# FYI Apparently Useful Book For Americans Thinking of Moving to Italy



## PauloPievese (Nov 2, 2012)

Move To Italy! by L.J. Stone

From that book, "I'm not here to help you find and buy a four-hundred-year-old Tuscan farmhouse to renovate and decorate." Also "(advice) books were general and nature and covered a wide range of categories of Italian life. Other books proved to support a stereotypical Italia or were overly-opinionated or too novel-like." This had been my experience as well.

So this book is the author's highly detailed, granular, step by step experience of moving to Italy from the USA including her screw ups. She reports (as I recall) that she is living there on around $25,000/yr with some emergency padding. That's not too far off from where I'm at. It cost me 6 bucks for my Kindle.

I include an icon of a flying pig because I can: :flypig:


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## joec20 (Jan 17, 2017)

Hmm, looks interesting. Definitely worth checking out. There are so many similar books out there -- a solid recommendation like this helps cut through the chaff. Thanks.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

RetireInRome said:


> Move To Italy! by L.J. Stone
> 
> From that book, "I'm not here to help you find and buy a four-hundred-year-old Tuscan farmhouse to renovate and decorate." Also "(advice) books were general and nature and covered a wide range of categories of Italian life. Other books proved to support a stereotypical Italia or were overly-opinionated or too novel-like." This had been my experience as well.
> 
> ...


$25,000 for a year???? ridiculous unless one is living in a five star hotel. In Spain we (a family of three adults and two dogs) can live on my pension which is about 8,400€ per year. If we had to pay rent on top (we own our house outright) then that would add 3,000€ a year.


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## GeordieBorn (Jul 15, 2016)

According to the UK it’s £18,600 needed in for a Brit wanting to bring in a non-Brit/EU partner. It matters little that many in the UK live on way below that amount.


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## PauloPievese (Nov 2, 2012)

That is the U.S. poverty level for a family of four. While I have no expectations of buying and renovating a 400 year old farmhouse I do want to live something like a middle class lifestyle. Being poor in a foreign country would probably suck more than being poor at home.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Depends on what a person is interested in.

If you want to travel a bit you'll have to budget for that. A couple of low cost return flights can easily be added up to be more then €200. A couple of weeks in a budget hotel. You might want to eat. Might want a couple of souvenirs. 

Easily you're over €1k

Internet and phone end up over €40 a month. That's another €500 gone.

Car insurance? Fuel and maintenance.

If you're moving across the ocean odds are you're better off replacing almost anything that plugs in. That costs money.

It all adds up. 

If you're reliant on non € income you need a buffer to deal with exchange rate fluctuation.


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