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Great article. Thanks for sharing and the laugh. So refreshing and it pain me to write it as an Italian…but true. All the best Chandi.
Ciao Laura, Thanks for your comment. Fun to hear from an Italian. When you say it’s refreshing is it because I am not romanticizing Italy?
To Cynthia Morgan who said that her 1500 euro heating bill for two months was correct: Did you read your actual meter? Many bills are estimated if you don’t phone in an actual meter reading by the date stated on your bill. This goes for both metano and GPL. They base the estimates on last year’s usage for the same time. Often, you could be getting either over-charged and not realize it, or under charged, and then you would have to pay a big “catch-up” bill at the end of the year.
Read you bills carefully, and always call in with your actual meter reading. With Metano, and perhaps other forms of heating, once your usage goes above a certain amount of cubic meters per year, the VAT on your bill goes from the normal 10% to 22%. This can happen without warning once you go over the limit. In January the limited amount starts over at 10%, but a lot of people don’t know this, so they get reamed in more ways than one from over-usage. Today’s hot water heaters (“caldaia”), for both hot water and heat are WAY more efficient than those of the past. Find out if the apartment you are interested in has a new efficient model like the ones made by Baxi, for example, before you agree to rent the place.
The good news is, water in Italy is among the cheapest in the EU, so if you have an efficient heating system, at least you can make up for it with lower water bills than you might have gotten elsewhere. Electricity is all on smart meters. Even thought these may present some health issues, especially if they are right in your house, they do provide accurate readings regarding usage, so you don’t have to call in and read your meter, like you do with gas, that is still on the older-styled meters in most places.
This is a great informative post which I’m sure will be helpful for many readers. Reading about the problems of others makes me realize how fortunate and blessed we were when we rented in Montecarlo, Tuscany, for 3 months a year from 2011-15. We were charged 40 euros a day, but that included a modern facility with cozy warmth in both air and water temperatures, all utilities, Internet and a large washing machine.
Paying 1200 euros a month sometimes seemed like a lot, but when I read about people who paid 750 euros a month just for gas, I feel lucky.
We were able to get a good price by staying in an agriturismo during their low season—February, March and April. We had a kitchen/living room, bedroom and bathroom. The shower was heavenly, with high volume and heat, perfect after riding home on our bikes on a cold February day.
I’m not sure an agriturismo could offer a contract that would satisfy visa requirements, but it may be an alternative to a traditional rental. We visited Italy the year before we rented and visited several agriturismi to check out their facilities and ask what special rates they could offer for long term stays.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment. That’s a new way to go about it— staying three months at an agriturismo.
Thank you so much for this post, Chandi. Makes for rather sober reading! If you find yourself in a situation as you described, can you break the contract and find something else when you’re actually present? I assume you’ll always have to notify the police if you move?
Hi Annette, It is the Ufficio Anagrafe (vital statistics office) that you notify if you move. I asked for a clause in my contract that said that the landlord or tenant can give 2 months’ warning about vacating. Just be sure to read your contract carefully and don’t be shy about asking for things in it to be added or changed.
Great article and funny too. Like you, we moved to the Tuscan countryside and we are in a converted cow shed. We use a pellet heater because we have only liquid propane gas service here which is very very expensive compared to methane here.
The pellet stove heats our living room and kitchen very well, (we use 1 bag every 2 days and our pellet stove does not run out of pellets in 3 hours – it might depend on how high you set it to and how your settings are for the pellet feeding) and we run it 4 hours in the am and 4 hours in the evening in between the kitchen wood stove is on for cooking and stays on till the pellet stove kicks in. We wake up to a very warm l.r. and kitchen but not the bedroom due to the fact that the ceiling in the l.r. and kitchen is very high and all the heat goes up and the bedroom is lower (the kitchen is 4 steps higher than l.r. and bedroom and bath 3 steps lower) and we are on piano terra and btw they did not build it with floor insulation so in the winter the terracotta tile floors are ice cold (but in the summer they keep the place cooler). So, speaking of ” piano terra”- I would like to say that it does not always imply dark and no light. I’ve lived in several and they were very bright, it depends how they are positioned and how many windows there are. Higher floor apartments could be dark too.
Also, I wanted to add that here in Italy, renters are responsible for the yearly maintenance and small repair if any of the “caldaia” which is something that Italians know but Americans migh not be aware of. One more thing I want to add is the fact that I hate the way the “water heaters” work here. It takes forever to heat the water, and once hot its ok, but if you are trying to save water and turn off the water while soaping/shampooing, the water gets ice cold again and it takes time to reheat. Honestly taking showers is like going to the “Centro Benessere” with the “Emotional Showers” but you don’t have to pay for the entrance. LOL!
Ciao Antoinette, what a pretty name you have!
Yes, a bag of pellets in my stove would last longer if it was on the lowest setting, but that place would get so darn cold that my fingers would be too numb to type, so it needed to be on a higher setting. The ceilings were very high and front sides of the place (I supposed where cows used to enter) had big glass french doors, with a horizontal piece of glass above them. So it was hard to heat for those reasons and also because the windows on the back walls were old and drafty.
