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How much does it cost to live in Italy? Since we moved to Parma, in Italy, many people have asked us about the cost of living in Italy. As for now, April 2024, we have lived for over a year in Parma and for almost four months in Sicily. In addition to that, we are always going back to Italy and updating this article. So, we have all of our bills, our friends and family’s bills and all of that experience to share with you the values and information for the life costs in Italy updated for 2024!
We have tried to make this post as simple and descriptive as possible in order to have every question cleared up for those planning on moving to Italy. However, if you are not really interested to read the details, here is your answer: our cost of living in Italy per month is 1700 Euros – for a couple (cost of living in Italy in us dollars = U$ 1850).
Further down we will break down all of our costs to live in Italy, but as you can already see, it is not expensive to live in Italy.
*You may also like to read:
Our relationship with Italy
Why did we live in Italy?
After two years of travelling around the world, Fernanda had an opportunity to apply for her Italian citizenship – Tiago already had dual citizenship since his childhood (Brazilian and Italian citizenship).
After a couple of years travelling, we had practically gone penniless and were already planning to settle down – at least for a while – somewhere, just to sort things out, such as to launch our content creation company and organise all the material from our travel around the world.
However, above everything, we had always dreamed of living in Italy for a year at least, learning the language and familiarising ourselves better with the culture. So we went to Italy and started settling down, more specifically in Parma.
Why have we chosen the city of Parma to live in Italy?
We decided to come to Parma because Tiago has a “cousin” – well, not really a cousin, but long story short: cousin – who lives in Parma and could give us a hand with the citizenship bureaucracy as we were not fluent in Italian at that time.
Parma is a rich city. Not as much as before the 2008 economic crisis, but still better off than the rest of the country. It’s located in the region of Emilia-Romagna and is known as the gastronomic capital of Italy. We have heard “of Europe” as well, but for the sake of this argument, let’s keep it in Italy.
We fell in love with the city from the moment we arrived! It is a small, beautiful, well-preserved town with a quite famous university, thus rather lively too. The quality of life is brilliant! Although small, there are many cultural events. We loved it so much that we can affirm that Parma is one of the best place to live in Italy, really.
We also lived in Sicily for a month and loved the experience. However, Parma has a special place in our hearts. Keep in mind though that feeling good and at home in a place is a very personal thing. It has much more to do with yourself than with the place itself.
How is life in Italy
The culture and the lifestyle in Italy can considerably change if you go from north to south, from east to west or from mountain to coast. Therefore, it is really hard to generalise. Nevertheless, here it goes our opinion, from whom lived in a northern city, a southern city, and travelled extensively in the country.
The quality of life in Italy is great. The people are really nice and everything works relatively well, such as transport, security and health. And the rhythm is a lot less frenetic than our previous “home”: London. And there is obviously the food! You eat really well without having to spend too much.
Basically, these were all the things we needed for this period of our lives: quality of life, not so frenetic, good food and not spending much money. So we can’t really complain about anything.
We like it here so much that the initial plan of living in Italy for three months had turned into two years, then we moved south and now and every year going back to Italy. Regardless, this is just our mere opinion for a quite subjective topic.
PS: (Update) We already left Italy to continue our travels around the world. However, we keep this post updated with values and costs from friends and family still living in Italy, plus a lot of research from our side, as we go back every year.
Ok, then, but how much does it cost to live in Italy?
Well, now that we have said why we are living in Italy and what we’ve been doing in here, let’s get to the point of this post: how much does it cost to live in Italy!
The cost of living in Italy should vary from person to person and the following numbers relate to our personal living expenses in Italy. However, we have spoken with some people who live in other parts of the country and we came to the conclusion that our expenses are somewhat a national average.
- Ps1: The cost of living in Milan, Rome, Bologna, Firenze, Verona or other bigger and more touristy cities is higher. If you plan to move to one of these, we advise adding some 600 Euros in the end.
- Ps2: The cheapest place to live in Italy are the smaller towns in the South of the country. While we paid € 650 for rent in Parma, you can find a small apartment in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, for € 450.
- Ps3: All numbers are related to the average cost of living in Italy for a couple – Read about who we are here.
- Ps4: how expensive is it to live in Italy will depend a lot on your lifestyle; but honestly, Italy is a great place for those looking at having a good quality of life without spending much. Italy is just amazing and we hope you love it as much as we do!
Health Insurance in Italy for foreigners
Many people asked us about the health care in Italy for foreigners so we decided to add this paragraph to help you understand your rights and obligations when moving to Italy.
In Italy, the healthcare system extends its services to both residents and foreigners. Residents, including expatriates with a valid residence permit, have access to the Tessera Sanitaria, a health card that provides them with coverage for medical services within the country.
For foreigners who are not entitled to this card, you can purchase health insurance that offers coverage both domestically and abroad. One that we recommend for individuals in this situation is the Nomad Health, from Safety Wings.
