Italy for retirement? It doesn’t rank but it does with me
I’m 65 years old and that’s a magic number for my American friends who, like myself, grew up with manual typewriters, two TV channels and news that came on newsprint and not through broken cellphone glass.
In the U.S., 65 was always considered the standard age of retirement, when you can collect full social security benefits. The government has tweaked that number over the years but 65 is a general target age, kind of like 18 when we wanted to vote and 21 when we wanted to get drunk.
I have burned-out friends who have retirement dates on their calendar circled more times than the birthdate of their first child. It hangs from their computer screen like a carrot in front of a hungry horse. Inevitably the date is next to a photo of an exotic beach, a country villa or a mountain view.
Their question isn’t when to retire. It’s where. I’m a good foil. I retired to Rome in 2014 at the early age of 57. I tell them that life in Italy is paradise. It’s the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s the least stress I’ve ever had.
At one point, my only source of stress was getting enough foam in my cappuccino every morning. Now that I’ve upgraded to a hand-operated foamer, I’m as tranquil as a grapevine, slowly swaying in the Mediterranean breeze.
However, it’s harder than you think to convince people that Italy is where they should spend the rest of their life. The Internet is littered with surveys of Best Places to Retire. They’re from websites and organizations I’ve never heard of but all have their own criteria and evidence to back up their rankings.
Italy is almost nowhere to be found.
I checked six random top-10 retirement destination lists and they include 28 different countries. They range from Vietnam to Denmark, from Australia to Canada. Italy is 11th in the World Population Review and in Live and Invest Overseas.
Based on compilation of the six surveys, here is my own ludicrously unscientific top 10 list:
- Portugal
- Mexico
- Costa Rica
- Panama
- Spain
- Ecuador
- Colombia
- France
- Australia
- Netherlands
Business Insider, which listed Portugal No. 1, wrote, “In addition to having an affordable lifestyle with quality healthcare, a temperate climate and ‘excellent food and wine,’
Tricia Pimental, who has lived in Portugal for seven years, said she and her husband moved there for a more ‘ephemeral’ reason: ‘the overarching sense of well-being we experience here.’”
Wrote Live and Invest Overseas on Mexico, which it picked No. 2 behind Portugal: “It’s easy to get to from the States and Canada, it has warm year-round temperatures, it boasts two coastlines full of magnificent beaches, and it offers a low cost of living for people looking to stretch their retirement budgets.
The country is familiar, with many of the shops and brands that Americans and Canadians are used to and expat communities set up across the country.”
Each survey uses its own criteria. They include everything from climate to cost of real estate to political system to urban infrastructure. You must pick and choose what’s important to you. Base the most important decision of the rest of your life on my top 10 list above at your own peril.
These surveys made me think. Objectively, how does Italy rank among retirement spots? Why am I so happy here and “experts” don’t think others would be?
I decided to draw up my own criteria and give each one in Italy a score from 1-10, 10 being the best. I’ve put on my journalist’s fedora and shelved my subjectivity next to my month’s supply of espresso capsules.
Listing the factors in the importance to my retirement, this is as brutally honest as I can be:
Cost of living
This should be atop everyone’s list. It is mine and I find Italy very affordable. It’s not Vietnam or Ecuador or even Portugal but it’s a lot cheaper than the United States.
I have a 55-square-meter apartment with a wraparound balcony a 10-minute tram ride from Rome’s city center for 1,000 ($1,160) euros. I pay 250 euros for a yearly public transportation pass.
Healthy, delicious food in public markets is very cheap. You can get by in Rome, depending on your lifestyle, for 30,000 euros a year. You can live very well on 40,000. Score: 8.
Beauty
Unsurpassed. I’ve always said it’s a tossup between Switzerland and French Polynesia as the most beautiful countries in the world but Italy is in the running. Beautiful beaches along 4,700 miles of coastline and a bevy of exotic islands.
Vineyards and olive groves in rolling countryside. Hill towns dating back to the Middle Ages. The question I ask in determining this score isn’t what’s beautiful in Italy. But what isn’t? Score: 10.
Healthcare
If you’re 65 and want to see 85, healthcare is huge. While Italy isn’t ranked among top retirement spots, its healthcare is annually ranked everywhere in the top three. As I wrote last month, healthcare is really cheap here.
