The complete guide to moving from the UK to Italy

What should you decide before booking a UK to Italy move?

Decide two things first: whether you are moving your life to Italy or keeping a second home there, and where exactly you will live. Everything else follows from those answers. Your visa, your tax position, your healthcare and even the customs relief on your furniture all depend on them.

A full move means Italy becomes your home. You will need a long-stay visa, then a permesso di soggiorno (residence permit). You will register with the comune (town hall) and, in time, become tax resident in Italy. A second-home arrangement is different. You stay UK resident, visit within the Schengen short-stay limit, and furnish the Italian property without changing residence.

The distinction matters for your belongings too. The duty-free relief on household goods only applies when you are genuinely transferring your residence. Furnishing a holiday home does not qualify in the same way.

The second decision is the address. Italian customs needs a destination address for the import paperwork. Your permesso application needs proof of where you will live. Banks and utility firms ask for it too. Until you have a signed rental contract or a purchase agreement, most of the move cannot be locked in.

• Full residency move, or a second home kept within short-stay rules?
• Which region, which comune, which street — and is the address confirmed in writing?
• Who is moving: just you, a couple, children, pets, a car?
• Will anyone work in Italy, or will you live on pensions and savings?

Do you need a visa to live in Italy as a British citizen?

Yes. Since Brexit, British citizens are third-country nationals in Italy. You can visit without a visa within the Schengen short-stay limit. To live there, you need a national long-stay visa, known as a Type D visa, issued by an Italian consulate in the UK before you travel.

Which visa you apply for depends on how you will support yourself. Retirees and others living on pensions, rental income or investments usually apply for the elective residence visa (residenza elettiva). It does not allow you to work. People with an Italian job offer need their employer to secure a nulla osta (work authorisation) first. Self-employed people, remote workers, students and family members each have their own routes.

Apply through the Italian Consulate General in London, or in Edinburgh if you live in Scotland. The Italian foreign ministry runs a visa portal that tells you which visa fits your situation and which documents to gather. Consulates have discretion, so a strong, well-documented application matters.

If you were already living in Italy before the end of the Brexit transition period, the Withdrawal Agreement protects your rights. You follow a separate, simpler process. Our dedicated guide on visas and residence routes covers each option in more detail.

Which documents does a UK to Italy move need?

Think of the paperwork as two piles. One pile moves your belongings: export and import declarations, an inventory and the customs relief claim. The other pile moves you: visa, codice fiscale, permesso di soggiorno and residency registration. As your remover, we handle the first pile. You handle the second.

The codice fiscale is the Italian tax code. It is free and you need it for almost everything — leases, bank accounts, utilities and healthcare. You can get it before you leave. If you live in the London consular district, you fill in form AA4/8 and book a virtual appointment on the consulate’s prenot@mi portal. You do not need to attend in person.

The permesso di soggiorno comes after you land. Most applicants collect a yellow application kit from a post office with a Sportello Amico counter. You send it from the post office, then attend the Questura (provincial police headquarters) for fingerprints. The window to apply is short, so check the current deadline on the Polizia di Stato site before you travel.

• Passport valid well beyond your intended stay
• Long-stay (Type D) visa from the Italian consulate
• Codice fiscale — ideally obtained before departure
• Signed lease or purchase deed for your Italian address
• Proof of income and health cover for your visa and permesso
• Itemised inventory of your belongings, with values
• An EORI number if our customs agent asks for one
• V5C logbook if you are taking a car; Animal Health Certificate for pets

How does customs work for household goods going to Italy?

Your goods leave the UK on an export declaration and enter Italy under EU transfer-of-residence relief. That relief removes Italian import duty and import VAT on qualifying personal belongings. It applies when you are genuinely moving your home, and only to items you have owned and used for the minimum period the EU rules require.

The relief is claimed with the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), Italy’s customs agency. It is sometimes called the franchigia per trasferimento di residenza. You may see older advice mention a ToR1 form. That is a UK form for people moving into the UK, so it does not apply to a move to Italy.

To claim the relief, customs generally wants to see proof that you are changing residence, an inventory, and evidence that the goods are personal rather than for resale. There are conditions on timing around your change of residence. Goods brought in under the relief should not be sold or lent out for a period afterwards.

On the UK side, household goods leaving Great Britain need an export entry. Our customs agent lodges it. Some agents need a GB EORI number in your name; HMRC issues these free through GOV.UK.

• New items still in packaging may not qualify for relief
• Wine, spirits and tobacco can attract excise duty even in a household move
• Art, antiques and valuable collections need individual descriptions and values
• Vehicles are declared separately from the rest of the load

How do your belongings get from the UK to Italy?

By road. The lorry crosses the Channel, drives south through France, then enters Italy by one of the alpine crossings or the coastal road. Which entry point we use depends on where in Italy you are going. Islands add a ferry leg at the end.

The Mont Blanc tunnel runs from Chamonix into the Aosta Valley. It suits Turin, Milan, Genoa and the route on towards Tuscany and Rome. The Fréjus tunnel, between Modane and Bardonecchia, leads straight into Piedmont. The coastal motorway along France’s Mediterranean edge enters Italy at Ventimiglia, which suits Liguria and the Tuscan coast.

The Brenner pass serves the north-east: Trentino-Alto Adige, Verona and the Veneto. It is reached through transit countries north of the Alps. Those are transit only, not destinations we serve.

For Sicily, the load either crosses the Strait of Messina from Villa San Giovanni or takes a ferry from a mainland port such as Naples, Salerno or Civitavecchia. Sardinia is reached by ferry from Genoa, Livorno or Civitavecchia.

