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A few quick questions, I'm considering retiring, or at least spending a significant amount of time in my later life in Italy. My scenario:
-dual citizenship Italy/USA
-not fluent in Italian, but pretty damn close, I learn languages easily, regularly converse in Italian but can't honestly say I'm fluent
-I'd go with around 250 (low end)-500k (high end) in a retirement plan with option to withdraw half with no penalty
-150k-300k house equity
-around a 30-40k USD pension
My questions:
How hard would it be to find entry level work if need be for me, security, airport bag thrower, barista, bartender, personal trainer, waiter, guitar teacher, or English teacher (could also teach Spanish/Russian)? I guess I could do souvenir store clerk or something too, as long as I remotely enjoy the job.
How is the health care system compared to USA? I have no health issues other than bad eyes, eat healthy and workout daily, but you never know.
Speaking of working out, how are the gyms? Not fluffy 100 euro a month gyms like planet fitness, could I be able to find a basement Dorian Yates prison yard gym/Gold's Gym for under 50 Euros a month?
Recommended cities or small towns? I have no inclination to own a car when I retire, if that helps, no problem riding a bicycle or taking a bus/train.
How is transport between cities? Ie. if I wanna go to Rome for the weekend or something.
How is the housing market? I imagine I'd rent for a year to see if I like it before buying.
A few quick questions, I'm considering retiring, or at least spending a significant amount of time in my later life in Italy. My scenario:
-dual citizenship Italy/USA
-not fluent in Italian, but pretty damn close, I learn languages easily, regularly converse in Italian but can't honestly say I'm fluent
-I'd go with around 250 (low end)-500k (high end) in a retirement plan with option to withdraw half with no penalty
-150k-300k house equity
-around a 30-40k USD pension
My questions:
How hard would it be to find entry level work if need be for me, security, airport bag thrower, barista, bartender, personal trainer, waiter, guitar teacher, or English teacher (could also teach Spanish/Russian)? I guess I could do souvenir store clerk or something too, as long as I remotely enjoy the job.
How is the health care system compared to USA? I have no health issues other than bad eyes, eat healthy and workout daily, but you never know.
Speaking of working out, how are the gyms? Not fluffy 100 euro a month gyms like planet fitness, could I be able to find a basement Dorian Yates prison yard gym/Gold's Gym for under 50 Euros a month?
Recommended cities or small towns? I have no inclination to own a car when I retire, if that helps, no problem riding a bicycle or taking a bus/train.
How is transport between cities? Ie. if I wanna go to Rome for the weekend or something.
How is the housing market? I imagine I'd rent for a year to see if I like it before buying.
Thanks to anyone who replies.
You probably should not rely on landing a wage job, so best bet would be teaching English. However, if you play by the rules, be prepared to pay upwards of 50% in effective income tax rates. Also, check carefully double-taxation rules for passive income (e.g. pension and investment income).
For basic care, the health system is generally pretty good. If you need specialized care, it's a mixed bag.
Transport between cities is by rail and bus. Best would be to live in a mid-sized town in a region like Lazio or Tuscany or Liguria or Romagna or even Marche or maybe Veneto, with a direct rail link to a major city like Rome, Florence, Genoa, Ravenna or Venice. It gets sluggish if you have to change trains. If you are more adventurous, perhaps near Palermo or Syracuse, maybe Catania or Messina, in Sicily or Lecce in the Salento area of Puglia or perhaps the province of Salerno, south of Naples, in Campania. And in all cases, if you prefer warm temperatures, as close to the coast as possible - it gets cold in high elevations in winter - or in any case a dwelling with southern exposure.
Of course rent first. Be very careful about buying: be sure about title law, whether a property is legally titled, whether there are any illegal structures on the property, and property taxes, both as part of the buy/sell transaction and ongoing.
The only positive things are: food and health system, the latter is, in the North at least, among the best in the world.
Other than these, I don't honestly suggest you to come to Italy unless you have a lot of money to spend to live a pleasant life, otherwise stay in the US.
As for the job market, it's a disaster and someone in their 50s (assuming you are that age) will have a hard time finding a work.
