Where to live in Italy

Thinking about spending your retirement in Italy? You’re not the only one. Interest from UK, US and German retirees has climbed steadily in recent years, as more people look for a mix of sunshine, slower living and good healthcare.

Italy isn’t just for long weekends in Rome or selfies in Venice anymore. According to International Living, Italy ranks firmly in the top ten places to retire.

Ski season in Italy always creeps up fast, and for some people, a week on the slopes isn’t enough. Living full‑time in an Italian ski resort means fresh snow on your doorstep, cool summers in the mountains, and a very different rhythm to city life.

If you’ve been daydreaming about 1 euro houses in Italy near the sea in 2026, you’re not the only one. The idea of swapping rent or a big mortgage for a fixer‑upper in a coastal Italian town is wildly tempting, especially if you already spend your evenings scrolling through listings.

Not everyone dreams of living on Lake Como with superyachts and five‑star hotels in the background.

Living in an Italian wine region is very different to popping in for a tasting on holiday. Daily life runs on the rhythm of the vines, with tractors as your morning soundtrack and grape harvests filling the lanes in autumn.

Living in Bergamo feels a bit like stepping into a quieter, more low‑key cousin of Milan that happens to have a medieval hilltop town attached. You have the UNESCO‑listed old town sitting on its hill, the modern city spread out below, and the Alps rising in the distance.

Living in Bolzano feels a bit like slipping into a pocket of Austria that somehow ended up in Italy. It’s closer in spirit to Innsbruck than Naples, with street signs in Italian and German and the Dolomites looming over the city.

Liguria’s residential property market is attracting increasing attention, offering excellent opportunities for anyone looking to buy in Genoa and the surrounding areas.

Italy’s big survey by a respected national financial newspaper is a handy starting point if you are trying to pin down the best places to live in Italy for quality of life.

Living in Tuscany means swapping rush‑hour habits for a slower, more grounded rhythm. In central Italy’s patchwork of Renaissance cities and sleepy hill towns, days settle into a loop of coffee at the bar, market errands and long lunches that quietly steer the week.

Living in Lazio means waking to Rome’s cobbles, slipping off for salty‑air Saturdays, lingering over lunch, then swapping to crisp winter hikes when the season turns. It’s an easy rhythm of city, coast and countryside, with market days, trattorie and ancient stones as your everyday backdrop.

Picture a medieval Tuscan hill village where the council helps pay for your move—up to €20,000 towards buying a home. Olive groves, proper trattorie and a calmer rhythm without big‑city aggro.

Up in the Siena hills, Radicondoli is the kind of Tuscan village where evenings still revolve around the piazza and summer theatre spills into courtyards.

If you’re thinking about living in Lucca, this small Tuscan city delivers a big daily-life dividend. Its intact Renaissance walls form a leafy ring for walking or cycling, the lanes inside are calm and flat, and cafés cluster around Piazza dell’Anfiteatro and San Michele in Foro.

Naples is a city of contrasts: historic streets and modern elegance, vibrant urban life and serene seafront vistas.

Latronico is a small mountain town in Basilicata, tucked into the Lucanian Apennines. It’s been getting fresh attention lately, with interest in homes here having spiked hard, helped by word spreading about good-value property and a local push to match empty houses with buyers.

Deep in the heart of Sicily's Caltanissetta province is Mussomeli. The town’s famous 1 euro houses scheme has made the idea of living in Mussomeli a tempting prospect for people across the world.

Everyone knows Verona as the stage for Shakespeare's most famous love story, but there's so much more to the city than balconies. You’ll find its real heart in the gorgeous medieval streets and the incredible Roman Arena.

The picture-postcard image of the Amalfi Coast is one of the world's most recognisable. Pastel-coloured villages clinging dramatically to cliffs that plunge into the glittering Tyrrhenian Sea.

Looking for unique things to do in Palermo? Tucked away beside the iconic Norman Palace, the Royal Gardens of Palermo offer a tranquil, leafy escape steeped in centuries of history and culture.

Piedmont sits in Italy's northwest corner, sharing a border with France and Switzerland under the watchful gaze of the Alps. Its Italian name, Piemonte, translates to 'foot of the mountain', a fitting description for a region of grand landscapes and sophisticated cities.

The capital of the Piedmont region is a place of understated elegance, a city of royal palaces and grand arcades that also served as the engine room of Italy's industrial heyday.

When it comes to visiting Italy's lakes, most people head straight for Como or Garda. But there's a quieter and arguably even more magical spot: Lake Orta. Tucked away in Piedmont, it's a pre-alpine lake with a serene atmosphere and a collection of sleepy, olde-worlde villages.

When you think of Pisa, one thing springs to mind, but there's so much more to this Tuscan city than its famous architectural mishap. Sitting on the banks of the River Arno, Pisa is a proud, historic university town with a character all of its own.