How to Move to Italy: Step-by-Step Guide

By William Jones

"I want to live in Italy" – Okay, you dream of living in Italy, but you don't know where to start. It's your dream and the purpose of this book is not to say whether it's worth coming or not, but to give you guidelines so that you can carry out your project and have the best possible experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: NB PRESS
• Release date: Jan 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215553893

William Jones

William Jones is a research associate professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he manages the Keeping Found Things Found project. Dr. Jones contributed chapters on personal information management (PIM) to the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, the Handbook of Applied Cognition, and the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. He has presented numerous tutorials and courses on PIM, co-edited a book on PIM, and organized two PIM workshops, including an invitational sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Jones has published articles on basic research in cognitive psychology and more applied research in PIM, information retrieval, and human–computer interaction. Dr. Jones holds several patents relating to search and PIM. He received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Book preview

What is it like to live in Italy?

Living in Italy is... different! Forget the hectic life of big cities. With the exception of the few large cities in the country, the rhythm of life in Italy is slow, it is as if people were based on the implicit idea of ​​If it can't be resolved today, that's fine: we think about it tomorrow.

In fact, forget about big cities: Italy is a small country. Except Rome and Milan, all other cities have a population below 1 million.

It is precisely for this reason that the pace of life is not as frenetic as in the large centers. The proximity to the countryside is strongly felt, especially in more agricultural regions, such as Umbria, Tuscany and the Marche, as well as in other cities in the center-south of the country.

How do I move to Italy?

To live in Italy legally, you will need a residence visa and, once you arrive in the country, it is essential to take the Permesso di soggiorno. Calm down, we'll talk about these two documents later!

The Italian government accepts a foreign citizen as a resident (temporary or permanent) if he falls into one of the categories below:

›  Study;

›  Work;

›  Retired;

›  Investment.

›  Study in Italy

If you are thinking about how to live in Italy for a pre-established period, know that one of the ways to move to the country is through an exchange, university enrollment or even, enrollment in an Italian language course.

Studying in Italy is even a great way to get to know the Italian lifestyle, language, university life and culture more closely.

❖  How to study in Italy: the differences in the education system

The education system in Italy can be public or private. There are basically 2 differences between education in Italy and in many other countries.

The first is that public universities are not free, but the fee to be paid varies according to the student's family income. Thus, people with low incomes do not pay, while families with high incomes pay higher amounts.

In any case, the average price of a public university is around 1,000€ to 4,000€ per year. The second difference here is that private universities are usually much more expensive than public ones (depending on the university, they can reach up to 20,000€ per year). But we will elaborate on the prices below.

Understanding the cycles of higher education!

In many countries, we are used to three ‘cycles’ in higher education: the Bachelor’s / Licentiate’s Degree, the Master’s and the Doctorate. In theory, a person can start any of the three at a University, as long as he meets the necessary prerequisites (such as taking exams and curriculum analysis, for example).

In Italy it is a little different, they have four ‘cycles’: Laurea, Laurea Magistrale, Master and Dottorato di Ricerca. We will get to know them better below:

Laurea: three years of basic studies; is equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree;

Laurea Magistrale: 2 years of additional studies after the 3 basic ones, in more specific themes; is equivalent to the Master;

Master: it is a cycle of studies that proves particular skills in a specific field of study or professional activity. It usually does not last less than 1 year;

Dottorato di Ricerca: as the name suggests, this is the equivalent of a PhD.