Why do people move to Italy?

"I am a little reluctant to let out the secret but I figured I’ll perform a little mitzvah. My wife and I have moved to Lecce Italy last year from NYC and we’ve never been happier. We have visited here multiple times over the past 35 years and realized that we loved being here. So we retired and pulled the trigger in April. Lecce is big enough and cosmopolitan enough to satisfy my wife’s big city addiction but we still can walk to 90% of our destinations. A beautiful city with plenty of high end (and other) boutiques, great food, nice people, great weather and 8km to the beach (there are many). 30 minutes to Brindisi airport. Traffic and parking are similar to what we were used to in Brooklyn. We live in the modern center and have a two car garage (necessary). The historic center is very charming but lacks facilities and parking. Also the homes can be uncomfortable. We have a beautiful 1800 sq ft apartment where we pay less than a third what we spent in Brooklyn. We have tickets to see the Moscow ballet perform the Nutcracker at the end of January. We continually meet interesting people from all over the world and locally. We take day trips to some of the most beautiful , historical towns in the world. Matera, Alberobello, Ostuni, Otranto, Gallipoli, S.M. Leuca. For us, this is what we worked all our lives to enjoy. So the secret is out now," commented one expat who made the move to Lecce, Italy.

Italian For A While
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Become ‘Italian for a While’ with IFA! Learn in Italy on a 1-week to 12-month program - open to students, young adults, graduates, digital nomads, professionals, groups, faculty-led programs, and more. Take courses at an accredited school while immersing yourself in the language, life, and culture among your international peers. Submit an inquiry with IFA to learn more.

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Italian For A While

Become ‘Italian for a While’ with IFA! Learn in Italy on a 1-week to 12-month program - open to students, young adults, graduates, digital nomads, professionals, groups, faculty-led programs, and more. Take courses at an accredited school while immersing yourself in the language, life, and culture among your international peers. Submit an inquiry with IFA to learn more.
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Click connect to have our partner contact you via e-mail and/or phone.

"My husband and I went to Italy together in 2016 and returned 2017 with our children and their significant others for Christmas then in 2018 we decided we would retire there. The cities are magnificent and Uniquely different from each other. We are from NY and have an apartment in Manhattan. I am of Italian decent and felt a natural pull to be in Italy more than just to vacation. Italy has it all and most regions are a reasonable distance of you settle in the center of the country. We looked for 2 years, going back two or three times a year to find our house. We looked in Tuscany because even though it is top of the mind and quintessential Italy to Americans, there is good reason. It is BREATHTAKING. So is Umbria. We settled in an area that is not tourist driven. We have over 200 olive trees and had our first harvest this past fall. We found excellent tradesmen to help us renovate. They and their families became our friends. We shared our garden tomatoes, garlic and olive oils with each other. We are learning Italian through them because they do not speak English. It has been an amazing first year. We are an hour to Florence by car. And 2 1/2 hours to Rome. We are 2+ hours to the Adriatic or the Mediterranean. We have not only Florence but Perugia and Arezzo supper close as well as the wine regions of Chianti, Montepulciano and Montecino. Do you love sunrises and sunsets? Do you love looking over a valley with the fog draping the hills? Do you love food, wine and clean air? Do you love time standing still? We do. This is a very short list why we chose to live in Italy. ," remarked another expat in Italy.