- Choose the city that fits your vibe
For work opportunities prefer Milan, Rome & Bologna but if you just prefer a relaxed lifestyle, Florence & Bari are perfect for that. If you want to experience the life of Italy, on a budget friendly manner, prefer Southern Italy & Sicily! If you’re a student looking for the best university exchange, Bologna is renowned for its international student life, Rome for its cultural life, Milan if you’re studying fashion, business or design and Turin for more scientific studies!
- If you stay more than 3 months, get a codice fiscale
Even tho, as an EU citizen you can establish in Italy for as long as you want, you do need to get a Codice Fiscale (tax code). Because it’s useful for almost everything : renting, bank account, healthcare & even to pay your transport monthly subscription. You can obtain it from the Agenzia delle Entrate,which is the Italian tax office, in a few weeks (so do it as soon as possible because italian bureaucraty is really slow). You might also want to register at the local town hall.
- Learn a bit of Italian before arriving
Apps like Duolingo or Busuu can improve your Italian daily. It may only take a few minutes a day, but if you’re consistent and spend a bit more time on it, in a few weeks you should have the basics to get by when you arrive in Italy. To deepen your knowledge of the language, I also recommend watching videos in Italian on Youtube, listening to podcasts such as Coffee Break Italian or reading books in Italian.
- No cheese with fish (or at least not in public)
It’s a no go in trattoria, osteria or in front of Italian people (apart if you want to shock them). Once I was dining with a couple of friends from North Italy. We cooked salmon & pasta. Then I took a packet of Parmesan cheese out of the fridge and generously applied it to my dish. Before the astonished eyes of my friends. Who were shocked to see someone mixing fish and cheese. And they’re still talking to me about it today… So if you’re in a nice restaurant with a friendly waiter, be polite and don’t mix cheese and fish (even tho if I think it’s tasty!).
- The struggle of finding an accomodation
The three sites I can recommend are Idealista, Immobiliare.it and Subito. But in reality, if you’re not in the area, it’s risky to go through the whole process of renting a room or flat without having visited it in person. Because not everyone is honest and your flat, once you’ve paid the deposit, might just not exist … so when I moved to Rome for a few months during my internship, I found a room at the last minute, after avoiding several scams on Spotahome.com. It’s one of the most secure platforms, putting tenants and landlords in touch with each other. You will have to pay the site’s fees, which amount to around a hundred euros, but this guarantees you a rapid solution from the company in the event of a problem with the landlord. And the accommodation is generally checked by the company before being listed on their site. So no bad surprises!
- They say no cappuccino after 16h
Cappuccinos are considered a generous morning drink, typically enjoyed with breakfast. And italians prefer lighter, simpler coffee drinks in the afternoon and evening, such as an espresso or a caffè macchiato. So I learned that I should not drink a cappuccino on a coffee on the late afternoon. But honestly who cares ? You’re not going to cause a war because of that, so drink that cappuccino even at midnight if you want (even tho it could interfere with digestion) !
- Make the best of your surroundings
If you are living in the same city for a few months take it as an opportunity to explore those lesser-known museums, those calms neighbourho, those remote towns that are real gems and reflect the slow Italian way of life. When I was in Rome for a whole summer, I took the opportunity to do a lot of day-trips in the Lazio region: Sperlonga, Gaeta, Este, towns you probably haven’t heard of but which are nonetheless very pretty, but also in regions like Umbria where I fell in love with Orvieto, Perugia and Assisi. So make the most of these weekends of fine weather and days off to explore!
Have you ever moved to a new country for work or studies ?