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LIVING IN ITALY

Where do all the native English speakers live in Italy?

Have you ever wondered how many English speakers live in Italy? Here's a look at how many there are and where they live - and which areas they tend to avoid.

Published: 9 March 2023 16:30 CET
Houses in Venice, Italy
Italy’s home to over five million foreigners, including some 50,600 residents from Anglophone countries. Photo by Katy Cao on Unsplash

Good weather, stunning landscapes, amazing food and relaxed ways of life all make Italy an extremely popular destination among foreign nationals.

According to the latest data from Italian statistics office Istat, Italy is currently home to just over five million foreigners, who make up around 8.5 percent of the country’s total population. 

This data only refers to people who have officially registered their residence with local authorities, and doesn’t include foreign nationals who only spend part of the year in Italy or dual citizens.

But exactly how many of these residents come from English-speaking countries and where do they all live? Here’s what emerges from the data.

Brits dominate the Anglophone population

Italy’s 50,600 residents from Anglophone countries only account for one percent of the foreign population.

READ ALSO: How to apply for an Italian elective residency visa from the UK

For context, the Romanian community, which is the largest in the country, is made up of well over a million residents and accounts for roughly 20 percent.

Out of all the native English-speaking residents, Brits are by far the most-represented group as around 28,400 UK nationals – that’s nearly three in five Italy-based Anglophones – are known to live in the country.

The top three is completed by the US with 14,500 residents and Ireland with 3,300. 

Then there’s Canada (2,000), Australia (1,400), South Africa (700) and New Zealand (300).

Lombardy is the most popular region

Lombardy, which boasts the largest job market in the country and includes Italy’s financial powerhouse, Milan, is home to some 9,000 native English-speaking residents, making it the most popular region for Anglophones.

READ ALSO: What are the best Milan neighbourhoods for international residents?

Unsurprisingly, the UK is once again the most-represented country as around 5,000 British nationals – that’s nearly 18 percent of all Brits in Italy – live in the northern region.

Milan's famous Duomo cathedral

Lombardy, the northern region including Italy’s financial capital, Milan, is home to some 9,000 native English-speaking residents. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP

But Lombardy also has a sizeable US community as 2,400 Americans live in the area.  

Lazio, which includes Italy’s capital, Rome, is ‘only’ the second-most popular region for Anglophones to move to. 

While it has a lower number of English-speaking residents in total, Lazio is the first choice for Americans (2,800 residents), Irish people (700), Canadians (400) and New Zealanders (56).

Tuscany the third-most popular destination for all English-speaking communities, from Brits to New Zealanders. 

Other regions with notable numbers of English speakers are: Emilia-Romagna, which includes the lively and youthful Bologna; Veneto, home to Italy’s floating city, Venice; and Piedmont, including its industrial hub, Turin.

The Eternal City’s appeal

Rome might not have the slick economy of the northern metropolises, but its tourism industry, government institutions and cultural cachet are enough to make it the single top city for native English speakers. 

Around 6,900 Anglophones live in the Eternal City, with Brits (3,200 residents) and Americans (2,400) being the largest communities. 

Rome's Colosseum

Around 6,900 Anglophones live in Rome, with Brits and Americans being the largest communities.
Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

Interestingly, Rome acts as a magnetic pole for the entire region as over 80 percent of UK and US nationals living in Lazio are concentrated in the city. 

READ ALSO: Reader question: What are the rules on moving household goods to Italy?

After Rome, Milan and Florence are Anglophones’ favourite city destinations.

Milan is home to 4,500 native English speakers, with over half of them being originally from the UK, whereas Florence has 2,400 English-speaking residents.

Anglophones tend to avoid southern regions…and the Aosta Valley

All of Italy’s southern regions count comparatively lower numbers of native English-speaking residents, with the lack of job opportunities in the area likely being the main determining factor.

Basilicata and Molise are the second- and third-least popular regions, with just 180 and 191 English-speaking residents respectively.

That said, the region where you’re least likely to hear English spoken is not located in the south of the country.

In fact, the Aosta Valley, a small autonomous region in the north-west of the peninsula, is home to as few as 151 Anglophones – though this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as this is the least populous region in Italy.

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MOVING TO ITALY

‘€150 rent a month’: Why you don’t always need to buy when you move to Italy

Buying a house is often the most common route for foreigners choosing to retire in Italy, but renting can be a far better fit for some. Here's how one British retiree left a hefty mortgage behind to rent a rural cottage for €150 a month.

