6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: Why I Decided NOT To Live In Italy

Before I retired from a career in firefighting in the USA I had plans to move abroad. After traveling to many countries across all 7 continents, I narrowed it down to Italy, Colombia, or Argentina where I live now. I traveled to all 3 countries and did trial periods of living in them, 1 month or more living as an expat and more or less avoiding tourism. I think everyone knows Italy is a beautiful country. On top of all the things it's famous for, I personally speak Italian, I have an Italian passport, and I've traveled to all 20 regions of Italy. It would certainly have been the easiest choice for me. No issues with immigration, banking, apartment leases, healthcare, etc. Some of which has definitely been a problem here in Argentina, but nevertheless I decided not to make Italy my first stop, at least not yet. So why did I decide not to live in Italy at this point in my life? Let's get into it.

Taxes... Like taxes. I really should write TAXES. This one of the hardest lessons learned in my trial visits to all 3 countries. But definitely Italy. I am not a CPA and don't want to get too deep here, but basically my taxes would go up over 20% or so from what I already owe to the USA every year. The cost savings of national healthcare or lower cost of living could be virtually wiped out by the tax overhead. Like I said, I don't want to go too deep here for the legal purposes, but I had tax meetings set up with 2 or 3 accountants on both ends of the liabilities, USA and Italy. Unless I moved to one of the smaller towns, the tax rates made the Italian dream postponed.
South America while I'm still young. I'm not too young either, but I wanted to live in South America before it's too late. I'm living here now in Argentina, and I certainly love it, but this is not the type of place I think I can stay in as I get older. Healthcare, infrastructure, safety, logistics... Things that are not remotely on your mind in your 20s or 30s. I'm in my mid 40s now... I figured this was my last run to try South America before I'm too old for it.
My planned trips for the next 4 years are not Europe heavy. I try to rewrite every 2-4 years a 4 year travel list. The idea of living abroad for me was not just living in the country, but access to it's neighbors. I wanted to extensively travel Argentina, which I think I've been off to a good start. I also booked Antarctica last minute, a whole other article probably should be written on the benefit of doing that from Argentina, anyway, also trips to Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay in the works, and God willing I want to go to Venezuela one day.
I don't want to recycle the whole Why I Chose Argentina here, but for this moment of my life Italy lacks things I want in my 40s. The gym culture, protein based meals, the live music scene, the social circles I have there vs my friends here. My vacations may be more interesting in Italy but daily life here in South America is more my speed.
I couldn't choose the exact city yet. This is kind of a stupid reason, I really lean towards Napoli, but since I've been everywhere in Italy that lean wasn't strong enough to make the jump. I have been going to Italy almost every year since 2016... I think I will continue to go and let the city I may one day live in pick me rather than the latter.
Cost of living. Italy is the most expensive of the 3 options. That being said it's still much cheaper than where I was living in Scottsdale, AZ. But I retired young, and I am hoping to more or less stay retired unless it's a fun job, so starting my retirement in the most expensive country didn't seem like a wise decision.
Taxes. It needs to be mentioned twice.

I love Italy, I'm heading back there in May of 2027. I don't see any reason why I won't be going annually anytime soon. I really do hope I live there one day as well. I don't know if it would be forever but certainly for an extended period of life. Now, I'm loving life in Argentina, and obviously Spanish is my home language, but every day I read novels in Italian, I do practice phone calls with other Italians, or language exchanges, if you don't use it you lose it! I love the Italian aspects and immigration in Argentina, but of course I am not in Italy. The country will always be important to me, and will always have a place in my heart, and maybe when the day comes I will live there. But that day is not now... And.... Taxes.....