This is nearly an impossible question to answer but I thought I'd would ask it anyway. I'm open to just about anywhere south of Florence.
How did everyone start to look? Where to look? There are so many wonderful areas. It really is mindboggling. I know I don't want to be in a city but would like to be no furthur than an hour from a city, or a large town. I love the beach, but not sure if I could handle the extreme heat of Puglia and Sicily. I was bought up on a farm so would love a bit of land with some established fruit trees. And on and on and on.
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South of Florence and by the sea without the extreme heat.......I'd go for Grossetto in the South of Tuscany or along the coast of Le Marche. I always though Ascoli Piceno would be a nice city to live in. 10 minutes to the mountains....20 to the sea.
"every tool is a weapon if you hold it right" -Ani Difranco
I am guessing you don't need to consider places where you can find work, so that helps. Being close to the trains is something to think about. I live in Arezzo in centro and can get almost anywhere by train, including the airports. It is a beautiful medieval city without the tourists that you find in Siena and Firenze, but there is still the beauty of the Tuscan landscape and the history. Since it is a good sized city, shopping, health care and other services are readily available. We are close to hills and parkland and there is quite a lot of land around. There are also some beautiful towns in Siena region like Pienza (my personal favorite) but it gets more expensive. I think Umbria is a good option as well. Might be a bit cheaper. I agree that Grossetto is another good option, but I prefer the southern coast.
I spend quite a bit of time in Puglia in Salento since we have family there and it is not as oppressively hot as you might imagine. I spent an entire summer there without air conditioning and only cooking was a problem for me. Great excuse not to cook! Near the mare there is always a breeze (winds - they all have names - are a major topic of conversation!). I do not like the cities in the south like Bari or Lecce, they are not well maintained, they are dirty and too crowded for my tastes. They do not have the money for good services. But property is cheaper in the south and the coastline is spectacular. The land in the Salento region is dry and rocky and makes me think of Greece. While I find the people in Tuscany to be fairly friendly, the people in the south are much more so, if that is important to you.
My ideal situation would be to have 2 houses - one in Tuscany (which is not so far north that is gets super cold), and one in Salento around Tricase Porto or Santa Maria di Leuca.
Good luck on your research and welcome to Expats. I found it to be an invaluable source when I was planning our move. I don't check in now as much as I used to, but I highly recommend it and there are some people here who really know their stuff!
Joann
I totally agree with what joeyb says about Puglia. The people are so friendly and, although Bari and Lecce really don't compare to some of Italy's most beautiful cities, there are many smaller cities that do, like Ostuni, and the Salento region is spectacular. I was just there in September on a bicycle tour of Puglia and one day road the coast from Porto Badisco to Santa Maria di Leuca. Spectacularly beautiful.
Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. I think being non Italian it is important to be in an area where we will be welcome!
I started many years ago in tuscany, and gradually moved further and further south - I got sick of the chiffon draped ladies from maidenhead barking orders in English at long suffering baristas, and experts on Italy who were ' doing Italy' in 3 days. Now I would be hard pushed to go north of Rome - though SIena and Florence out of high season are lovely. 2 years in Naples, which was fascinating but ultimately not a place to buy a house and put down roots and then Puglia - too flat and closed in winter, Calabria, - impenetrable, and now in the south of sicily, where the only place further south is Lampedusa. I wouldnt change it for the world. Where you think is lovely for a holiday maybe isnt the best place to live, it depends if you want 'full immersion' or a network of fellow foreigners for support.
http://www.modicasa.com - property in sicily - FIAIP. [[url]u]www.buyinginitaiy.com[/u][/url] http://www.buyinginsicily.com
INteresting. You didn't mention Le Marche and Abruzzo. Wharb are your thoughts?
I guess I wouldn't mind a bit of both immersion and a few fellow foreigners!
How is the heat in Sicily? Hotter than Puglia?
For me its not the heat but the humidity that I cant bear. Here we get a couple of very hot weeks, but otherwise the climate is fantastic. Im 10km from the sea and about 250m asl - so 5 or 6 sticky days a year, so even if its 40+ it doesnt knock you out, and then everything shuts down from midday to 5pm, so you just go home and shut the windows and have a nap. Perfect lifestyle.
Abruzzo I dont know - i wasnt interested in a place where it snows!
Le Marche is lovely inland, but the coast is unpleasantly overdeveloped - for me - and the sea isnt up to much. I always wanted the limpid blue, clean and a beach to yourself. Being in the south the winter is blessedly short, and you can swim in the Med till Oct/Nov - today its sunny and 23 degrees. Shame Im stuck in the office.
http://www.modicasa.com - property in sicily - FIAIP. [[url]u]www.buyinginitaiy.com[/u][/url] http://www.buyinginsicily.com
Thanks Ramsay. Sounds about right. Where can we meet for a glass of wine?!
I agree with Ramsay regarding the Marche for the most part, I live there, and have lived in three different places along the coast. Some of the area is built up in a not nice way, especially the areas that are mainly for summer tourists. I would not, however discount towns like Fano and Senigallia (where I live now), as they are very pretty and have historical centers. The beach, or rather, the sea cannot compete with Puglia or Sicily. Another place I lived here however, Riviera del Conero, is absolutely beautiful, and has two small towns, with wonderful beaches and sea. They also have an unusual microclimate that keeps them (particularly Numana) much warmer in winter and they are in the middle of a regional park with plenty of greenery, trails, stables, etc.
And although you want to be south of Florence I'd look at Liguria as well. It has better weather than almost any other place in Italy except the islands.
Not everywhere and where it does, in varying degrees. Only L'Aquila province has really harsh winters, as do the areas straddling the mountains. The trade-off of course is good skiing. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/skiing/skiing-on-italys-secret-slopes-2138793.html
Teramo province - next to Marche - is similar to its neighbour and with correspondingly rising prices. Pescara province is pretty well just the city of Pescara and its hinterland. Chieti province to the south, is much less developed, much cheaper.
If such things sway decisions, Abruzzo has a greater proportion of its total size given over to protected National Parks than any other region of Europe.
Having checked out Tuscany, Umbria and Marche before settling here three years ago, this was so definitely the right choice for our particular needs.
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