I have a house in Calatabiano CT. I go regularly and work from there with the intention of moving permanently in 4 years time. I am looking forward to establishing contact withother community members both in Sicily and other parts of Italy. My particular interests are in 'Living' issues.

I am trying to buy home insurance for a property I just purchased in Tuscany.

The only insurance companies I can find that will insure properties in Italy are UK based.

Its come to my attention that these UK based companies will only insure UK Citizens.

Could some of you folks give us some leads on company's that will insure US Citizens?

Thanks in advance.

We will be closing on our property in Tuscany in November 2010. Can someone help answer some questions that we have? We are planning to apply for a resident permit and at this time I believe we have a good understanding of all the procedures & time it take for that process.

The question in hand is if after our 18 month period, we are denied residency due to time scheduling conflicts, based on the municipality, we could be subject to tax penalties.

After 10 years in Italy, the last 7 of which have been in Le Marche (Macerata province) for family reasons we now have to return to UK for at least a year. As this has all happened rather suddenly we are unable to take our dog with us as we cannot meet the DEFRA requirements re rabies vaccinations/blood tests etc. We are therefore urgently looking for a new home for him - a friend had said she would take him, but sadly her offer was vetoed by her in-laws (in whose house she lives) so having thought it was all sorted we are now back to square one.

We are thinking of selling some shares in Britain and our understanding is that, as residents in Italy, we don't pay UK CGT but the Italian equivalent for which there is no tax free limit other than the normal personal allowance and which is charged at 12.5%.

Does that sound right?

Thanks

I recently used "our favorite airline" from Luton to Trapani & Stansted to Roma Ciampino.

On the outbound at both Luton & Stansted (both earliest flights) Ryanair staff were weighing & asking customers to check their bags in the sizing gauge.

At Luton they were doing it at the gate & at Stansted at the entrance to group of 6 or 8 gates that are at the end of the long walk from the departure shops.

At Trapani they were also weighing at the gate. No sign of anything at Ciampino.

Hi All, I am writing to introduce myself. I am setting up a company for Expats with a planned launch date of September. We will be covering the North of Italy from Trieste to Lake Garda /Como, with bases in Trieste, Como and Padova providing everything to do with property including management, maintenance, rental, search, renovation projects, price negotiation.

The last time I sold a car in the UK to a private individual who was unknown to me, I insisted on being paid with a bankers draft instead of a personal cheque. You cannot be too careful when reasonable amounts of money are involved.

When we bought our Italian home we paid the vendor, Notaio and agency all by bankers draft (assegno circolare) from our Italian Bank. We considered it business-like and, at least, good manners.