How to Live in Italy for Part of the Year

This is a bonus blog this week!

It might be interesting to share how we pulled off living in Italy for part of the year. I'll post some steps and what we've learned along the way.

We love every minute of it, and what was once a dream is now our life.

We live in Tuscany in the fall, then return in the spring, and spend the rest of the year in California (in a previous blog, I explained why we live in Italy only part of the year).

As we explore different areas, we discover gems worth sharing—some are well-known tourist magnets, others are lesser-known but always worth the visit.

Step 1: This week, let's explore how to live in Italy for part of the year (like us!).

Step 2: Background

When my partner and I first discussed living in Europe after retirement, we assumed our only option was to move there full time—establish residency and cut ties with the US. But obstacles got in the way. We had obligations in California, and my partner wasn't fully sold on the idea of a permanent life abroad.

It took us a while to learn about the Schengen Zone (https://www.marktedesco.com/post/the-schengen-shuffle) and its guiding principle: one can remain in the EU (countries that are part of the zone) for 90 days out of every 180.

Eventually it became clear that living in Italy part time—twice a year for two to three months—was the best fit for us.

I don't claim to be an expert on relocation, but in this blog I'll share some of our experiences.

Step 3: Budget

The first step in our journey was defining our budget. After accounting for our mortgage, car insurance, and other expenses in California, how much could we actually afford to spend on housing and transportation in Italy?

Working through those numbers kept us from wasting time on cities and areas where housing was beyond our reach—and it had an unexpected side benefit. It forced me to take a hard look at unnecessary spending back home. Too many Amazon orders, for one. For anyone considering a part-time life in Italy, getting clear on the budget early makes everything that follows more manageable.

Step 4: Housing

We found that renting in Italy can be much cheaper than in California, especially outside major cities. We started out in Puglia, where we rented a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment for 2,000 euros a year, plus utilities. In our current area of southern Tuscany, rents typically run 400–500 euros a month.

We rented in Puglia for about 18 months before deciding to buy in Tuscany (https://www.marktedesco.com/post/our-italian-adventure-housing-from-renting-to-buying). Our budget put us in the 70,000–80,000 euro range, with a little left over for renovations. We didn't think we could find anything in that range in Tuscany until our friends in Puglia encouraged us to visit the Monte Amiata area, in the southern part of the region, where historical homes could still be found at affordable prices.

We planned a trip and realized the area would be a great fit: near the cultural and natural sites Tuscany is famous for, and accessible to miles of hiking trails, ski runs, and mountain biking. Culture and nature together drew us there.

On that visit, we found a house, made an offer, and it was accepted. We took a 15th-century home and upgraded it with modern amenities while preserving its character. We've since sold that house and bought another in the same area, which we are renovating now. I've written about that journey in earlier blogs.

The lesson in all of this: once you've established a budget, it becomes much easier to decide which areas fit and which to rule out. Our local friends helped steer us toward areas they thought matched what we were looking for, and we ended up with a great realtor team who have since become friends. For anyone ready to begin, the process looks something like this: research on sites such as Casa.it, then reaching out to a local realtor to get a feel for their service and availability, and finally visiting the town in person. There's no other way to get a sense of a place than going there.

Step 5: Transportation

When we started out in Puglia, we quickly realized that a car was necessary to see the things we came to Italy for. Our local friends told us about a rental service, run by friends of friends, where one could rent used cars — insurance included — starting at 15 euros a day. We used their services the entire time we were in Puglia. The only downside was that the lower-end cars weren't reliable for long trips, so when we drove to the Amalfi coast, for example, we rented a different car.

We haven't found a similar service in Tuscany. Our area isn't well served by trains — the closest major station is in Grosseto, about a 50-minute drive — so a car here isn't optional. And for much of Tuscany, that's the reality. Public transportation simply doesn't reach the places that make this region worth living in.

