Each week we should come up with a main theme. This is next week:
I often get this question! How much does it cost to live in Italy ? Well of course it depends on where you live Rome and Milano are much more expensive than a small town in the country.

Anyway I was wondering if any of you could help me by answering this :

> Cost of Accommodation in Italy :how much does it cost to rent an apartment ( flat ) in Italy ?

> Cost of Public transportation - fares : taxy - bus - trains - airlines

>Cost of Gas ( benzina ) - Electricity ( KW per hour cost ) - water etc

> Cost of Private transportantion - Motorino ( moped ) - Car - car Insurance -

> Cost of Utilities Internet, television, telephone, cell phone

> Cost of Eating out: Pizzeria - Trattoria - Fancy restaurants

> Cappuccino - Coffe price - 04cl beer - 1 Liter local wine - Mineral water

> Movie cinema - theater - live shows etc

> Cost of Food in italy (per month, how much does it cost per person ? ) Can you give some example of items ( milk - meat -

> Healthcare costs in Italy- It it free ? how much insurance costs ?

> Education and school costs

> Any other data ??


Where do you live ? ( country - small town- major town ) ?

> Accommodation prices :how much does it cost to rent an apartment ( flat ) in Italy ? It can vary a lot, depending on where and how the house is. Let's say 300 - 1000

> Public transportation fares : taxy - bus - trains - airlines Taxis are quite expensive. Bus in Campania costs 2.90€ for 40-70km. Airlines are moreless the same as in other countries.

> Gas ( benzina ) - Electricity ( KW per hour cost ) - water etc
Gas costs 1.250€ per litre right now, it goes from 1.1 to 1.4 usually. No idea on other things

> Private transportantion - Motorino ( moped ) - Car - car Insurance - A moped should cost from 1000 to 4000 € I think, cars cost moreless the same as in other countries, insurance prices vary much depending on the driver, one with a good bonus malus ratio with an average car pays moreless 400€, but it depends also on the city and age.

> Utilities Internet, television, telephone, cell phone
Alice Flat (unlimited connection at 7Mbps) costs 18€ per month. Public television canone costs around 100€ per year. The canone for home telephone is about 40€ per two months.

> Eating out costs: Pizzeria - Trattoria - Fancy restaurants
Where I live you spend moreless 8€ for pizza+beer. In other regions the prices can be much higher.

> Cappuccino - Coffe price - 04cl beer - 1 Liter local wine - Mineral water
Cappuccino is around 90C, coffee 70c, a can of beer around 2€

> Movie cinema - theater - live shows etc
Depending on the day of the week, it varies from 4€ to 7€.

> Food cost (per month, how much does it cost per person ? ) Can you give some example of items ( milk - meat -

> Healthcare costs - It it free ? how much insurance costs ?
Everything is free, you just pay a little amount called "ticket" for medications and such, but if you're not rich you don't even have to.
> Education and school costs
Public school doesn't cost anything but for buying books. Universities fees are very different in each one of them. I pay 400€ per month.

> Any other data ??
A Marlboro box (20) costs 4.20€, all other brands from 3.80 to 4.30.
A very good PC costs around 1200€, an average one is available at 550 or so.

PS: added Marlboro just to give a confrontation item, not ads


I live half the time in a little town near Benevento, and half the time in the city of Naples. Prices are not so different.

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[QUOTE=paolo;22499]Each week we should come up with a main theme. This is next week:
I often get this question! How much does it cost to live in Italy ? Well of course it depends on where you live Rome and Milano are much more expensive than a small town in the country.

Anyway I was wondering if any of you could help me by answering this :

> Accommodation prices :how much does it cost to rent an apartment ( flat ) in Italy ?

I paid 450 euros for a small apartment in Perugia in summer 2007.
Was paying 20 euros a day for a room with a shared bathroom.

Will be in Italy this June and will let you know prices.

Zid, don't you have any info on food costs? Also, as far as Health Care being free....i heard that certain things are considered specialties and if you want them you have to pay for them - like plastic surgery, of course (elective ones)....what about dentists? Will the national insurance pay for dental care? If not, how much on average does it cost to go to the dentist? How are the dentists there? I have heard scary stories about them not being that good...I hope that's untrue. Any other types of medical specialties you can think of not covered by insurance? What about PODIATRY (foot specialist)...do patients pay themselves or insurance covers? Thanks, Zid. You're the best, never change.

