Expat Experiences in Italy

When considering a move to a new country, there is nothing more useful than hearing real-life stories from other expats who are living there. Read what these expats have to say about their own unique experiences in Italy. Please contact us if you live or have lived in Italy and would like to share your experience.

Roxanne is a retired American who recently moved to a small town in the Tuscany region of Italy. She spent most of her life in California but lived in New Jersey for the past 13 years before leaving the US. At 62, after running a successful construction business and buying a home, Roxanne felt ready for a new adventure. Inspired by her many trips to Italy and other countries over the years, she decided to settle in Lucca, Italy. Read more about Roxanne's expat experience in Italy.
Laurie and her husband initially moved to Paris in 1993 from the USA and finally decided it was time for a new adventure in 2015 when they made the move to rural Italy. As artists who often paint, Laurie and her husband sell paintings and host workshops in Rocca Malatina. Read more about Laurie’s expat experience in the Italian countryside.
Brynna is an American expat from Cheshire, Connecticut. She is the middle of three sisters and an amateur windsurfer face-planting in a bay near you. Brynna began her expat lifestyle in Costa Rica and then moved to Treviso, Italy, in 2022. Brynna now calls Italy home and acquired her Italian dual citizenship by ancestry, honouring her Sicilian and Neapolitan great-grandparents. Learn more about Brynna’s expat experience in Treviso.
After moving to Italy 10 years ago, Maheshwaran decided to create an online forum to help others looking to relocate abroad. He’s also published a book called Benvenuto in Italy, which can be found on Amazon. Find out more about Maheshwaran’s expat experience in Milan.
Stef is a Dutch expat who moved to Italy, accompanied by his husband and dog, to start their bed and breakfast, Villa I Due Padroni, in the Oltrepo Pavese wine region, just 30 miles (50km) south of Milan. Read more about Stef’s experiences as an expat in Lombardy.
Born in Jamaica, Juli-Anne is an aquaculture scientist, science communicator, founder of the Caribbean Aquaculture Network, foodie, amateur photographer and writer. Juli-Anne became a freelance writer in 2020 after moving to Italy. She spends most of her time consulting with fish farmers, cooking and writing. Read more about Juli-Anne’s expat experiences.
Hope, an American lawyer and blogger, got her first passport in 2006 and then started to travel the world. She shares her entertaining experiences, likes and frustrations with us, giving insight into living, working and making friends in Florence. Read more about Hope’s expat experiences in Florence.
Caroline is an American architect who originally moved to Italy in 2015. She shares her experiences of daily life on her blog and is now sharing with us her personal insights on culture and work, as well as practical information on rent in Verona. Read more about Caroline’s expat experiences in Verona.
Tim moved from the United Kingdom to Milan in 2016 to start a family with his Italian wife. He gives his unique take on building a family in one of Italy’s busiest cities and shares his advice on how best to settle down and establish roots for expats moving to the city. Read more about Tim’s expat experiences in Milan.
Gabrielle is an American expat from Brooklyn, New York. She and her family spend much of the year in Italy, and as their love for the country has grown, their trips have become longer and longer. Although she is not an expat in the conventional sense, she does get the best of both worlds with the urban hustle of New York, teamed with the tranquillity of rural Penna San Giovanni. Read about her unique expat experience in her interview.
Diana is an American expat who has been living in Milan, Italy’s capital, for almost a decade. She says she loves the international character of the city and reckons the quality of life it offers is fantastic. You can read her blog at vinovitaviaggi.com or find out more about her expat life in Italy.
Alice moved to Milan three years ago, starting out as a student of fashion and design and now running her own company helping other expats settle into their new Italian life. Having been through the culture shock of moving to a new country, she is in a good position to give others advice to make settling in that much easier. Read more about her expat life in Italy.
Pauline studied the Italian language at university in her home country of the Netherlands, and it was during this time that she discovered her love for Italy. She has been living there since 2001 and says her secret to adapting to expat life is to be relaxed and go with the flow of a new country. Read more on her expat life in Italy.
Hayley is a Canadian expat who has been living in Italy with her husband and their daughter for over five years. She speaks to Expat Arrivals about overcoming her anxieties about speaking Italian and buying a feast for next to nothing. Read more about her expat experience in Italy.
