Best places to live in Italy

Lombardy

Italy's economic capital and the best place to find a local job, especially for senior tech, finance and design roles. It is also the most expensive city in the country.

Emilia-Romagna

A university city with excellent food, services and rail links. It ranks 4th for quality of life and is a cheaper tech alternative to Milan.

Piedmont

An elegant, underrated big city with Alpine views, a strong engineering base and rents about half of Milan's.

Trentino-Alto Adige

Ranked the #1 place to live in Italy in 2025. It is safe, efficient and green, surrounded by the Dolomites.

Trentino-Alto Adige (South Tyrol)

Ranked #2 in 2025. It is bilingual (Italian and German), very well run and Alpine, but housing is pricey.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Ranked #3 in 2025. It offers northern quality of life at very affordable prices, between the Alps and the Adriatic.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

A Central European seaside city with a scientific community (SISSA, ICTP), coffee culture and reasonable prices.

Veneto

A romantic, manageable city near Lake Garda, with a strong economy and great connections to Venice and Milan.

Lombardy

A hilltop old town, an Alpine backdrop and a low-cost airport, with Milan's job market under an hour away.

Veneto

A lively university city 25 minutes from Venice, offering Venice access without Venice prices.

Liguria

A gritty, authentic port city on the Italian Riviera, with mild winters and some of the best-value seaside property in the north.

Lazio

The capital, with huge expat and diplomatic communities, mild winters and endless culture. Bureaucracy and public transport can be frustrating.

Tuscany

Renaissance beauty, Tuscan countryside and a very established American community. Overtourism has pushed up rents in the center.

Umbria

A hilltop university town in green Umbria. It is a cheaper alternative to Tuscany and home to Italy's best-known school of Italian for foreigners.

Tuscany

A walled Tuscan town where you can cycle everywhere. It has a sizable English-speaking community and the Versilia beaches nearby.

Campania

Chaotic, warm and irresistible. The Amalfi Coast, Pompeii and the islands are on the doorstep, with a lower cost of living.

Apulia

Puglia's dynamic capital, with a growing tech scene, a lively old town and Adriatic beaches. It is a good base for exploring the region.

Apulia

The 'Florence of the South': a baroque jewel in Salento, between two seas. It is popular with remote workers and retirees.

Abruzzo

A modern beach city with mountains (Gran Sasso, Majella) under an hour away. It is great value and 2.5 hours from Rome.

Basilicata

The ancient 'Sassi' cave city: a former European Capital of Culture with a tranquil, very affordable lifestyle.

Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise

Towns under 20,000 people in the South (plus some earthquake-zone towns in central Italy). Foreign-pension retirees can pay a 7% flat tax on all foreign income for 10 years.

Sicily

One of the cheapest big cities in Western Europe, with street food, beaches and Arab-Norman architecture.

Sicily

Sicily's energetic second city, at the foot of Mount Etna, with a small tech cluster and very low costs.

Sardinia

A sunny capital with a city beach (Poetto), a relaxed pace and some of Europe's clearest water.