Best places to live in Italy for expats: how to choose

Every guide to Italy's best places begins with the same list: Rome, Florence, Venice. Few of them tell you that a house in Tuscany and a flat in Palermo are chosen for different reasons, and that the best places to live in Italy for a remote consultant are not those for a retired couple or a family with two teenagers. So instead of a ranking, here is a method, plus the official facts that should weigh in it.

How do you choose among the best places to live in Italy?

Ask four questions in this order.

1. Where does your income come from? If you will work for an Italian employer, you go where the jobs are, which means the big northern cities and Rome. If your income comes from abroad or from a pension, you are free to choose by lifestyle and cost.
2. How much do you want to spend? The gap between regions is large (see below), so settle your budget before falling for a town.
3. Which services must be close? Hospitals, a good school, a railway station, an airport. In a small town they may be 30 or 60 minutes away.
4. Which tax regime applies? In some cases, the municipality's size or region changes your tax bill, as we explain below.

Is the North, Centre or South cheaper to live in?

ISTAT's survey of household spending for 2025 gives a sober answer. The average household spent per month:

Region by region, Trentino-Alto Adige tops the list at €3,444, and Puglia comes last at €1,975, with Calabria at €2,042. These are averages of household spending, not rents, but they point in one direction: the further south you go, the lower the typical budget. For a deeper look at the numbers and what they include, read cost of living in Italy.

What are the main city options for expats?

A short, deliberately general tour; check current conditions before deciding.

• Milan is the country's business centre and the natural choice if your work is in finance, fashion, design or consulting. It sits in the highest-spending part of the country, and you should plan your budget accordingly.
• Rome combines the national administration, embassies and a large international community, with the sprawl of a capital.
• Turin is a large northern city near the Alps, with an industrial history and a quieter pace than Milan.
• Bologna is a university city, known for its arcades and its food, and a railway hub between the North and the Centre.
• Florence is compact and artistic, and heavily visited.
• Naples and Palermo are big, lively southern cities with strong local identities. They are lower-spending regions according to ISTAT, though cities differ from regional averages.
• Lecce, Cagliari or Trieste represent the "mid-sized city with a sea view" option that many newcomers end up preferring.

None of these is "best". Visit in winter as well as spring: a seaside town in February tells you more than in August.

Comparing a dozen possibilities across tax, schools, health access and cost is a lot to hold in your head. If you describe your situation (work or pension, family, language, budget), Moovy, Hello Expat's AI assistant, can help you narrow the field and list the official checks that apply to each place you shortlist.

Where do people speak French or German?

Language can be a deciding factor. In the Aosta Valley, a special-statute region, French is an official language alongside Italian. The regional statute requires as many hours of French as of Italian in school, and some subjects may be taught in French. In the province of Bolzano (South Tyrol), German is also an official language. German-language schools are run by the province, and enrolment goes through the province's own platform rather than the national one. Everywhere else, administration is in Italian, and a few words of the language make a visible difference at every counter.

Does the size of the town matter for your tax bill?

For one category of newcomer, yes. Foreign pensioners who move their tax residence to a municipality of up to 30,000 inhabitants in Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise or Puglia can opt for a 7% flat tax on their foreign income, subject to other conditions. Small towns hit by the 2009 and 2016 earthquakes also qualify. The population is the ISTAT figure as of 1 January of the year before the first year of the option. The conditions are set out on the Agenzia delle Entrate page for foreign pensioners, listed in our sources. There is no equivalent trick for the rest of us, but the region can still matter for local surcharges (each Comune publishes its own rate).

What about families and schools?

If you move with children, check the school situation before the apartment. French-language schools approved by the AEFE exist in Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence and Naples. Public schools are free and open to foreign children on the same terms as Italians; see schools in Italy. Cantine and transport are managed by the Comune and vary by town.

How do you test a place before committing?

Rent first, but also run a short audit of the practical details. These are checks you can do from a laptop or in a week's visit, and each one relies on an official body:

1. Health. Find your ASL and the nearest hospital, and ask whether family doctors are accepting new patients. The system is run region by region, so waiting times and co-payments differ.
2. Schools. If you have children, look at the Comune's school services page, the canteen tariffs and the nearest upper secondary school. For the French- or German-speaking options mentioned above, check enrolment rules and dates well ahead.
3. Transport. Look at the railway timetable to the nearest big city and the airport. Many towns are well connected to the main line and badly connected to each other.
4. Housing. Use the Agenzia delle Entrate's OMI quotations to compare rents and prices zone by zone, and ask a local about the neighbourhood after dark and in winter.
5. Local taxes. Each Comune sets its municipal income surcharge (up to 0.8%, 0.9% in Rome) and its waste tax. They are small next to the regional gap in spending, but they differ.

Which of the best places to live in Italy suits which expat?

A rough guide, as a conversation starter and not a ranking:

• Remote workers and freelancers need good internet, a railway station and a calm base. Mid-sized northern cities and well-connected southern ones both work; the right choice depends on whether your clients are in Europe or your budget is tight. Check your tax and contribution position with the competent authorities before you commit to a base.
• Retirees look at coast, climate and cost. In the South a flat tax can apply if the town is small enough and in one of the eight eligible regions. Health cover is a second question to settle early: see healthcare in Italy.
• Families look first at school and health access, then at the commute. Big cities concentrate international and French schools; smaller towns trade that against space and cost.
• People taking an Italian job go where the employer is. The working in Italy guide and the cost data will help you compare offers in different cities.

Do special-status regions work differently?

Five regions have special autonomy: the Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia and Sicily. For an expat the effects are practical rather than dramatic. Language rules differ in the Aosta Valley and South Tyrol, as seen above, and some administrative offices run on their own tariffs: the Ministry's price lists for vehicle registration and licence exchange say that Sicily, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trento and Bolzano (and, for registration, the Aosta Valley) have their own offices and rates. It does not change the national rules, but it is why the same procedure can cost a slightly different amount in a different place. Always check with the local office.

In the end, the best places to live in Italy are the ones that pass your own audit. The best advice is simple: rent first, for six months, in the place that tempts you. Italy has the flexibility for it, through the transitory contract described in renting in Italy, and it lets you discover whether you like the place when the tourists have gone home.