Last month I had a full body checkup that included four tests and consultation in a private clinic and it cost only 450 euros ($530). I priced the same tests in the U.S. and it was $2,732.
Being a legal resident puts me in the Italian healthcare system which gives me a family doctor. I can make free visits. Italian healthcare does have its critics, as I reported.
They say the quality is hit and miss. But I have faith in the World Health’s Organization ranking Italy No. 2 in the world behind France. The U.S. is 37th. Score: 8.
Food
I couldn’t live in a country with bad food. It’s hugely important for me. The great thing about Italy is no matter how lonely you get, no matter how angry you get with bureaucracy or the opposite sex, you always have dinner to look forward to.
I’ve been in Italy 7½ years. I’ve had three bad meals. Three. Two were pizzas. Also, the food in public markets is so fresh and so natural and so flavorful, you don’t need to eat out. I’m not a good cook. But I’m a good cook in Italy. Score: 10.
Lifestyle
When I retired I wanted a different culture. I wanted to learn another way of life. You can do that in Italy. At least, you can in the South. Northern Italy, particularly Milan, is fast-paced, business oriented and as serious as a Fiat pileup.
But in the South, even in the capital of Rome, you can take the pulse of the people by going to your local trattoria and seeing families while away the afternoon with bottles of wine and plates of antipasti.
I like the Italian lifestyle, where my biggest decision all day is whether to drink red or white wine. Score: 8.
People
I’ve been to 109 countries. Italians are the nicest people I’ve ever met. In 7 ½ years here I have yet to meet a rude man. I’ve met some rude women but I’m a single guy. That conflict is universal. (And you people read my blog. Can you blame them?) But Italians are curious, polite and open.
I have more friends here than I ever had in Denver where I lived 23 years before moving to Rome. And Italians have hard lives. The economy is terrible. They face so many dead ends.
But they place more value in things that are important: friends, family, spare time and good food and wine. They’re simple people. And I adore them. Score: 9.
Public services
The post office is the worst in the world. Rome’s public transportation is the worst in Europe. Internet reach is spotty. Cellphone billing is baffling.
I tell people living in Rome is like living in a third world country with a big, beautiful, glamorous city right across the street.
I have people bring me important documents from the U.S. instead of having them mailed. I bring a newspaper to the post office when I pay my bills.
If you have little patience, Italy is not the place for you. Score: 3.
Cleanliness
This greatly depends on where you go. I found Milan remarkably clean. Bologna? Spotless. The farther south you go, the higher the garbage climbs. Rome is the filthiest capital in Europe. It might be second and third, too.
A mysterious conflict with Ama, the agency that collects garbage, has left dumpsters overflowing all over the city. Some days my street in a modern, middle-class neighborhood resembles a rural alley in India.
Before you consider moving to Rome, check out the video of the wild boar fighting seagulls for garbage on a city street. Score: 2.
Visas
Italy is famous for its red tape. It takes forever to get things done. One hand of the long bureaucratic blackberry bush doesn’t know what the other hand is doing. It’s confusing, frustrating and time consuming.
First, you must get a visa from your closest Italian consulate and that requires similar patience. Second, once you’re here you must wait a year before you get the prized Permesso di Soggiorno, which allows you to stay. However, if you follow my friend Rick Zullo’s terrific step-by-step Permesso application guide, it’s much easier.
I’ve also found if you have a sizable bank account or stock portfolio, you will get a visa. Remember: You choose to live in Italy; other immigrants are desperate to leave their homeland. Score: 5.
Climate
I put this last because I’m not a big weather guy. I really don’t care. But I know many of you do. Obviously it depends on where you live but Italy has something for everyone. You like snow and mountains? Come to Piedmont.
You like sun and beaches? Come to Puglia. You like warm and mild? Hey, come to Rome. We even have four distinct seasons here. It’s rarely too hot to wear a stylish scarf which is de rigueur about nine months a year. Score: 8.
So that’s an average score of 7.4. That’s pretty good. And yes, it’s objective. You don’t believe me? Fine. Go to Portugal and find a good pizza.
Debra Kolkka
October 5, 2021 @ 4:36 pm
I’m with you on the post office. I shudder every time I walk past one. I’m also with you on the beauty. I think Italy has more beautiful things per square inch than anywhere. I remind myself of this when I have to renew my Permesso.
