Italy.
Nothing till you sell — but a 0.2% skim on the pot, every year.
Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Italy runs about 3% cheaper than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,430 a month here — roughly €29,160 a year, and a ×30 number near €875,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Mediterranean along most of it, continental in the north.
a new-build asking price
in Rome — about €1,220/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Italy, buy prices are up 16% since 2015 (+4% last year); rents up 13% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
A flat 26% on gains from shares and ETFs, paid when you sell — no holding-period relief, and nothing taxed annually on a fund you simply hold (the stamp duty aside).
Italy takes about 0.2% of your portfolio's value every year — called the imposta di bollo when it's held with an Italian intermediary, IVAFE when it's held abroad. Small print, wealth-tax-shaped effect: a permanent extra drag your plan has to fund.
None for ordinary portfolio investors — the first tax event on your shares is the actual sale, even after you've moved away. True as of 2026; the EU is actively studying exit taxes on wealth migration, so re-check before building a leaving plan on it.
Italy competes hard for wealthy movers: a lump-sum flat tax for new residents (the ticket has tripled since 2024 — €300,000 a year for arrivals from 2026, though the deal you enter on is grandfathered) and a 7% flat rate for foreign pensioners settling in small southern towns. Weather, not climate — confirm in writing, close to the move.
The PIR can zero the 26% on gains after five years held — but it forces most of the money into Italian and EU companies, which fights a global index strategy.
Mild for close family: the spouse and children pay 4% only above €1,000,000 each; siblings 6% above €100,000; unrelated heirs 8% with no allowance.
The 2026 budget doubled the financial-transaction tax and re-priced the newcomer flat tax — Italy moves something every budget round. Date-check any figure here before acting on it.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
commonly ≈€31,000/yr of strictly passive income per applicant (consulates vary; employment income doesn't count)
€250k into an innovative startup, €500k into a company, €2m in government bonds, or a €1m donation.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · Italian at B1 (A2 already for the five-year permit)
of physical presence, part-days counting; registry entry raises a presumption, and domicile follows your personal ties
Italy's elective residence is real but discretionary: €31,000 a year of strictly passive income is the customary bar, and a consulate can still say no. Once in, a non-working resident can buy into the public health system at 7.5% of income. The passport is slow — ten years, reaffirmed when the 2025 referendum to halve it died on turnout — though dual citizenship is no issue.
Keeping the permit: a continuous absence over six months can cost the permit
Check it yourself: Consulate of Italy — elective residency · PwC — Italy tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
A non-working resident on the elective-residence permit can register with the public system voluntarily — 7.5% of income up to about €20,700 (4% above), with a €2,000-a-year minimum since 2024.
Private cover: Schengen-grade private cover is required for the visa and until registration.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How are capital gains on ETFs and shares taxed in Italy?
- A flat 26% on gains from shares and ETFs, paid when you sell. There's no holding-period relief, and nothing is taxed annually on a fund you simply hold (the stamp duty aside).
- Does Italy have an annual wealth tax on investments?
- Not a formal wealth tax, but Italy takes about 0.2% of your portfolio's value every year — called the imposta di bollo when it's held with an Italian intermediary, and IVAFE when it's held abroad. It's small print with a wealth-tax-shaped effect: a permanent extra drag your plan has to fund.
- Does Italy have an exit tax if I leave with my portfolio?
- Not for ordinary portfolio investors — as of 2026 the first tax event on your shares is the actual sale, even after you've moved away. The EU is actively studying exit taxes on wealth migration, so re-check before building a leaving plan on it.
- Is there a special tax deal for foreign pensioners or wealthy movers settling in Italy?
- Yes — a 7% flat rate for foreign pensioners settling in small southern towns, and a lump-sum flat tax for wealthy new residents (€300,000 a year for arrivals from 2026, though the deal you enter on is grandfathered). Treat these as weather, not climate: confirm in writing, close to the move.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Italy?
- Yes — the door is Elective residence: the visa for settling on passive means — no work of any kind in Italy, and consulates keep broad discretion even when you meet the bar. The bar is commonly ≈€31,000/yr of strictly passive income per applicant (consulates vary; employment income doesn't count). An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Italy passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with Italian at B1 (A2 already for the five-year permit). Dual citizenship is allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
Start with Where You Live — feed the 0.2% skim into the maths and see what it costs a plan — illustrative, deliberately.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.