Hi all... questions about italy

Hi Pita-aroha,

Welcome to the forum. We are American and recently relocated to Italy. We live in a small town, and rents here are 400-600 euros for a nice furnished one or two bedroom place. I'm not sure how big of a city you want. One thing that I've noticed about Italy (as opposed to the U.S.- never been to Australia), is that even a relatively small city (say pop. 15,000-25,000, which is TINY in California, where we come from) feels a lot bigger than a corresponding-sized city in the U.S. At least where we live, any town that size has a beautiful historic center and plenty of reasonable shopping options. As a starting point, you might look on subito.it for ballpark rent figures in areas you're considering (it's a sort of Italian version of craigslist).

The general consensus around here is that the job market in Italy is fairly bad . . . Are you looking for a company that will give you a work visa (as you can't work here without one unless you have European citizenship)? It may be difficult to find that if you want temporary jobs teaching English. I'm told that the easiest way to come over and live in Italy is to get a study visa. I don't think you can work on a study visa, though.

Good luck! Italy is a lovely place to live.

Warm regards,
Sarah

Read about our Italian adventures on my blog:
Casteluzzo.blogspot.com