Moving to Italy from the USA

The visa routes

Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa

2026 minimum income about 28,000 to 30,000 EUR per year; requires a highly skilled profile and 6-plus months of prior remote history with a non-Italian employer.

Elective Residence Visa (ERV)

About 31,000 EUR per year single from stable passive income (pensions, annuities, rental, dividends); savings alone do not qualify.

The tax reality

A US-Italy treaty prevents most double taxation but the US saving clause keeps US citizens taxed. Italy taxes residents (over 183 days plus a residence tie) on worldwide income; because IRPEF (23 to 43 percent plus) generally exceeds US rates, most use the FTC. Two corridor-specific regimes are major hooks: a 7 percent flat tax on all foreign income for pensioners settling in qualifying Southern towns (expanded April 2026), and a 50 percent impatriate exemption that a 2026 ruling confirmed can extend to remote employees of foreign firms. A sharp edge: US self-employed movers generally keep paying US self-employment tax, not Italian INPS, and need a Certificate of Coverage.

What it costs

Target cities: Rome, Florence, Milan, plus Southern towns.

Comfortable single budgets about 1,600 to 2,000 EUR per month in smaller cities, 2,200 to 2,800 EUR in Rome or Milan; Southern rents run far lower.

Housing listings

Immobiliare.it and Idealista.it dominate; both behind aggressive DataDome anti-bot.

Healthcare

SSN is strong and low-cost once a legal resident; visa requires private insurance (about 30,000 EUR coverage) up front.

Banking and admin

Codice Fiscale first, then Permesso di Soggiorno and anagrafe registration; digital banks open with passport plus codice fiscale.

The single biggest friction

Getting the FEIE-vs-FTC choice, the 183-day trigger, the self-employment-tax quirk, and which special regime applies all exactly right; the rules change year to year.