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Move & retire

Italy

The cheapest way to live in Western Europe, with the slowest paperwork.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$2,550/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
High
Thirty-fifth globally; mid-table for Western Europe, well above the world median
Residency
Elective residence, on passive income
Healthcare
Universal, and you can buy into it
Out-of-pocket spending is 22.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$2,550/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.677 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyHigh

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 35 of 163, score 1.712. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

Thirty-fifth globally; mid-table for Western Europe, well above the world median

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyElective residence, on passive income

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "A route with conditions you can meet": The elective residence permit is published, granted on passive income of roughly €32,000 a year for a single applicant with more for a spouse, renewable, and leads to long-term residence after five years. High in the band. Below the open band because the income must be passive and the permit prohibits work of any kind.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcareUniversal, and you can buy into it

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "Covered, with a private top-up in practice": A resident can register with the national health service, voluntarily if not employed, and it covers everything including complex treatment at a high standard. Mid-band because waiting lists for non-urgent specialist care are long enough that most people who can afford it pay privately alongside, and because the 2024 budget replaced the flat voluntary registration fee of €387.34 with an income-based contribution starting around €2,000.

Out-of-pocket spending is 22.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Italy is a third cheaper than France and a quarter cheaper than Germany, the health service is universal and good, and the elective residence permit is a published route for someone arriving on passive income. The reservations are administrative rather than structural: the permit forbids work, the questura queues are long, and since 2024 joining the health service voluntarily costs a percentage of income rather than a flat fee.

How the process works

1

Elective residence visa, applied for at the consulate

Passive income, and accommodation already secured in Italy.

⏱ 2–5 months
2

Permesso di soggiorno, then the codice fiscale

The tax number is what everything else — bank, health service, utilities — hangs off.

⏱ 3–9 months
3

Register with the health service

Voluntary registration is now an income-based contribution rather than a flat fee.

⏱ 2–4 weeks

Where people settle

Puglia / Abruzzo
The cheapest of Western Europe, and the thinnest English
Tuscany / Umbria
The established foreign-resident belt
Milan / Bologna
Where the specialists and the fast trains are

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Italy by Giorgio Galeotti, licensed CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.