I've written a few blogs about renting and leasing in Italy (https://www.marktedesco.com/post/our-italian-adventure-updates-on-reducing-the-cost-of-renting-a-car-in-italy), so I won't repeat all of that here. But no matter how one goes about it, having a car is a major expense — and the options are limited. Registering a car is tied to residency, so purchasing one while maintaining residency elsewhere isn't possible. That leaves leasing (which can be cheaper for stays of two months or more) or renting (daily or long term). We go back and forth between the Renault lease program and the long-term rental option from Sicily By Car. Both have drawbacks, but they're the best options we've found so far.

Calculating transportation costs early is essential. It's one of the less glamorous parts of planning a life in Italy, but it shapes daily life more than most people expect.

Step 6: Relationships

Relationships are what make life flow in Italy. Whether we've been baffled by bureaucratic procedures, cultural differences, or access to services, our local friends and acquaintances have smoothed the way. How do I pay the property taxes? How does recycling work? What's the easiest way to get to Florence? Where can we find tile in our area? Every one of these questions has been answered by someone we know, not by a guidebook.

But relationships here go beyond solving problems. We come from a culture of "getting things done," and sometimes we forget to pause and experience the people around us. Living in Italy is helping us slow down, enjoy the moment, make time for friendships, and reconsider what matters most. Taking the time to cultivate those connections has been one of the most important steps in building a life here.

Step 7: Experience

I'm a retired high school teacher, and my students taught me that experience is the best teacher.

When they became glassy-eyed as I explained the glories of the Italian Renaissance, I knew something was wrong. The subject was fascinating to me — so why not to them? Because it was abstract. They had nothing to connect it to.

So we organized a tour of Florence in the classroom, setting up seven or eight stations that students would visit in groups and complete a task. One station was Brunelleschi's dome, where students had to figure out how to create a dome with their bodies, using their hands to balance the student on the other side, and then write about the engineering principles at work. At another, they watched a two-minute video on Michelangelo's David and made a quick sketch in their notebooks.

The next day, their boredom had turned to interest — because now they had experience to reflect on, not just ideas.

Living in Italy has worked on us the same way. For example, our Italian friends tend to be more spontaneous than our American friends, often inviting us to a local festival or a pizza outing only hours beforehand. We learned to stop resisting and say yes. Each invitation became its own kind of lesson — not just about Italian culture, but about ourselves. The more we experienced life here, the more we began to question assumptions we'd carried from home. What we thought was the "right" way to do things turned out to be just one way. That openness has changed how we see other cultures, and it's changed how we see our own.

Insights

Living in Italy part time didn't happen all at once—it came together in steps, each one building on the last.

It started with a practical question: could we afford it? Defining our budget gave us clarity and kept us from chasing places that were out of reach. That single step narrowed the field and made everything that followed more manageable.

Housing taught us to be flexible. Renting first gave us time to learn the rhythms of a place without the weight of ownership. When we eventually bought, it was because the right opportunity appeared—not because we forced it. And when we sold, we discovered that a home can be a chapter rather than a final destination.

Transportation is one of the less glamorous realities, but it shapes daily life more than people expect. In much of Tuscany, a car isn't optional—it's essential. Building that cost into the budget early saved us from surprises later.

Of everything we've learned, relationships have mattered the most. Our local friends have guided us through bureaucracy, connected us with services, and invited us into a way of life we never could have accessed on our own. Investing in those friendships hasn't just made logistics easier—it has changed how we experience Italy.

And finally, experience itself has been our greatest teacher. Every step—renting, buying, renovating, selling, starting over—taught us something we couldn't have learned any other way. The willingness to say yes, to be spontaneous, to trust the process, has made this life possible.

For anyone considering a part-time life in Italy: start with your budget, rent before you buy, invest in relationships, and trust that each step will teach you what you need for the next one.

More next time.

Something new: for those who prefer video (Vlog) rather than this blog, here is a video version:

https://youtu.be/I7lt1U5nULc

My new novel is on sale now for $2.99! Onward: A Life on a Sailboat is a tale that will draw the reader to the Amalfi coast, the deserts of Algeria, the south of France, and beyond. https://a.co/d/3hhJkxE