Final delivery is where Italian moves differ most from British ones. Historic centres often sit inside a ZTL (zona a traffico limitato, a camera-enforced restricted traffic zone). Hill villages have lanes too narrow for a large lorry. Tuscan farmhouses sit on strade bianche (unsealed gravel roads). In those cases we transfer the load to a smaller vehicle for the last stretch. Your written quote states the delivery window for your route.

What drives the cost of a move to Italy?

Volume and route are the biggest factors. A full family home going to Sicily costs more than a few rooms going to Turin. After that, access at both ends, packing, storage, insurance and the season all play a part. We survey your home and put one figure in writing.

Access often surprises people. A ground-floor house with a drive is simple. A fourth-floor apartment in a palazzo with no lift, a narrow staircase and a ZTL outside is not. Some Italian buildings need a furniture lift through a window. Some streets need a permit to park the lorry.

Beyond the removal itself, budget for the move around it. That means visa and permesso fees, sworn translations, health cover, a rental deposit or notary costs, and running two homes for a while. Our cost guide explains each item without guessing at figures that change by case.

• Volume of goods and how much floor space the load needs
• Distance and route, including any ferry leg
• Access: stairs, lifts, street width, ZTL permits, parking
• Packing: full service, fragile-only, or self-pack
• Storage at either end if your dates do not line up
• Insurance level and declared values
• Season: high summer and school holidays are busiest

Should you rent or buy when you first move to Italy?

Rent first, in most cases. Renting lets you learn the area before you commit. Italian rural property can hide problems that only local knowledge reveals: shared access rights, water supply questions or planning limits on old buildings. A lease also gives you the address you need for your visa and permesso.

Most long-term residential leases follow a standard structure that renews automatically unless notice is given. Shorter transitional leases exist for specific reasons such as a work posting. Leases must be registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian revenue agency). Ask your landlord to confirm that registration has happened.

Buying works differently from the UK. A notaio (notary) is a public official who checks the title and completes the sale. Most purchases start with a signed offer, then a preliminary contract with a deposit, then the final deed, called the rogito. Use your own lawyer or surveyor as well. The notaio is neutral and does not act for the buyer.

Prices vary hugely between regions. Milan and central Rome sit at the top. Large parts of the south and the inland centre are far cheaper. Our regional cost-of-living guide compares the main areas in plain terms.

What do you need to do after you arrive in Italy?

Start the permesso application straight away, then register your residence with the comune. Those two steps unlock healthcare, a full bank account, car registration and school places. Treat the period after arrival as a series of appointments, not a holiday.

Residency registration happens at the Anagrafe (registry office) of your comune. Afterwards the vigili (municipal police) may visit to check that you really live at the address. Make sure your name is on the door and the doorbell.

Healthcare is next. Eligible UK state pensioners register their S1 form with the local ASL (local health authority). People working in Italy join the SSN (national health service) through their contributions. Others may join voluntarily by paying an annual contribution, or rely on private cover.

Then deal with the car, the pets and the tax. A UK-registered car must be re-registered on Italian plates once you have been resident for a set period. Pets should be added to the regional pet registry through the ASL vet. Find a commercialista (accountant and tax adviser) before your first Italian tax return.

• Collect and send the permesso kit, then attend the Questura appointment
• Register at the Anagrafe and expect a residence check
• Open an Italian bank account
• Register with the ASL: S1, SSN enrolment or private cover
• Book the car re-registration and licence exchange
• Register pets with the local ASL vet
• Enrol children at school through the comune or the school directly

What goes wrong most often on UK to Italy moves?

Most problems come from doing things in the wrong order. A moving date gets fixed before the visa is granted. A lorry is booked before the Italian address is confirmed. Someone flies out without a codice fiscale. None of these is fatal, but each one adds cost and stress.

The permesso deadline is the most common slip. The window after arrival is short and easy to miss when boxes are everywhere. Set a reminder before you fly, and keep the post-office receipt safe. It proves your application is in progress.

Delivery access is the next. A Roman ZTL, a Ligurian hill village or a Tuscan gravel track can stop a full-size lorry. These are not surprises if they are found at survey stage. Tell us about steps, gates, low arches, bridges and parking problems early.

Finally, people underestimate Italian bureaucracy’s appetite for paper. Offices often want originals, copies and sometimes a traduzione asseverata (sworn translation). Revenue stamps, called marche da bollo, are needed for many applications. Carry a folder of everything, more than you think you need.

What is the right order of jobs for a move to Italy?

Settle the right to live there, then the address, then the move. In practice that means choosing your visa route, securing a lease or purchase, applying for the visa and codice fiscale, then booking the survey and fixing the date. Customs and arrival paperwork follow in sequence.

Well before the move, read up on your visa route and gather evidence of income and health cover. Choose your region and secure an address in writing. Apply for the codice fiscale through the consulate. Ask us for a survey so we can plan access and give a written quote.

Once the visa is granted, fix the moving date with us. Send HMRC form P85 to tell them you are leaving. Tell your pension providers, bank and council. Start the Animal Health Certificate process with your vet in good time, as rabies vaccination has a waiting period. Notify the DVLA if your car is being exported permanently.

In the run-up to collection, confirm the inventory and values with us. We prepare the export entry and the Italian relief claim. Check access arrangements at the Italian end, including any parking permit.

After arrival, follow the sequence in the section above: permesso, residency, bank, healthcare, car, pets and tax. Our other guides go deeper into each step, from the permesso di soggiorno to the alpine routes.

• Visa route chosen and evidence gathered
• Italian address secured in writing
• Codice fiscale obtained
• Visa granted, then moving date fixed
• P85, pensions, bank and council notified
• Pet health certificate and car export arranged
• Inventory confirmed and customs filed by us
• Permesso, residency and healthcare on arrival