Safety Wings is our preferred choice of travel insurance as they are designed for long-term travellers, like ourselves. However, recently they also launched their Health Insurance for those living abroad, which also covers Italy. This ensures that foreigners in Italy can access quality healthcare services not only there, but also when they are back home or travelling to other countries.
Italy cost of living 2024 – all expenses broken down
Our rent (Average house price in Italy)
- 650 euros/month
- Rental agreement: 80 euros one-off payment in order to legalise the document.
As with most of the things here, renting a house in Italy is quite bureaucratic. Most of the state agencies ask for a minimum of a two-year contract (!). We only wanted a place for three months and really struggled to find one. To our luck, the cousin of Tiago’s cousin – a real one this time – works as a state agent and had an apartment which could have been rented for a short period. We paid three months in advance and it was all fine!
The location is perfect, right in Parma’s historical city centre. The apartment was furnished and although small, it was quite comfy. We really love it!
Tips for finding where to live in Italy
If you are having difficulties finding a place for a short period, check some of these tips:
- Talk to some of the local people to know if he or she knows anyone with a room to rent.
- AirBnb: we met many people who, in order to find a way around the Italian bureaucracy, opted for an AirBnB. It’s a good idea, though a lot more expensive – no less than € 1.200 per month if you are lucky. Note that this is not an option if you are applying for citizenship.
- If you plan to live an Italian lifestyle, you can also find something on Workaway, Helpx and Worldpackers (you can get a U$10 discount using the promo code “MondayFeelingsWP” on the last one).
Cost of Internet in Italy
- € 60 /month
- Router + installation: 50 euros + 25 euros one-off payment.
There are mainly 4 major mobile companies over here:
- Vodafone
- Tim
- Three
- Wind
We heard that Tim and Wind have a really poor signal, still, we chose Wind for our home internet and we are quite satisfied.
*Update: after six months with Wind, we went to cancel our contract and they are charging us 80 euros to do it. Our contract specifically says that we could cancel the contract free of charge after three months, but still, they want us to pay a fine. After talking with other people, we found out it’s common for Wind to play this kind of trick, so stay aware.
Mobile plan in Italy
- 30 euros/month (3Gb of internet + calls).
This deal is only available for a three-month package. In other words, we paid 45 Euros for three months contract.
Our network company was Vodafone, which we knew from London. We had never had any problems so far.
Price of food in Italy
- € 500 /month
We almost never dine out because cooking at home is one of the best ways to keep the costs of living in Italy low. Moreover, food prices in Italy are super affordable and the quality is excellent, which means that our home-made food is not-so-rarely better than in the restaurant.
Bills: Cost of water, gas and electricity in Italy
- 130 euros/month
That is the average we paid during the Summer and Spring. The bills are more expensive during Winter because of the heater, as any European would know.
Cost of transport in Italy
- 40 euros/month
We have never really needed a bus in Parma. We go everywhere by foot and when we visited the neighbouring cities, we took a lift with friends.
This cost of 50 Euros is related to the monthly card for public transport in Milan. There is also a monthly card here in Parma, but as the city is quite small, you don’t really need it. You better invest in a bike!
By the way, if you plan to live in a small town in Italy we really advise you towards going around by bike. It is possible to find one for about 80 Euros, but if you are buying from street markets, make sure they are not stolen bikes.
Italian classes in Italy
As we are in Italy, the least we can do is to learn Italian, isn’t it?
We found a social organisation that is also a squat in Parma, called Art Lab Occupato. They provide free Italian classes for foreigners. We also know that Milan, Bologna and other cities offer free classes too. You just have to ask around.
Another good option to learn Italian is the free self-educated course from RAI – the Italian Communication channel.
Other Italy Expenses
- 240 euros/month
We spent living in Italy an average of 60 Euros per week on things like a bottle of wine, an aperitivo – something like the Italian happy hour where you pay about 7 euros for a drink and eat as much as you want –, as well as meeting friends, and so on.
Total cost to live in Italy
Our total fixed cost to live in Italy is about 1.650 Euros, but you can round it up to 1.700 per month, which is basically what we spent monthly, really. There is always something to pay over here, others over there, a burnt lamp, a train ticket, or whatever.
To make things easier for the USA readers here, the cost of living in Italy in US dollars is 1850.
That is all, guys. We hope you liked our article “How much does it cost to live in Italy“. And that it helps you organise your moving to Italy in 2024! Take the chance to sign up for our newsletter which we occasionally share news about Italy and the rest of the world.
If you have any queries, please get in touch at getintouch@mondayfeelings.com. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram! We are always sharing tips and information about life in Italy and elsewhere.
Good luck with your planning and see you around!
* Article originally written in June 2017 and updated in April 2024. *