Jessica is an American expat living in Italy. She moved to Casarano in the southeastern province of Lecce in 2012 to be with her Italian fiancé, who is now her husband. Although Jessica finds Casarano a bit small at times, she enjoys the fact that she gets to experience the real Italian life, as opposed to just life in another big city like Rome. Read more about her expat life in Italy.
Martina is a German expat living in Italy with her husband and three children. They moved to the northern city of Bologna because of her husband’s job. Despite the slow pace and constant bureaucratic delays, they enjoy the lifestyle in Bologna, which includes many entertainment options, warm summers, and the proximity to the mountains and sea. Read more about her expat experience in Italy.
Linda is a French expat of Algerian origin living in Italy. After ten years of living in England, she decided to take a year off to follow her dream of becoming a writer and freelance journalist. She now finds herself living in Olbia, on the Italian island of Sardegna. Read more about her expat experience in Italy.
Sarah is a British expat living in Italy. She moved there because she fell in love both with the country and a man, and now lives in Bologna, working as an English teacher. Sarah considers herself to be a post-modern Anglo-Muslim woman and enjoys blogging about her experiences of life in Italy. Read more about her expat life in Italy.
Amy is a British expat who moved to Torremaggiore in the Puglia region of southern Italy to take up a post teaching English at a private language school. Besides her three colleagues, there is not much of an expat community to speak of in her town, but Amy finds the locals are friendly, and the food is, of course, fantastic. Read more about her expat experience in southern Italy.
Ernesto is a Mexican expat who is living in Italy’s capital, Rome. Having previously studied in Milan, he recently returned to Italy to work for a mobile marketing company where he is responsible for the Indian market. Prior to that, he lived in India, thus qualifying as quite the experienced expat. Read about his expat experience in Italy.
Elisa is an Australian expat who initially moved to Tuscany for a year and fell in love with and married an Italian man. They live in the town of Manciano in the beautiful Tuscany region. A freelance journalist, Elisa now writes a travel blog and online travel guide about her new home. Read about her expat life in Tuscany.
Valerie and her husband moved to Italy in 2006 and quickly settled into life in the beautiful city of Ascoli Piceno. Valerie is a freelance writer, and she and her husband have a company that offers customised tours. Read about her experiences of expat life in Italy.
Brian is a South African expat who was moved to Milan, Italy, by his company. He loves the sense of history but not the high prices. He is committed to befriending Italians rather than remaining locked into the expat scene. Read about his take on expat life in Milan, Italy.
Camilla left Sweden for Rome in 2005, and thanks to the excellent coffee, she hasn’t looked back since. She is the web manager for Relocation Enterprises Group. She loves the people, passion and great food of Italy but can’t stand the endless red tape! Read all about her Italy expat experience.
Jessica has had her sights set on Italy for some time now, but the local affinity for bureaucracy has left her unravelling red tape for the past two years. Still, she continues to push forward, and now she shares her story about it with Expat Arrivals.
Anna is an expat from the US who has turned a short-term stint in Italy into a long-term commitment by marrying a local flame and moving to beautiful Piedmont. "Six years ago, I was a 22-year-old party animal full of aspirations, transplanted into the cold foothills of the Alps," Anna says. "I was lonely, lost, and fed up with this meagre Italian life I was living. I stayed a second year because of pride, because I knew I could love it and learn the language, and I did." Read her account of expat life in Italy.
Sonia first visited Italy on a group trip. "It was fantastic, but it was Italy that won my heart. I went back home after 10 days, and I told my parents that I wanted to move to Italy. I kept going on and on about how wonderful it was. The lifestyle, the people, and the food!" Sometime later, she struck up a pen-friendship with an Italian man, who, in due course, became her husband. Here is her experience of la dolce vita as an expat.
Jasmine is a freelance writer, foodie and fashionista from Canada living ‘the sweet life’ in Bergamo, Italy. A former pharmacist, she now spends her time writing a fun and colourful blog that highlights her delectable Italian experiences. Read about how she compares Canada and Italy, as well as her advice on meeting other expats, in her Expat Experiences interview.

Expat Experiences in Italy

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