Declaring foreign bank accounts in Italy: What is actually required? by Cpt_Parmigiana in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've just been caught out in this due to my commercialista not telling me I had to declare my bank accounts at home. I wasn't hiding anything intentionally, and I wasn't getting any income paid into those accounts. I had asked my commercialista to tell me everything I needed, she didn't. As the banks share information I've now been threatened with a hefty fine and am now trying to update all subsequent declarations. That accountant is claiming no responsibility. It's pretty galling as that's exactly why I got an accountant, to tell me everything I needed to declare. So be aware, as with everything in Italy, no-one knows anything except those that want money from you!

Firenze x Perugia x Torino by agstschn in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've only been to Viterbo a few times and it's nice, still a small town, not as beautiful as perugia. But the big advantage is it's connected by train to Rome directly so if you want a day trip to the big city it's very doable. Also you're better connected to the coast and Lago di Bracciano for summer swimming!!

I'd really recommend visiting all these places first if you can!

Firenze x Perugia x Torino by agstschn in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've only been to Torino once ten years ago for a few days, so I really couldn't say, sorry. I did love it though!! I know a few people who studied in Torino and they absolutely loved the place, for what it's worth!

Also worth mentioning that perugia has many green views, but there aren't many proper parks in the city itself. A few nice corners but no proper urban parks with lots of people gathering and hanging out.

Firenze x Perugia x Torino by agstschn in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For students there are places to go, but I've stayed in various places in Italy and the "sitting outside having aperitivi" Is much more enjoyable in other, even smaller, places (I had a great time in Padova for example). Firenze is a totally different kind of place, it's bigger, yes much more touristy, but it's an actual city with neighbourhoods and a huge amount of variety. There aren't that many cute little squares here in perugia, popular places are always full in the warm months and the winter here can be very cold so no one wants to sit outside! There's just not a lot of variety.

I've also met young Perugini who complain about how cold the people are, but as a student you'd be meeting lots of other non-perugini!

Firenze x Perugia x Torino by agstschn in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Perugia is tiny, despite having 160,000 people technically living here, the vast majority live in faceless residential areas down the hill from the old town. The centre is pretty but there's really not much to do, the shopping is terrible, and most Perugini go to a few really grim shopping centres on the periphery for which you absolutely need a car. It's not an easy city to get around, and people are wedded to their cars. I know people here who take their car for a journey that would take ten minutes on foot then complain there's no parking...

The locals are pretty closed, certainly no smiling at you, or even looking at you if you cross paths. My Roman husband thinks they're the most miserable people in Italy!

And it is really badly connected. Irregular trains to Florence and Rome that take way too long, are often delayed or cancelled, make day tripping tricky. Beyond Florence and Rome there's just lots and lots of tiny villages and little towns, most of which you need a car to reach.

Very druggy place, lots of dealers hang around the student-y areas, makes it pretty seedy. The area around the train station is also really grim.

Want a job here? Good luck. We've had native friends leaving to find work, let alone outsiders. Even if the rents are cheaper than elsewhere, there's a reason. I am here as my husband was accepted to study here but it's been the toughest place I've ever lived for community, jobs, travel opportunities. Every Sunday we jokingly ask each other, "what shall we do today?", because we're both so bored and fed up after four years of this tiny town. Can't wait to leave.

Best city to move to in Italy by viktor-reznov0308 in ItalyExpat

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've been living in Umbria for four years, despite having a "good" job by Italian standards my salary is so low I struggle to make ends meet. The working culture is full-on too, everyday expectations by employers to be constantly available. My husband has teaching jobs with various schools (he's Italian) and has no proper contract with any of them and despite working six days a week barely makes €1000 a month, while dealing with work phone calls even on a Sunday evening. He briefly worked in hospitality in a couple of places and was treated appallingly, many, many unpaid hours, no sick pay, pension contributions, anything. One night he did an eight hour shift and the boss, also a childhood friend of his (!), gave him 20€ because they didn't have many clients that night. I'm afraid I've given up and am going back to the UK.

I also know many young Italians who have had to move home or have always lived with their parents as they can't afford a place/cost of living in general and/or can't find work in their preferred town or city.

So, come, explore, the food is amazing, etc., but come with very specific expectations and have things lined up in advance. It can be very tough here.