Recommended cities or small towns? I have no inclination to own a car when I retire, if that helps, no problem riding a bicycle or taking a bus/train.
Florence, Rome and Naples are 3 beautiful lively cities, both linked with a high-speed train network.
Naples and Rome are big and chaotic, Florence is nice and small. Also, rents in the centre of Rome are expensive, while Naples is cheap as the centre is NOT the best part of the city.
The more south you go, the more crazy people are driving.
Public transport in Rome is very crowded, while in Florence is really ok. Naples has a brand new metro line which is very modern and tidy, but the lines going to the suburbs are 3rd class quality, dirty and unreliable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeJude
How is transport between cities? Ie. if I wanna go to Rome for the weekend or something.
There is a high-speed train network linking Turin to Naples via Milan, Bologna, Florence and Rome. Milan to Rome is just under 3h, Florence to Rome 1h30', Rome to Naples 1h10'.
Cities like Brescia, Verona and Venice also enjoy fast links to Rome.
I'm not sure it's a great idea, but I only recently learned of the odd jure sanguinis laws in Italy. One of my old roommates just got her Italian passport because her great grandparents were italian.
Anyway if I were to do that, I'd probably retire to a very touristy area like Cinque Terra and try to have some business catering to english speaking tourists. Although there are probably thousands who have had that same idea already.
we are still a few years off but we are considering the same thing but just for a few years-- we want to go to Trieste and have begun researching rent costs etc. We will also have dual citizenship by then, working on it now.......... I don't want to drive either since I don't have drive a stick, we can rent one if we really want to go somewhere that doesn't have train service. I'll be following this post too to see what others suggest.
I've thought about that as well maybe liVing there 5 to 10 years. Besides whatever Italy offers I feel it would be a decent hub to travel around the rest of Europe.
A few quick questions, I'm considering retiring, or at least spending a significant amount of time in my later life in Italy. My scenario:
-dual citizenship Italy/USA
-not fluent in Italian, but pretty damn close, I learn languages easily, regularly converse in Italian but can't honestly say I'm fluent
-I'd go with around 250 (low end)-500k (high end) in a retirement plan with option to withdraw half with no penalty
-150k-300k house equity
-around a 30-40k USD pension
My questions:
How hard would it be to find entry level work if need be for me, security, airport bag thrower, barista, bartender, personal trainer, waiter, guitar teacher, or English teacher (could also teach Spanish/Russian)? I guess I could do souvenir store clerk or something too, as long as I remotely enjoy the job.
How is the health care system compared to USA? I have no health issues other than bad eyes, eat healthy and workout daily, but you never know.
Speaking of working out, how are the gyms? Not fluffy 100 euro a month gyms like planet fitness, could I be able to find a basement Dorian Yates prison yard gym/Gold's Gym for under 50 Euros a month?
Recommended cities or small towns? I have no inclination to own a car when I retire, if that helps, no problem riding a bicycle or taking a bus/train.
How is transport between cities? Ie. if I wanna go to Rome for the weekend or something.
How is the housing market? I imagine I'd rent for a year to see if I like it before buying.
Thanks to anyone who replies.
I wouldn't be so sure about landing a job, even though the situation is slowly improving, unemplyment is still over 10%, actually English teacher would certainly be your best bet, as mother tongue speakers are in demand.
The health care system is excellent, the only thing Italians usually don't whine about, it's free for the most part, although you have to pay a ticket fee for most medical exams.
The gyms are decent, i'm sure you'll find the kind of gym you're looking for, i'd actually say there's too many of them.
I'd recommend Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Ravenna, Trento, they are all located in the North-East and offer, according to several indexes, rank in the first positions regarding quality of life in Italy. It won't be hard to get by using exclusively public transport, the train system is comfortable for the most part and links all of Italy, so depending on where you live it will be most likely easy accessing any major city.
As for the housing market, prices are at a low because of a lack of demand due to the economical crisis that's still affecting the life of many Italians, so this is a good period to buy, it also depends on where you want to settle and the commodities you're looking for
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