Location guides

The food alone would be enough reason to move to Italy. Add in the art, the climate, the architecture, and the pace of life in the right parts of the country, and you have a case that is genuinely difficult to argue with.

Italy covers more ground than most people expect. The Alps run across the entire northern border, with some of the best skiing in Europe in the Dolomites, Valle d'Aosta and Trentino. Moving south, the Po Valley gives way to the Apennine spine that runs the full length of the peninsula. The coastline is vast, from the Ligurian Riviera and Cinque Terre in the northwest to the Adriatic in the east and the Tyrrhenian coast in the west, all the way down to Sicily and Sardinia. Italy has more geographical variety packed into one country than almost anywhere else in Europe.

For art and culture, Italy occupies a category of its own. It has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world. Rome alone contains enough history for several lifetimes - the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican, the Borghese Gallery - and that is before you reach Florence, Venice, Siena, Ravenna, Lecce, or any of the dozens of smaller cities that would be the cultural centrepiece of most other countries. Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance, and that inheritance is visible everywhere.

Italian food is not a single cuisine but a collection of fiercely regional traditions, each distinct and each taken seriously. The pasta in Bologna is different from the pasta in Naples, which is different again from what you will find in Rome. The wine culture is extraordinary - Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone, Chianti Classico, Prosecco, Nero d'Avola - and drinking well in Italy costs remarkably little compared to what the same bottles fetch elsewhere. Local markets throughout the country are excellent, and form the backbone of how most Italians actually shop and eat.

On the practical side, Italy has a universal public healthcare system, the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, available to all legal residents and ranked among the best in Europe. The high-speed rail network has improved considerably in the last decade, with Frecciarossa trains connecting Rome, Milan, Florence, Bologna, Naples and Venice at speeds that make flying unnecessary for most domestic journeys. With major international airports in Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples, Palermo and many other cities, it is straightforward for visitors from home to come and see you. The cost of living varies considerably by region - the north is more expensive, but much of the south, Sicily and the interior offer a quality of life at a price that is genuinely hard to find anywhere else in western Europe.