Palermo verus Firenze

Dawn Image
09/21/2009 - 10:31

I have been a member for a while and have always found this forum to be informative.  My husband and I decided about 4 years ago to relocate permanently to Italy, we had a plan and all was going really well up to putting our house on the market when the credit crisis took hold and the property market just stalled.  Things are now improving and we are going to go back on the market and hopefully sell this time and finally be able to retire to Italy.  We are not old and although we will not be dependable on a salary if we can pick up bits of work here and there I think it would do us both good in fitting it and making friends.  We have travelled all over Italy and have finally made up our mind where we would like to buy Firenze or Palermo, I know two completely different cities but we love both of them, we really want to be in a city (not even on the outskirts) for many reasons. If anyone has any in-depth knowledge about these cities and your thoughts on making them our home I would appreciate all comments. Many thanksDawn.  

Comment

 Chalk and cheese!   I have to say that visiting Palermo is one thing, living there will be quite another - the lack of water, the bureaucracy and endless queues in the ASL, the anagrafe etc - if you want an easy life go to Florence.  But then Palermo is Palermo a vibrant grubby ity that packs more into 24 hours than Florence could do in a month.  ANd theres not many tourists, which drive you mad in Florence.   The weathers better in Palermo, it doesnt sit in a basin nad get stifling hot in summer, and it doesnt rain for days on end in winter, but its not an easy city to live in.  Its much much cheaper than Florence - half the price to live, though property now in palermo is by no menas cheap - youll be paying up to 4000 psm in the centro storico.    If I had to choose itd be Palermo,  for teh sea and the food and the Sicilian way of life.  But Siracusa is less of a culture shock than Palermo, and if I didnt live ronund here Id be in naples - so its horses for courses.

i agree with Ram. In fact,if only for the reason that you pose the question would induce me to suggest that you should try and live for six months in both,maybe renting as ram says they couldn't be farther apart in terms of  their spirit,culture,food,people,climate,conditions etc it would be like saying either Liverpool or Canterbury.....

Thanks to you both for your useful comments, I must admit Palermo is winning with me at the moment.  We will be in Firenze in a few weeks and we are planning to go to Palermo late Feb early March (Roma first for the rugby) and will continue to spend time in both cities.We will not be dependant on having to work but I am still quite young  so a little bit of work here and there would be good this may be a lot easier in Firenze as from my understanding work is hard to come by in Palermo, I also enjoy a lot of sport again I am not sure how easy this would be in Palermo so a lot of fact finding trips in the months ahead .   

I certainly did the same double-take on your question as ram and Sebastiano! What might surprise you though....is that drivng my own car I'd take Palermo every time over Firenze.Part of it is pace of life, it's  impossible to be in a hurry in Palermo: but at the same time you have to be assertive - there is no quarter given to a mumsie driver in Palermo, you just end up as a stationary chicane. In Florence though, you are expected to know the rules, and the scooteristas are deadly and all in a hurry. Florence is aslo dreadfully full of ill dresed tourists all year, and not big enough to get away from them. Have you not considered Rome or Naples? Even out of town Rome is pretty good - best of both worlds really - a nice place on one of the hills, or in the EUR, quiet, great public transport, coast not far away, knocks spots off foggy Florence.... 

We have travelled all over Italy in the last 4 years and I love it all but, only two cities have captivated me to want to make them our home, Palermo and Firenze and I am a woman and you know what we are like once we want something nothing else will do. Dawn.  

Not been to Palermo but had a couple of visits to Florence and whilst its a nice city I couldn't live there!  The tourists alone would drive me mad.  And I was one!  The 2nd year we viited We stayed just outside the city the other side of the hills to the south in a very nice quiet village but there was a cheap regular bus service every 20-30 minutes.  They were fun - I'm sure the bus drivers in Italy have to be WRC-experienced racing drivers!   Dropped you at Piazza Francesco Ferrucci by the Arno and we were able to get a bus near Ponte Vecchio home.  Might be worth considering?