The best strategy I think is to be as prepared as possible by doing all the research you can and asking as many people as possible when you're dealing with things like tax, insurance, banks, and so on - never just turn up and hope for the best.

Also, Italians - at least here in the south - take a positive pride in being "furbo" - which translates to "crafty" or "cunning" - so being crafty is sometimes taken as a higher goal than being strictly honest or straightforward about things... Which means you can't be too careful in every deal - expect an Italian to be trying his or her best to wrangle the most out of you in any situation, if not by being actually black dishonest, not being white honest either - dealing in what Berlusconi calls "shades of grey" - so check the bill before you leave the shop or restaurant, and get a receipt for absolutely everything.

Other than all that - it's really a pleasant place to live - so enjoy!

[roleary]

Oh - also - it's probably pretty obvious advice, but if you don't speak Italian, it's probably best to move to a larger town or city, because in my experience (which to be fair, is almost entirely of the south, so maybe it's different in the north), most Italians speak Italian and their own dialect and nothing else - so outside of urban centers, it's very difficult to function without the language.

Though the Russian poster has a good point - Italian is a pretty accessible language if you apply yourself to learning it - there are a million irregular verbs and the like, but you can get by fine with the basics, and in my experience Italians are very forgiving and generous with foreigners doing their best to speak their language - I've found they mostly don't quite understand why a foreigner would want to learn it - though they're proud of it - and are pleased to help when they can, which I think is a really endearing trait - in contrast to my experience of the French or Greek, for example, who are both wonderful people, but generally a little less encouraging of amateurs at their languages.

[Evinson]

Hello Roleary, I´m unfortunately a member of the non-Italian speaking club who should at least know the basics by the end of this year. My wife, 2 boys (aged 4 and 6) are planning on moving to southern Italy this september for a year minimum, possibly longer. I have a modest income via the internet but was hoping to pick up a few lessons at language schools. Are there a few private ones in Lecce who would accept a qualified english teacher with very basic Italian?
By the way, are you in Lecce to settle or is it more of a colourful chapter in your life?
Cheers, Evinson

[matzudaira]

Originally Posted by Evinson

Hello Roleary, I´m unfortunately a member of the non-Italian speaking club who should at least know the basics by the end of this year. My wife, 2 boys (aged 4 and 6) are planning on moving to southern Italy this september for a year minimum, possibly longer. I have a modest income via the internet but was hoping to pick up a few lessons at language schools. Are there a few private ones in Lecce who would accept a qualified english teacher with very basic Italian?
By the way, are you in Lecce to settle or is it more of a colourful chapter in your life?
Cheers, Evinson

Hi Evinson, I think that Roleary gave you good advices and a real picture of the Italian society. But there is something you should know. Italy of the soth is much much poorer and backlog compared to the north. I'm a 34 years old Venitian, but I spent few years in Rome and I travelled a lot in the south for work. It is true that people are quite friendly, but definetely they are not open minded.
Also everything from the hospitals to the schools to the post offices to he train station to the highways etc etc are really inferior compared to the infrastructures of the northerns regions. In particular Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Toscana are the regions where you should focus your search.
Also, because you don't speak Italian, I suggest you to start with turists cities such as Venice or Florence where you can get a job in the turist industry.

A second and big obstacle you should take into consideration before packing your things and family is the Visa.
Recently the Bossi-Fini law has introduced some restrictions on foreigners (non-european), that want to leave and work in Italy. Before you can apply for a Visa you need to find a employer that can guarantee for you, this mean you need to find a job, present your request to the "questura" (police central station) of the province where you intend to work and after houndreds of papers and many, many hours in the police station wating room, you can apply for the visa.
My wife s Japanese, but when she came in Italy we where not married yet. After few months of frustraction trying to obtain the working visa (as said if you dont have a job they dont give you a visa, but if you dont have a visa you cant find a job), we decided to marry so now she have a permanent family visa.

Anyway my previous boss was american, from Cincinnati, he came in Italy as a turist and he spent few years working in Venice irregurarly without any problem. In fact the controls are concentrated on the non white, poor looking, penny less foreigners (such as the africans, the Pakistani, the Chinese etc). Now he is merried with an italian woman so he got a family visa.

I hope I have not discouraged you, but think you should be aware of the problems and difficulties you can ecounter.

Ciao

[Evinson]

Thanks Matzudaira and no, I´m not discouraged about moving to an area with challenging beurocracy, well let´s say challenging everything. I arrived in the Czechlands on a bicycle 15 years ago without knowing the language and $500 in my pocket. Now I'm in the position of moving to southern Italy with a guaranteed minimum income of $1000 via the internet. I'm hoping to find a small village near a larger town where I could either receive pay or barter english lessons for Italian (I'm a qualified teacher in training students without using their native language irrespective of their level). Having the odd private lesson where a group of 3 students pay 4 or 5 euros each for an hour for example would be fine. I prefer making 10 or 15 euros an hour with students who are friendly and motivated than more money for companies. We have a modest lifestyle which involves more togetherness than chasing the buck.
You never know, we might have a glass of wine together some day and you'll be laughing at my heavy Calabrian accent.
Cheers, Evinson

[matzudaira]

Dear Evinson if you want to rent a flat or even buy it this is the best period. In fact house renting is very low now and with €500 per month in small towns you can have a brand new double room flat.
In every town you can find a British Institute English school that would like to hire you as a teacher for advanced students. Check their site British Institutes - corsi di inglese - privati, aziende, scuole e universita and apply at the "lavora con noi" section.
Finally I suggest to reallocate in the Veneto region, preferebly near Venice (you have many small towns not too expensive). If you need any hints do not hesitate to ask.

Ciao

Francesco

[livialen]

Hi!
If you are a plumber you will do fine in italy! Schooling and university are affordable (highscool per year I think less than 200euros, university from 500-1500euros if not private where prices will be around 5000euros). Public transport are ok too: with 7 euros you can tour a radius of 70km from Rome (all trains, buses, subways) with a one day ticket (BIRG). Your wife can get into teaching english. Good Luck.

[Jask]

Hi everyone. My friend and I have decided that we would also love to move to Italy for atleast one year and give it a try. But we are soooo confused on where to start planning. I know we need a visa etc...but our main concern is finding a job out there. We are both open to teaching english in Italy..if that is a big demand out their at the moment. So if anyone in this forum can help a confused canadian gal on how to make her move to Italy, I would be thank-ful for any info you can provide.

We were thinking of moving to Sienna, Italy btw. Is that a good place to live for outsiders?