Published: 19 September 2024 13:39 CEST
'€150 rent a month': Why you don't always need to buy when you move to Italy

Retiring and moving to Italy at a certain age isn’t an easy job, particularly if one has to first get rid of a burdensome mortgage. 

But Tim Wood, a 72-year-old British retiree who used to work as an interior designer, in 2016 managed to sell his house in Brighton, pay off the remaining part of his mortgage and move to southern Italy. 

But instead of buying a cheap dwelling as most expats do, he settled for an extremely low rent. 

“I was just so scared of buying another home, even if it might have been mortgage-free and extremely cheap. I wanted to live without any financial weight on my shoulders. I now pay just €150 per month to rent a 4-bedroom rural cottage in Abruzzo”, Wood tells The Local. 

‘Abruzzo popped up after I researched cost of living throughout Italy’

Renting was also a much easier option than buying, because he wanted to avoid the paper work, the bureaucracy and procedures involved in purchasing and eventually having to restyle a house. 

After selling his UK house, Wood moved to the countryside near the coastal town of Vasto, on the Adriatic sea. 

“I did some online search on which were the cheapest regions to live in Italy, reading articles about national statistics on cost of living and life quality, and Abruzzo popped up”, says Wood. 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about navigating Italian rental contracts

Wood, who after losing his wife in 2015 decided to change life, said relying on advice from distant relatives of his who had already moved to the region a few years earlier proved crucial.

“They suggested I picked a place near the sea, for great summer dips, but at the same time far from the touristy areas and relatively quiet. That’s why I chose Vasto’s pristine rural surroundings,” he says.

‘Get a feel for the place before you move’

Being close to trains that cross Italy and even connect to Europe is vital if one has forsaken driving a car like he has, he says.

Wood advises anyone eager to follow on his steps to never rent or buy property if they haven’t seen it first hand, not just online.

Get advice from friends or other people who have made similar moves, he adds.

The old fishermens huts at Vasto marina. Photo: Tim Wood

“Prior to making the big leap I decided to take a two-week holiday in Vasto and tour the surrounding areas of Abruzzo. It’s important to get a feel of the place not as a tourist but as a local, meeting people, hanging out at the bar till nightfall, getting a haircut at the barber’s and listening to the gossip at the butcher’s shop, even if you hardly speak Italian,” he says.

The warm weather year-round in Vasto was also a major perk, as in some mountain spots in Abruzzo it can be as cold as in England in winter, he says. 

Wood lives off a small pension, plus the remaining revenues from the sale of his UK home. He says he spends around €150 a month for food and locally-sourced fresh produce. 

He’s so glad to be finally living the idyll after what he called a “nightmare” in the UK.

‘Make sure you’re not a victim of a scam’

Almost 24 years ago Wood purchased a two-bedroom apartment in Brighton for £400,000, with a downpayment of £250,000, and had been paying a £500 monthly mortgage since then.

“It was a nightmare. When I retired I realised I no longer wanted to live to pay a mortgage so I decided to move to Italy before post-Brexit new travel rules kicked in.”

Wood put his home on sale and managed to get £550,000. He now lives on a UK yearly pension of £8,000, which he says is more than he will ever need in Vasto. 

He was granted Italian residency in 2017, when the UK was still part of the European Union and Brits did not face the hurdles of today in traveling and relocating to Europe. 

One key tip he shares is to do a lot of prep research. Prior to relocating, he surfed the web to get an idea of what rentals were like in the area and also wanted to make sure he was not going to be a scam victim. 

So during his vacation there, he selected 10 properties, and booked a one-day tour with four local agencies to see them all before he picked the cottage. 

“Online photos don’t work, one needs to see the building and when I stepped into that farmhouse, I felt a special vibe”, says Wood. 

He also recommends meeting the local owners if possible, and starting with them a friendly relationship from the beginning in case there are bumps along the road, like the sewage system breaks down or a tree collapses on the front porch. 

READ ALSO: Italian rental scams: ‘As soon as we handed over the money, we kissed it goodbye’

The cottage was fully furbished, distant only two kilometres from Vasto’s historic quarter. And the icing on the cake was that it came with a 2-acre patch of land, olive trees and vineyard. 

“Locals have been making a premium extra-virgin olive oil here for centuries and I just found these trees in my garden. I now have farmers teaching me how to collect the olives and take them to the press.”

Cost of living and high quality of life are plus points. 

Family-run taverns in the countryside are very cheap and he can afford to eat out almost every night being alone. A meal is just €15, including a glass of wine. 

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