# Moving to Abruzzo - Molise Region



## Di Giovanni AUD (5 mo ago)

We are in the planning process of thinking to move to Italy from Australia.
Our biggest dilemma is not finding a property as there are so many to consider.
Our issue is knowing which town to consider that is great for young children to grow up in.
We don't want to live in the bigger cities / towns.
We want to be on the outskirts of a smaller town, that still has your essentials - eg Doctor, post office, pharmacy, grocery store ect.
♡ Would love to watch our young daughter playing with other children in the palazzo in the evening, whilst we sit and soak up the atmosphere.

Also a small town that has a local primary school for her to attend when she turns 6.

We are a self funded retired couple, so we don't need employment to live.

Sorry for the long message, hopefully someone can offer some advice.

Grazie Mille 😊


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## LeeSEA (Oct 27, 2021)

I came to Italy planning to buy a home. And my description of an ideal home was pretty specific. But once I arrived, I learned more about my options and my requirements list changed. Good thing I didn't rush to buy. You may want to pick a place you think you would like, and find a short term rental first. I am in Ascoli Piceno, Le Marche. The beaches are 30 minutes away, the mountains are visible from everywhere in town. There are many places in Italy, it is hard to choose just one place!


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Do you know how small the population of the Molise is? IIRC both provinces TOGETHER are less than 500K.

Look I love the region it's literally in my blood but I would not move kids literally halfway around the world . Especially to a region with the economic challenges of the Molise.

I assume you know the earthquake risks. I assume you know the transport issues.

Are you really willing to hang around town chatting with the locals? Or are you planning on something more?


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## Di Giovanni AUD (5 mo ago)

NickZ said:


> Do you know how small the population of the Molise is? IIRC both provinces TOGETHER are less than 500K.
> 
> Look I love the region it's literally in my blood but I would not move kids literally halfway around the world . Especially to a region with the economic challenges of the Molise.
> 
> ...


Nick, No we don't know the transport issues, or the population. We were just looking at property online and liked some in that area, which is why I put up my post asking for advice which you have kindly given.

My husband's family live in Chieti Central, and we love the Passeggiata after dinner in the warmer months.

We want a country house on small rural land, we want our daughter to grow up knowing true Italian family values. We love the Italian lifestyle..

But we have no idea where to start our search online that ticks all the boxes.
Then we we finally decide, we will take the 22 hour flight ... but for now the internet is all we have.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Put it into perspective. Abruzzo is a relatively sparsely populated region. It's 3x the population of Molise. Pescara isn't a huge city but it has the advantage of easy access to Rome.

If all you want to do is sit on the patio watching the world go by sure it'll work. But you need to be ready for the challenges.

I was told last week that price of heating pellets has tripled. Firewood has also soared. A hill town in Molise is going to need good heating likely from Nov 1st to May 1st. Higher up even worse.

You need a car for basically everything. The local bus services wasn't great to begin with but in smaller towns it's been cut back. Understandably the worse the bus gets the less people use it.

The point that can't be pushed too hard is it's a tough area for teenagers and above. The small village won't have a high school. University might mean leaving the region totally. Work won't be easy to find.


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## Di Giovanni AUD (5 mo ago)

So are you suggesting we look in the Pescara region, this would be a better option for our daughter to grow up ?
If this is your advice, I greatly appreciate your input Nick.
As now I am not wasting hours searching the internet for the wrong area and that is not a good family option for us to raise our daughter.
Grazie mille


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Partly I'm suggesting knowing what you're getting into.

Partly I'm suggesting really thinking about what you're hoping to do . Not just today but in the future.

People often talk about living the simple life but that gets boring real quick for many people.

It's not like Abruzzo is the big city life either. Plenty of small towns.


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## GeordieBorn (Jul 15, 2016)

I thought similar to Nick “what are you thinking”, but seeing where you are coming from and user name I assumed Italian origin, even better family in the region.

I would suggest you ask/say if after 5-10 years things don’t work out you can afford to pack up and leave and lose whatever investment you’ve made? It could be you get bored as Nick says or the kids life is not what you/they expect.

Define a small town in your terms. Okay you say about a primary school, but how many people what facilities. We lived here, double click on the road to move forward and try driving to our local “town” Castilenti. It probably will take you as long as it did us to drive, even though we could almost touch it from our land at the back. There are bigger towns nearby such as Bisenti and Atri (even has a hospital at the moment). The former in my opinion was too far out for access to the airport, bigger shops and other facilities (and worse earthquake risk in our opinion). However there are many, many such hilltop towns in Teramo, Chieti and Pescara (or even L’Aquilla). This site here give us a good idea of the size of any town we were interested in. The houses are cheaper in the areas Italians don’t want to live. We found the further south the cheaper….

We see renting as lost money, but in this case doing the same again, we would have rented much longer before (if ever) buying.


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## Di Giovanni AUD (5 mo ago)

GeordieBorn said:


> I thought similar to Nick “what are you thinking”, but seeing where you are coming from and user name I assumed Italian origin, even better family in the region.
> 
> I would suggest you ask/say if after 5-10 years things don’t work out you can afford to pack up and leave and lose whatever investment you’ve made? It could be you get bored as Nick says or the kids life is not what you/they expect.
> 
> ...


Thank you for taking the time to respond. My husband has extended family in Chieti who we have visited on a few occasions.
Unfortunately with covid and the astronomical airfares we are now faced with thanks to high fuel prices we can't visit as we would like.

But each time we have travelled, unfortunately we haven't really had a chance to discover the region.

The net is a wonderful tool for property searching, but it lacks the information needed to put that property on a short list.

We like the more traditional towns that still have some modern amenities, and not a sleepy quiet town that most of the locals have left for the bigger cities.

We love the slow paced lifestyle, it is something we miss when returning back to Australia.

We do have a plan, we are not selling our home in Australia, so we have something to come back to if needed. A safety net 

We would like a long term rental to get the feel of the town we choose, but other than vacation rentals they are not easy to find or acquire if you are not local.
We can not afford an airbnb on a nightly / weekly rate ... that is lost money I agree.


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## GeordieBorn (Jul 15, 2016)

This is just personal preference, but we would prefer Teramo (also because we lived in the province) and next Chieti, but Pescara is probably a much better rental location for getting around to the other areas. Is Atri the size town you are looking for or Penne perhaps? Both have numerous properties on the outskirts i.e. rural. Living on the right side of Atri is also very near the sea….


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