Fred Kreienkamp
October 5, 2021 @ 6:11 pm
Great article! We’ve never been to Rome but it’s on our list.
Donald King
October 5, 2021 @ 6:34 pm
Save a spot for me at the post office!
Chandi
October 5, 2021 @ 8:43 pm
Wow, you make Rome in the summer sound breezy and delightfully mild. Florence (where I live) is absolutely intolerably over-the-top hot and humid to the point where the heat makes me ill and I have learned that I simply cannot spend any more summers there. Not such an easy thing to learn as I have no house anywhere else.
Tony
October 6, 2021 @ 12:21 am
John, I absolutely enjoy your blog and look forward to the weekly post. I just returned from renting an Airbnb for 30 nights in Testaccio. On Badoni near the market. I say this, because I am 61 and will retire in 5/2022 and wanted a test drive. Agree with your assessment. Rome has phenomenal sites, affable people and of course stellar food/drink. The part I struggle with is the filth and infrastructure (particularly sidewalks) maintenance or lack thereof. It just doesn’t seem like the intent and/or systems are in place compared to other major EU cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, etc. Again, immensely enjoy your website. Thank you for the tremendous resource. Stay well. BTW, went a few times to Abbey Theatre and probably enjoyed the sports and vibe too much-lol. Great place!
Cristina
October 6, 2021 @ 9:40 am
Love, love, love this piece. Keep them coming John. Your priorities are just right.
We are, as I type, looking for our piece of paradise in Italy. .
Diehl
October 6, 2021 @ 10:40 am
Great article. My wife and I just retired to Torino from the states. Love the seasons here with skiing and snowshoeing in the winter and hiking in the summertime. Great food and wine in this region also. We came back to this area after a couple of years back in the states because of the people and our relationships we formed years ago. It is hard to quantify the joy and love the Italians have for family and life. If you are given the chance to become part of their community it changes your life forever.
Curtis Fogelquist
October 7, 2021 @ 2:04 am
Thanks John !! I think I’ll stay in the Philippines, for now. Cost of Living = 10. Cleanliness = 0. But, I pay $300 usd a month for a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bathroom home. I can get an hour long massage for $8, and can have a nice meal at a restaurant for $15. It’s hot; it’s humid, and there are too many barking dogs, but I’ll never get stuck in the snow.
Cristina
October 7, 2021 @ 5:34 am
I love your ‘quasi scientific’ methodology. I don’t have to worry about the visa, but I pretty much agree with everything else. The cleanliness rating varies a lot from place to place. I’ve been to places I’d give a 9 or 10 and those that get a 2. I have a 40 msq place in a village in Puglia that I go to every year (except the last 2 years of course) but I’ve not considered living there full time. I would miss my family-and it doesn’t have heating! If I did move to Italy full-time, Roma would be a definite contender. Ciao, Cristina
Mike H
October 8, 2021 @ 2:07 am
You have good timing with your posts! Your blog and experiences have help us look closely at Rome for retirement. I like your assessment and thought process. We are coming soon to spend some time in Testaccio and Trastevere to get a feel for the neighborhoods. Ciao, Mike
Anna Rosa Paladino
October 10, 2021 @ 12:08 pm
Hi! A friend of yours I meet in Florence sent me this post. I wanted to thank you for this, it is accurate and touching. I moved to Italy myself, from crazy Venezuela. I chased my Italian roots and I could have chosen a better place to be.
Please allow me to add a suggestion to everyone moving to this magnificent place: please help preserving it. Please.
Try always to understand the whys and hows, the meaning of the tradition, and the wonders of ancient cultural fusion. If you do that, you will no longer be a tourist or a foreigner. Italians live to please people (they also make money doing it) but sometimes, pleasing someone who does not understand the culture, will get it distorted.
Thanks again, and salute!
Rosamaria from Florida
March 25, 2022 @ 9:35 pm
LOVED your article ~ you made me fall in love with Italy again. I had forgotten the good points – had remembered only my frustrations and annoyances at ‘the Italian system’. You are a lover! Wonderful attitude! Thanks for your writings. My dear father, who came from Matera was just how you described the [beautiful] people! Wishing you 100+ years of good health & happiness!