THANK YOU!!! This is beautiful!! It's the type of thing I HOPED would be on the Forum. I hope we see more of this, rather than poisonous threads that create division and rancor in our community and cause hard feelings and have nothing to do with life in Italy.(such as the ongoing "Death to America" thread that has been polluting our lovely forum.) This kind of thing is FIRST CLASS all the way. Thank you, Paolo, SO much.

1kg of bread costs between 1 and 2 euros almost everywhere.

About dentists, they're generally pretty expensive, but I don't know precisely the numbers. Also, usually they're good, but you have to make sure they're really dentists (some person does this job without all the appropriate permissions)
Don't really know about podiatry, but I suppose they're covered by national health care insurance.

PS: In the first post, when I wrote the cost of University, I meant 400€ per year, not per month (gladly)

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Dentists are all private, and as Dan says, expensive. A replacement crown my wife had done cost euro 1200.00! Bread as per Dan.

Anyway I was wondering if any of you could help me by answering this :

> Accommodation prices :how much does it cost to rent an apartment ( flat ) in Italy ?

2 bedroom around 400-800 euro depending on the area

> Public transportation fares : taxy - bus - trains - airlines

Taxi to Pisa 70-90 euro, train to Pisa around 3 euro, ATL to Cecina 3.50 return - airline, we pay usually around 50 - 100 euro each return Pisa to London

> Gas ( benzina ) - Electricity ( KW per hour cost ) - water etc

Petrol (don't know as we use very litlle) - electricity 70 euros approx per two months (3kW supply) - water circa 50 euro 3 monthly

> Private transportantion - Motorino ( moped ) - Car - car Insurance -

Car ins US$ 850, but that was because the car had UK, then Italian plates, and it was the only company that would cover it on both

> Utilities Internet, television, telephone, cell phone

Telephone, including Alice 7 meg internet - 100 euro 2 monthly (includes 10 euro per month for free unlimited international calls

> Eating out costs: Pizzeria - Trattoria - Fancy restaurant

Decent meal, including wine and coffee around 45-50 euro for two

> Cappuccino - Coffe price - 04cl beer - 1 Liter local wine - Mineral water

1.50 / 1.00 / don't know / 55 cents and upwards / 14 cents per litre

> Movie cinema - theater - live shows etc

Don't know, although the Comune sometimes put on films for free

> Food cost (per month, how much does it cost per person ? ) Can you give some example of items ( milk - meat -

300 - 400 per month for 3 of us - single people would probably be more pro rata

> Healthcare costs - It it free ? how much insurance costs ?

Mostly free for Italian citizens, EU citizens can use their own health cards. Some tests and medicines expensive

> Education and school costs

> Any other data ??


Where do you live ? ( country - small town- major town )

Small village, though only 30 minutes from Livorno

Hey markmymark - 2 questions re above, when you say "some tests and medicines are expensive" - do you mean patients have to pay for them themselves? And under food what do you mean by "single people probably more pro rata" ? thanks for clarification..

Hi tangobunny

Yes, some tests and prescribed medicines have to be paid for by the patients. I can't be too specific as I haven't been to the doctor, and my wife is exempt from most charges because she had cancer. I believe cervical cancer tests are free, as the Comune automatically sends out an appointment, but certain blood and culture tests are charged. "Over the counter" (i.e. non-prescription) medicines are vastly more expensive than the UK (paracetamol is virtually 100x UK price) - this is mainly because the pharmacies have a monopoly, although there are plans to allow supermarkets to sell some things like aspirin.

The "single people" remark was due to the fact that it is cheaper (both here and the UK) to bulk buy, or buy larger cuts of meat/bread etc - although we don't always eat together every day, we often make enough for the three of us, and refridgerate/freeze the other 1 or two portions. A single person will usually pay slightly more than the cost of 3 people divided by three. I hope that makes sense!

If you need any more info, please feel free to PM me.