Beautiful Italian town named ‘best’ place for British expats to live

For those wishing to move abroad after retirement, the best place to live in 2024 has been revealed.

The small town in northeastern Italy has been described as the perfect place for those who cannot decide between living near the ocean or the mountains; it is a stone’s throw away from both. 

It also offers a truly authentic taste of northern Italian life, with friendly people, comforting cuisine and breathtaking nature and architecture.

“Italy in my opinion also provides a lot better of a luxury lifestyle than Portugal,” said Youtuber Dramatically Expatic. “If you’re used to really high-level service, Italy has that.”

Udine was voted the best place to move in 2024, according to the Italian news outlet, El Sole 24 Ore. Bologna earned second place, with Trento in third. 

In 2023, it was rated first for quality of life out of 107 provinces. This was a rise of 11 places from the previous year. 

“Udine is an excellent location to taste these products and to start a visit to this less travelled part of Italy,” according to Expiter, a data tool comparing different life factors across Italy. 

The region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, is known best for its wines, prosciutto di San Daniele and Montasio cheese. 

Udine also earned the top spot for women specifically, particularly regarding violence, employment, female administrators and STEM. It won fourth place in the justice and security category for the limited frequency of fires, computer crimes and car thefts and held the record for gyms and physical well-being centres.

Expiter described Udine’s healthcare system and English-speakers as “great”, the transport system and recreation as “excellent” and housing costs “affordable”. It is also home to beautiful gardens, green piazzas and parks. 

Dramatically Expatic continued: “It’s a middle-sized city [that’s] very walkable, has really beautiful architecture, and it is a really good location if you’re interested in road-tripping across Europe.”

Interestingly, the same study saw what El Sole 24 Ore described as “the fatigue of big cities”, almost incapable of restarting after the pressure generated by emergencies and economic shocks in recent years. Rome lost four spaces, achieving 35th, while Genoa – the birthplace of Christopher Columbus – earned only 47th, a 20-place drop from 2022. 

It appears, therefore, that smaller cities such as Udine are the best place for British expats to move to. It is also very easy for foreigners to acquire a residency permit.

Additionally, with their 100,000 Euro per year lump sum tax program, you can “enjoy this beautiful country that is usually an extremely high tax county”, the Youtuber added.

Udine, the capital of the Regional decentralisation entity of Udine, has a population of about 97,000 as of 2021, with about 85 percent of Italian descent. But it also has the second highest percentage of foreign residents – a percentage of 14.7 percent – higher than the regional average.

Train services operate to Venice, Rome, Verona and Milan, as well as internationally to Vienna and Munich, making it the perfect location for slow-paced European travel.