The elective residence visa needs €31,000 a year in passive income. Retirees in qualifying southern towns can pay 7% tax on all foreign income. A home costs an average €2,188/m². Here's everything else — from official sources, checked and dated.
Elective residence, digital nomad, investor visa — 2026 requirements, plus the 2025 citizenship-by-descent shake-up.
6 guides → Guide hub2026 brackets (23%–43%), the 7% flat tax for retirees explained, IVIE/IVAFE on your US assets, getting a codice fiscale.
Read → Guide hubRegistering with the SSN, the €2,000/year fee elective residents pay, and private insurance in your 60s.
Read → Guide hubBuying vs renting, the 2% vs 9% registration tax, cadastral values, and what foreign buyers actually pay.
Read → Guide hubReal ISTAT data: household spending averages €2,755/month — and the South runs 38% cheaper than the North-East.
Read → Guide hubRemote work rules, the 15% (or 5%) forfettario regime for freelancers, and why the elective visa bans all work.
Read → Guide hubThe driving-licence problem for Americans (test in Italian after 12 months), bringing pets, setting up utilities.
Read → Guide hubTuscany, Puglia, Sicily, the lakes, Rome — real prices, and where the 7% tax towns actually are.
Read →Income requirements, documents, insurance, and realistic timelines — for applications from the US and Canada.
Read the guide → Tax & FinanceWho qualifies, which towns count after the 2026 expansion, and what 7% on everything actually saves you.
Read the guide → PlanningEvery step from 18 months out to your first 90 days — in order, with the 2026 rules built in. Tick as you go.
Open the checklist →Fifty-three YouTube channels, Instagram and TikTok accounts, podcasts, blogs and communities run by people who actually live in Italy, filtered by region. Curated 16 September 2026.
From first visa question to keys-in-hand — tell us where you are in the move to Italy and we'll answer, or introduce a specialist we've independently vetted.