Live in Italy

Lifestyle

The Italian lifestyle is as close to la dolce vita or the sweet life as you can get. It is what attracts millions of visitors from around the world each year. Warm and welcoming, Italians are passionate about every thing. Whether it is cooking, art, music, sports or just conversation, Italians reveal their passionate nature. Italians are not shy or boring people. In Italy, conversazione is an art form. When they talk it is animated and intense, on almost every subject.

The London-based Legatum Institute ranked Italy thirty-seventh out of 142 countries on its Legatum Prosperity Index (2014), which considers economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom and social capital categories.

Italy is all about having a passion for food. To Italians, food is life and life is celebrated with always the freshest ingredients, no matter how humble the home. Every meal is savored to the fullest. In Italy they say: “A tavola non s’invecchi mai.” Translation: “You never grow old at the table.”

Italians are passionate about life, no matter what they are doing. They squeeze the pleasure out of life, unhurriedly, one drop at a time. And to Italians, life revolves around family and friends. Whether at home, in the piazza or on the beach, Italians value social connections as part of their lifeblood. Sharing your life with friends and family is amore (love).

They also have a passion for simplicity, a love of simple things that can be shared with friends and family, not material goods. Sharing a bottle of local wine and food made from local produce, watching the sunset over Lago di Como or just sitting in the piazza having a conversation and an espresso make life worth living in Italy.

Cost of Living

Like anywhere in the world you may move, your cost of living in Italy will depend upon the type of lifestyle you want to have. Even in the least expensive countries your cost of living may be similar to what you left in the U.S. if you want to maintain a similar lifestyle.

For cost of living information, please visit Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-contributed data, comparison of costs for selected items sold in San Francisco, California and Rome, Italy.