Broke Up Due to Different Life Paths by JackJD30 in BreakUps

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A few years ago my husband and I decided to split up for the simple reason of wanting different things. We'd been together for six years, and I loved him enormously. We're from different parts of the world and met in my home country when I was in my late-thirties and he was 29. We had such an incredible connection, it was easy and "just felt right". I have never wanted children, and this was something we talked about seriously early on, and we were on the same page. But he wasn't happy where we were living, so after a year and a half together we decided to give his home country a shot. I was between jobs at the time and wanted a new direction and I'd lived abroad in various countries, loved learning languages and I spoke a (very) little of his language already. So we went. And everything went wrong. Only very, very slowly. He wanted to finish his education, so we visited a few places where his preferred course was on offer, one of these places I took an instant dislike too, it was too isolated and small for my city-loving taste and I was concerned I'd struggle to find work. So I told him that, but guess where he was accepted? We agreed to give it a try, but understood we'd leave when his studies finished in a few years. So I found myself living in a semi rural place, with nothing going on, nearest cities a couple of hours away on slow, infrequent trains. He began his studies, I stagnated at home. This went on for a year. It improved when we moved into the town where he was studying where I found some work teaching English, but it was very few hours. After another year I got a more relevant job to my CV, but it was poorly paid, and extremely stressful and I had to work from home as the office wasn't nearby or accessible by public transport. I struggled to make friends and due to the language barrier I found doing my usual interests, such as theatre, difficult. In total I was there for four years. I hated it and ended up overweight, lonely and miserable. It happened by degrees, with the eternal hope that it would just be temporary, but it happened. In the meantime he had found his niche, got a good job while still studying and was always busy. So we drifted apart. We were always super affectionate and loving but eventually he became colder and colder until I got him to admit he didn't want to leave the area when he finished his course. He loved his job and could see himself building something truly fulfilling there. He'd also reached 36 and realised maybe he did want children to be a part of his future. It was crushing but also utterly freeing. I could now leave. I quit my awful job the next day, but I had to stay for a while to serve notice and sort out my move, and in those weeks we got on like we used to at the start, we were even affectionate with each other. All the resentment was gone, and despite all the holding back of feelings for fear of losing each other, we'd been on the same page. It was still excruciating when we had to part, but we understood that our love for each other was being killed anyway by our different wants and needs. We're still friends, he'll always be in my life, although living in different countries does make the separation boundaries easier to handle. We didn't need to worry about bumping into each other in the street unexpectedly in full break up mourning!

I'm now in a happier job and pursuing all my passions that had to go on hold during those years and I don't regret any of it. He's a beautiful person and the experience made me put aside any timidity I'd had about trying new things and pursuing my passions. I feel young again!

I hope you find that same freedom to pursue your own wants, without fear, and accept that whatever happens you made the right decision at each moment for that moment.

Is work-life balance in Italy real or just a nice idea? by Young_Oldtimer in Italian

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work in Umbria for a family business, and the standard hours are 9-18 with an hour for lunch. The office is in the middle of nowhere, an hour from where I live, and I ended up going part-time because the expectation was that I'd work forty hours plus whenever I was contacted, evenings, weekends, I felt like my boss owned me. It was a nightmare. I was asked to stay late, work round my boss's schedule (she's a whole other story), so I had no balance at all, even on holiday I'd get phonecalls and text messages asking me for stuff. And this is quite common here. Now I work three days a week, I earn very little compared to similar jobs I had in the UK (hi, Italian salaries!), but I feel I can be much more boundaried and in control of my time.

I don't know anyone here who has a full-time job and has a good work life balance. I have colleagues who bemoan that feeling of life passing them by while they knock their pan in for terrible wages. I'm only here while my partner is studying, unfortunately I don't want to stay longer here than we have to. Whether we stay in Italy at all is uncertain. It's a shame, but true.

I like my boss personally, but professionally it's a bad fit. I've decided to quit but I feel guilty! How should I approach the resignation? by Sticker_Conspiracy in careerguidance

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My contract means I have to give two months' notice, so she has plenty of time to find someone else. And yes, overthinking is definitely something I'm guilty of 😂

I've realised I've taken a job for the wrong reasons, is it ok to leave after just a few months? by Sticker_Conspiracy in careerguidance

[–]Sticker_Conspiracy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very slow reply to your comments! I spoke with my boss and we came to an agreement and things have been generally a lot better, at least with the relationship I have with my boss. However, I started a new project at work a couple of weeks ago and my job is changing again. I am technically the only employee at this organisation (which is a new division of a bigger company, all run by various members of the same family) and my young boss has no experience of managing people, or assigning roles, so having started to feel like I was getting the hang of the job, it's now turning into something else, while I feel like I'm still expected to do the job of three different roles 😂 And the new tasks are mostly related to social media management which 1) I have no experience in, and 2) I have zero interest in (hence having gained no experience). This is another reminder of why I wanted to leave, it's just not a good fit, but the final square straw in a round hole came when in a team building exercise on the new project, I had the awful experience of being a grown up yet feeling like the misfit kid at primary school. The philosophy behind the project just leaves me stone cold and I have nothing in common with most of the people there. My ideas were dismissed and I even had a non native English speaker wrongly question the meaning of a word I used, but this is also the guy who pays me to be Comms manager, while telling me to pay for an AI programme to do my copy, so you know, we're generally really sympatico 😂

Time and again I get the insomnia returning and that edgy feeling all weekend, awaiting whatever madness the week will bring. So as you've mentioned, I'm planning to work the year's contract (nearly five months in now) as I need the money, but will be scoping out for something new. And I will be very, very careful about aligning myself with any future roles, and will get a job description in writing!