If I wanted to be warm I had to run the stove during the day and up to midnight when I went to bed. That amount of hours would easily use up one bag, unfortunately.
Ha ha, yeah I’d sure rather do the emotional showers at the terme. For three months I was tense while showering and then in early February I stayed with nuns in Florence and had a warm bathroom and one of those “sit down showers” and I ended up sitting in it for a very long time, letting my body finally relax. It was the first relaxing shower I’d had in 3 months!
Thanks (for the name compliment). I totally relate. I have been here almost 8 years and I still curse and bitch when having to take a shower (sometimes I just skip it cause it’s way cold and it really takes forever to heat). Even taking a bath takes some know how….have to raise the “caldaia” temperature and turn on water to a medium slow flow cause if it is to the max flow it will not come out hot enough for a relaxing hot bath, which I actually take more often…having a small size tub helps with not using too much water and being short is a plus LOL!
Wow. Makes me grateful for my American lifestyle (although guilty feeling at times, too). The part about the cat “got” me. Poor boy!
Thanks for checking out the post Sylvia. He would have preferred that I remained in there in the cow shed because he had a large and lovely garden. Now that I am in the center of town he has no garden and he’s upset.
I can relate to the worry for him while you left for a day.
Thanks for the reality check and good advice. I dream of living in Italy someday but suspect living in a city will be easier, still never as easy as one hopes it will be.
What an adventure coming to terms with the less glamorous side of Italy. I enjoyed the humor brought into the situation and I see that many others can relate.
Living in Italy is not for the faint of heart! Our Roman apartment had sketchy electrical because it was registered as a second home for the owners (upstairs) so the kilowatts to the apartment were limited. I could not use the washing machine and iron at the same time. You could not make toast AND coffee in the Nespresso simultaneously. Sometimes the washer alone tripped the power. And to reset it we had to go to the basement.
We were almost always hot, though, as the radiators were stuck on full heat, so in winter we had to open windows periodically. Va bene. But in summer, Mamma Mia, without A/C I thought we’d die. The Romans will tell you they rarely use their A/C because “It’s not that bad.” We paid to have screens put on so we could have some air moving (senza zanzare) in the master bedroom at night and pointed a fan running on “high” directly at our sleeping selves (which the landlady thought would kiil us, Colpa d’aria, you know.) But then we suffered the motorini whizzing by until 1:00 am.
We miss many things about out Italian lifestyle, but I do wish we had boosted out rent budget a bit and had A/C and normal electrical!
Ciao Laurel, nice to “meet” you here. Thanks for sharing. I have had all those same experiences, some of them when I lived in Italy the time before this one, 14 years ago. Both times I’ve been on a budget, and as you say these experiences are common when on a budget.
Hoping.to move to Italy soon. Reading.all these problems has me worried! But at least we are aware of a few problems ..thanks for that! Didn’t realize the south would be so cold.Molise area ..We looking at Abruzzo, and hope to buy a small house. Will keep you posted . Thanks for all the advise!
You are welcome! Let me know how it goes!
Chandi –
This is a great article – thank you! I learned so much. Terrific and practical tips.
Cheers,
Francesca
I’m glad you found it helpful 🙂 I think you had told me you are planning to move to Italy in a few years?
Thank you for these informative tips! We just moved into an apartment in Lucca. We are still chilly because of tile floors, but we only have the heat set to 18.5 degrees. I’m anticipating a high bill, but will ask what bills were at this time last year. Very helpful advice, Chandi!
I’m glad you found it helpful. I too am living in Lucca. I’ll message you!
Hi there Chandi, love your website. I’m in Lucca at the moment looking to see if I can buy a small one or two bedroom apartment so I found this site very helpful. I’m looking for something furnished which one can lock up and leave for a few months before returning. Have another two weeks to go before I leave and I’m starting to think I haven’t gone about this the right way …… :-0
Hi Irene, for some reason I did not get notified about your comment and I just saw it and approved it. How did your apartment search go in Lucca?
Great Post!
When I moved into the hills in Tuscany, between Lucca and Firenze, two girlfriends told me to buy the … oh, I forget the Italian word, but it is logical, caldoletto or something.
It is an electric blanket that you put UNDER your sheet. This makes going to bed a dream, when paired with my down comforter.
I just turn it on for about 30 min to an hour before going to bed, then slip into deliciously warm sheets. Just remember to turn it off before you pass out. I find that it is not necessary since the heat stays inside, as at some point, my own body heat under the blanket stays warm.
This is a huge money saver as well, since I do not need heat on at night.
Then, of course, I also stop drinking fluids around 9 p.m. to keep from having to get up during the night. One works around the issues.
Hi! Thanks for sharing that advice! Yes, it’s a caldasogno. Need a “caldamani” to keep my hands from going numb and yet still allow me to type at the computer!