# Moving to Tuscany



## emmaf

Hello.

I am thinking about moving to Tuscany somewhere between Viareggio and Lucca and wanted to get some advice.

1. Where is a good place to look at moving to? I have a dog and like to take long walks either country or beach.
2. Is there a good place to look for property rentals and what is the cost for a 2 bed place?
3. What can you expect to pay to live - utilities, council tax, rates, groceries, eating out, diesel (I will take my own car), Wifi, mobile phone etc.
4. Any advice for dog owners working full time - dog walkers/ dog sitters etc.

Any advice you have would be really great and helpful.

Thanks!

Em.


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## r3dbar0n

> 1. Where is a good place to look at moving to? I have a dog and like to take long walks either country or beach.


Well, it depends ! All the area from Viareggio to Massa is good if you like both sea and mountains: this area faces to the sea by a side and the beautiful Apuane Alps just back with a wonderful panorma ! If you and your dog like hiking you will found in mountains the best in a peaceful atmosphere! If you prefer to take long walks, it is possible but there is some problems: from late September to end of May you can walk form miles without any problem, except that dog should be keep leashed as rules but as you will soon understand in Italy anly rules are more considered just like an advise  and most of people keep their dogs unleashed, if they know it is calm and doesn't hurt anyone. In other period of the year access to dogs is pratically impossibile to beaches : rules are very confused and anyway people and private beaches manager don't like the precence of dogs on the seaside or beaches structures, so even if you could be (sometime!) right by law, you can get some problems as some stupid people can upset! By the way in the area there are about four, maybe five, private beaches that are officaly dog friendly. Please note that even if the beaches are owned by the Italian government, this doesn't imply access is free ! Italy "rent" the control of the beaches to private subjects, so generally, in summer, you have to pay a lot to go to the sea ! Anyway, there are about 4 public beaches, without any infrastucture, but they are quite small and I think are still inaccessible to dogs on summer. 
Other important thing is your age, if you like social nightlife or not: Viareggio is commonly considered part of Versilia (the strip of land up to Massa) that is historicaly an important touristic and social life landmark. I have to say that neither Viareggio nor Massa are historicaly a part of Versilia but this is another story  Expecially on summer, but also in weekends in other seasons, there is a party on the beach or in one of the multitude of discos here there are. If you don't like confusion or crazy night life probably the best place for you could be more near Massa that is a little more relaxed, or some other little town not so near by the sea.



> 2. Is there a good place to look for property rentals and what is the cost for a 2 bed place?


In Versilia, near the sea, prices are very very expensive as it is considered an VIP area ! Be prepared to 1000 euro fees and more ! Some prices are cheapest but hide old or very small apartments ! If you move more far to the sea to Massarosa town (near Viareggio on the road to Lucca), and the other small villages around, prices are lower and probably with 700-800 euro per month you can a very nice apartment in a relaxed area. The Massa area could be a little more expensive, but also here there are small and quite villages in the middle of nothing that are cheaper ! If you like isolated and peaceful places you can check for small villages in upper Versilia, near mountains like Stazzema or Seravezza. Try to check immobiliare.it site: it could help you, you can set in english language)



> 3. What can you expect to pay to live - utilities, council tax, rates, groceries, eating out, diesel (I will take my own car), Wifi, mobile phone etc.


Small traditional groceries are even more substituded by big company markets: depending on your needs you can expect to spend about 200-300 euro by month.
Council tax is a very complex argument ! It is a jungle, with laws that changes almost every year. The equivalent of council tax is here splitted in TASI (tax for services) and TARI (tax for rubbish collection services), why two ? We like complex solutions for simple problems  Both taxes vary very much from a city to another and it is not simple to calculate then to estimate as it depends on not clear house classification (it doesn't exist a clear class distinction A,B,C... as it would be too simple for us  ) I prefer to not detail more as some one more expert can clarify you better.
To eat out price vary a lot : restaurants in Versilia strip could be very expensive, expecially in Pietrasanta and Forte dei Marmi, the two most exclusive town in the area: a dinner in some exclusive restaurants, can reach more than 100 euro per person ! But don't scare too much  Avoiding exclusive locations you can have very good dinner paying 30 euro or less ! Pizza is the cheapest solution: 20 euro or little less.
You can get a 4G mobile phone SIM from 5 to 20 euro per month, depending the ammount of minutes of call and data GB per month you need; best operator with best quality/price ratio is H3G (Tre) but coverage is not so good in some area, Vodafone and TIM are better in term of quality but a bit more expensive, TIM has best coverage and line speed. Please note that general offers, are not flat for voice call to user outside Italy and are expensive; by the way TIM has good offers for people need to call abroad. TIM and Vodafone have combined offers with home voice, ADSL and mobile by about 40 euro per month (please note that with that offers you have typically 2 to 3 mobile GB max per month). Except that you don't move near a very big city, optical fiber is not available and ASDL maximum declared speed is 20Gbit but it is absolutelly false ! Real speed is more less expecially in small villages. 
Diesel is cheaper than petrol but not soo much ! Here prices are heavily affected by huge taxes  and diesel oscillates around 1.3 euro per liter but it can reach up to 1.4 ! Note Viareggio and generally the Versilia area are critical for parking: in Viareggio pratically all parking lots are toll parking, subscription plans exist for resident people but I don't exactly know the price; in other places near the sea, parking, expecially on holidays period, could be a nightmare as town are small and parking area are limited. The historical center of Lucca has a limited access for authorized resident people only, no problem in outer area. Highway, as in all Italy are not free and not cheap : from Viareggio to Lucca you will pay 3.20 euro (20 km), from Viareggio to Pisa a little less 2.9 euro (24 km), from Viareggio to Florence about 18 euro (112 km). Even if trip is longer you can reach Florence also using the "superstrada" FI-PI-LI that interconnects Florence, Pisa and Livorno : speed limit is only 90Km/h but is free (almost all highways limit is 130 Km/h, but the one from Viareggio to Lucca has 110 as limit). Speed limit by the way, as all rules is only an advise for Italian people  , and are not respected a lot ! Many fixed speed cameras are installed on FI-PI-LI and some less also in highway from Lucca to Florence, but Italian law forces to indicate that a camera is present less than a Km after the sign so Italian people, most of time, simply push on break pedal at the sign and return to accelerate after ! Police car on side of highway with a radar are rare, the only real way to keep rule be respected is given by police cars running on highway, that can force you to stop on the side or turn at next exit, but those are rare too.



> 4. Any advice for dog owners working full time - dog walkers/ dog sitters etc.


I don't think you will found great organizated structures for dog sitting and similar activity. It is more probable to found guys and girls that do it : try to check yoopies.it and dogbuddy.com websites: the first is also english transalted, the latter not, but it is simple, you should understand. In Massa exist a kennel that can keep (very well!) your dog for free (only a donation is expected) if you need to move for work, or holiday for a medium period of time, but it does not offer single day services.

I hope I helped you ! If you need something else I'm here ! 

Bye

The Redbaron


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