Jen
July 22, 2022 @ 3:43 pm
Have you considered visiting Tunisia? I’m am American that’s been living in Puglia for the last year (I got the permesso through Italian ancestry while here). I have previously lived all over the MENA and my favorite country by far is Tunisia. Living in Puglia very much feels like “a third world country” except it’s 4 times the price of a real emerging market… Don’t get me going about the nap times that exist here and the streets covered in people’s pet dog poop. Having lived on all sides of the Mediterranean I can confidentiality say the North African’ side is more beautiful. Carthage is only a one hour flight from Rome. It’s worth checking out. (If you’ve learned Italian, French will be a breeze). Your cappuccino will be 1 dinar (27 cents) and your butter croissant 1.5 dinar (about 60 cents)… To give you an idea
Joyce Tarantino
January 31, 2023 @ 11:26 am
I travel a lot in Italy but am located in Rome. It never ceases to amaze me how other cities manage their cleaning and trash while Rome, the Capitol, remains a disaster. I’m in Torino at the moment and the streets are clean, the trash containers of the latest generation and orderly and the train station is clean, safe and has not been appropriated by the homeless.
Rome reminds me of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC 25-30 years ago. Step out of the Capitol building in the wrong direction and it was like visiting a 3rd world country.
I’d gladly volunteer to be on a study commission for the Mayor’s office on city clean-up. While tourist trash is a problem, Romans also need to start taking some responsibility for keeping their city clean – picking up dog poop, not throwing trash on the ground and forcing businesses to properly dispose of their trash in containers.
Perhaps the first step is privatizing AMA – first vetting carefully for organized crime ties. After AMA, we can do the same for the Post Office and tie part of their salaries to how many people they service at their window per hour .
All of that being said, the cost of living is virtually half of DC, the food and wine are extraordinary value, medical care is a fraction of the cost and there’s nowhere with warmer people. It takes me a half hour sometimes to walk down my street so I have time to greet everyone and maybe have a coffee, they know every time I’m gone and they haven’t seen me for a few days and are always ready with advice on how to be more ‘romana’!!
Couldn’t be happier and it sure beats the hell out of ‘God’s waiting room’ aka retiring in Florida.
John Henderson
June 13, 2023 @ 4:21 pm
I love your plan about tying Rome’s salaries to how many people they serve. But good luck cleaning up Ama. The government has tried to get to the bottom of that for years and they aren’t close. I think the new mayor has done a better job with garbage pickup. That’s the big problem. I don’t see Romans throw much trash on the floor. Not like I have in Asia. But oft times they just put their garbage outside the bins because there’s no room to put it inside. What part of Rome do you live in?
Margaret Leon
May 16, 2023 @ 4:12 pm
Just found your site through a mutual friend in Florence. I am from Boston, moved here in 2002 and never looked back. I am in a tiny village, Paciano..big change for this city slicker, type A person..and I love it. Am an avid traveler..a plane ticket in my pocket always…so your travels especially interest me. It is extremely economical to live here..I own my home inside the walls of the centro and no property taxes!!! Imagine that…in the states, my condo was costing 400 a month and that was in 2002….plus condo fees etc. Thanx for writing such an interesting and diversified blog!!!!
John Henderson
June 13, 2023 @ 4:17 pm
$400 a month? Amazing. I have nothing close to that for my condo in Denver. Thanks for the comments.
Adamo Cianci
December 28, 2023 @ 8:47 pm
Adamo . Lol that is some article. The information is quite accurate. I’m 67 living and retired in Canada at 55 years old . I love my country. But I’ve always wanted to live in sunny Italy. Away from the snow . I’m Italian descendant and could probably get a passport very fast. I’ve been in vacation in Sorento and also Molise on the Adriatic side. I did not find problems with the trash. But I’ve been to Boston and New York . Where I found it to be very dirty. Big cities have that problem. Mainly caused by tourist.
John Henderson
December 30, 2023 @ 3:55 pm
Italy is a clean country in general. Just not in Rome or Naples. I’ve learned to live with it. Rome makes up for it in food and wine and people. As for the weather, it’s wasted on me. I don’t care about weather. The July heat bothers me but it’s only a few hours in the afternoon.