If you've ever been to Italy on vacation, you might assume it's wildly expensive to live there. And if you're living smack in the middle of Rome or Florence and eating and shopping exclusively at overpriced tourist traps, then yeah...it probably is. But what if you live absolutely anywhere else in this beautiful country? What does the cost of living really look like for a local?
Well, my husband and I just moved to Italy, so I'm here to tell you the truth about Italy, and not the "€15 Aperol Spritz overlooking the Colosseum" version of it. We live in a small village that's just an 8-minute train ride from Riomaggiore, the first town in the Cinque Terre. So while we're close enough to the touristy hotspots to pop over whenever we want, our actual village is very much not touristy. So we're getting a pretty authentic taste of what it's like to live like a local in Italy — including the much less-inflated cost of living.
I have to say, coming from Canada's largest city, Toronto, to a small town in Italy, we obviously expected things to be cheaper. But we genuinely had no idea just how much cheaper they were going to be. Like, some of these price differences had us doing a double-take and LAUGHING MANICALLY because it legitimately sometimes feels like we are stealing...that's how cheap it is. So, here's a glimpse at what life is really like in Italy — and 11 things that absolutely shocked us when we saw the price tags compared to back home. Take a look:
1.
Phone Plans and Internet
Coming from Canada, where phone plans start at $50 and can easily creep up to $80+ depending on your plan, I was dumbfounded when I got a 250GB phone plan in Italy for just €10 a month (about $16 CAD). And here's the other wild part: lots of people here don't even bother getting Wi-Fi for their homes. Because you basically have unlimited data, people just hotspot their devices and call it a day. So between my husband's and my phone plans (and skipping on the Wi-Fi), we're saving around $200 CAD a month living in Italy.
2.
Groceries
Although some things are more expensive, the overall cost of groecries is cheaper here...especially when it comes to produce, pasta, and olive oil. And yes, compared to Toronto — a very multicultural city — you definitely don't have access to the same endless selection of ingredients and international cuisines. But the upside is that so much of what you do have access to is locally produced, which keeps prices surprisingly low. Our monthly grocery bill is, on average, $500 less than what we were spending back in Canada.
3.
Rent
This is a tricky comparison because my husband and I lived in an apartment in downtown Toronto, and now we live in a small village in Italy. So, of course, there will be a discrepancy. But we didn't know how much. Turns out, it's $800 less than living in Toronto. But we also lived in our Toronto place for 6 years, and it was rent-controlled and WAYYY below market rate because we moved in during COVID-19. If we compare our rent to what some of my friends are paying after moving into new apartments in downtown Toronto this year, though, living in a bigger Italian city like Rome or Florence would still be hundreds of dollars cheaper than living in a major Canadian city.
4.
Going out for dinner
There are a few things that make going out cheaper here. First, aperitivo is often served with snacks included in the drink price, so you don't necessarily need to order an appetizer if you're trying to save money. Plus, alcohol is just cheaper here. An Aperol Spritz at my local bar is €5, which is about $8 CAD. At the bar where I worked in downtown Toronto, the Aperol Spritzes I served were $18 CAD. Add in taxes and the tipping culture in Canada — where you're expected to tack on another 18–22% to your bill — and my husband and I are usually saving around $50 CAD every time we go out for a few drinks and a meal. And dare I say it? THE FOOD IS WAYYYY BETTER! Like, come on, it's ITALY!
5.
Plane tickets
I'll just leave you with this comparison: a round-trip flight from Toronto to my hometown in Canada was around $500 CAD, minimum. Around the holidays, we'd be looking at $850 to $1000. Here, we can take a round-trip flight to Paris for as little as $50–75 CAD on average, and even on the high end, it's around $100. So travel in general feels way more accessible here. Instead of having the annual internal debate of, "Do I go visit my family this year, or do I go to Jamaica? Because somehow the Caribbean is cheaper," we can actually travel around Europe without feeling like we're breaking the bank.
6.
Coffee
It's kind of embarrassing how much money I'm saving on coffee. I like to spend a lot of time reading or writing at coffee shops, and back home, going out with friends often involved grabbing a coffee or matcha and walking around Toronto. In Canada, a coffee drink in downtown Toronto can easily cost $8–11. Here? I get a cappuccino about 4 times a week, and they're only €1.50 each, which is around $2.40 CAD. So, the amount I spend on an ENTIRE WEEK of coffee in Italy is basically the cost of ONE latte at Starbucks. It's honestly sickening how much money we're saving on coffee by living here.
7.
Wine
I was completely SHOCKED to see that local wine is €2–5, which is about $3–8 CAD. I know I'm no sommelier, so I'm not exactly buying the fanciest wines, but still...my husband and I can get a nice little buzz going for $3 Canadian?! It's wild. I also use wine a lot for cooking, so with that alone, we are saving some pocket change each month without even trying.
8.
Leather
If you've ever been to Florence, you probably know that the Tuscany region is known for its leather. Tons of local artisans make high-quality leather clothing, purses, backpacks, and more, and prices can be very reasonable because you're buying locally. Yes, if you're shopping in a super-touristy area, prices will obviously be higher. But find a local boutique outside a major city, and you can get gorgeous, high-quality leather for a fraction of what you'd pay in Canada.
9.
Public Transit
In our town, bus tickets are just €1.50, or $2.40 CAD — roughly half the price, or even a third of what you can pay for public transit in major Canadian cities. For comparison, a single ride in Ottawa costs $4.15 CAD, while travelling from a farther zone in the Vancouver area into downtown can cost up to $6.70 CAD. Honestly, my biggest transportation qualm here is remembering to buy the ticket before the tabbacheria closes for the afternoon.
10.
Healthcare
Okay, I'm from Canada, where healthcare is publicly funded, so there wasn't a huge change for me after moving here. But the few Americans we've met who now live in Italy were SO thankful when they arrived and discovered that healthcare here is accessible without the massive costs they're used to back home. And honestly, that goes a LONG way. In fact, it's life-changing.
11.
And finally... Luxury Brands
Okay, I'm definitely not one to buy a Gucci purse. In fact, I think they'd laugh at me if I even walked into the store. The equation of [me + luxury] just doesn't make any sense. But if I were, Italian designer brands that are actually Italian — think Prada, Versace, Armani, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino — can be cheaper here because you're not paying the same taxes and import costs you'd face when buying them in North America. So buy the purse, girl.
So there you have it: that's what it's actually like to live in a village in Italy.
And, honestly, I fear living here has ruined me. Toronto, I love you, but after this? The tiny Italian village life is looking pretty hard to give up. Unfortunately, our visa is only for a year. So I guess I'll spend the next 12 months pretending I don't know that expiration date exists.
Tell me: have you ever moved somewhere and been shocked by how different the day-to-day cost of living was? Maybe you moved from a small town to New York for school and suddenly felt like breathing was breaking the bank, or you moved to a tiny rural town for work and were shocked by how much money you could actually save. Tell me all about your experience — and the pros and cons of living in each place — in the comments!
And if you want to follow along on my Italian adventure and pick up some travel tips along the way, check out my travel posts on the BuzzFeed On My Way page. I'll be sharing a new Italian travel story on Saturdays, so come along for the ride!
Or you can check out our journey on TikTok here.
And for more fun content like this, make sure you follow BuzzFeed Canada on TikTok and Instagram!
Спутники
РН
SpaceX
Роскосмос
NASA