A guide to the digital nomad in Italy: the visa for digital nomads (Digital Nomad Visa), the best cities for remote work, coworking spaces, internet connectivity, the cost of living, taxes. Updated 2025 information.
Italy formally introduced the Digital Nomad Visa in 2022, more than two years behind Portugal, Estonia, and Croatia, which had already attracted thousands of remote workers. In 2025-2026, the system is operational but with Italian bureaucracy included. This guide tells you how it really works, not how it should work on paper.
Decree-Law 152/2021 (converted into Law 233/2021) introduced the specific visa for digital nomads and remote workers. Requirements: be a non-EU citizen; work remotely for companies or clients outside Italy; demonstrate an annual income of at least €28,000 net (about €2,333/month), this is the most selective requirement; have valid health insurance in Italy; demonstrate accommodation in Italy for the duration of the visa; not have been convicted of disqualifying crimes. The visa has a duration of 1 year, renewable. You apply at the Italian Consulate of your country of residence, it isn't possible to apply for it from inside Italy.
Bologna is the Italian city most recommended by the digital nomads who've experienced it: a university (130,000 students, the oldest in the Western world, founded in 1088), fiber optic extended even in the peripheral areas, rents 40% lower than Milan, excellent cuisine, a compact and arcaded historic center (38 km of covered porticoes, you walk sheltered from the rain across the whole city), a central position between North and South. Bologna airport is connected to 60 European destinations, for those who travel frequently it's a significant advantage.
Milan is the choice for digital nomads with a high budget and a need for networking with the world of international business, fashion, or design. Prices: a studio rental in a semi-central area €900-1,400/month. Coworking: Copernico (various locations, www.copernico.eu), Talent Garden (www.talentgarden.com, coworking with a tech/startup focus), Gli Spazi (the Isola area). The connectivity is the best in Italy. The disadvantage: it's the most impersonal Italian city and the least "Italian" in its rhythms of life.
Palermo is the choice for those with a contained budget who want an authentic Italian experience, the largest Sicilian city is also the one with the lowest cost of living of the big Italian cities. A studio rental in the historic center: €400-700/month. Palermo's historic problem for digital nomads was the internet connectivity, significantly improved between 2022 and 2024 with the extension of fiber. The Palermo coworkings: Fablab Palermo, Impact Hub Palermo.
Italy has historically had one of the worst internet infrastructures in Western Europe due to the low penetration of fiber optic and the dependence on copper (ADSL). The situation improved significantly between 2020 and 2025: the National Plan for Ultra-Broadband brought fiber to many cities (not yet to the whole peninsula). In the big cities (Milan, Rome, Bologna, Turin, Florence): FTTH fiber available with speeds up to 1 Gbps. In the rural areas and the villages: often still ADSL or 4G mobile as the only option. 5G exists in the big cities but isn't yet pervasive. Coworking spaces and category hotels are generally safe for connectivity, private apartments require verification before booking.
If you're in Italy for less than 183 days a year: in theory no (you don't become an Italian tax resident). If you're in Italy for more than 183 days in a calendar year: you automatically become an Italian tax resident and must declare your worldwide income in Italy (with any credits for taxes already paid abroad). The Digital Nomad Visa regime doesn't automatically create tax residency, but staying over 183 days does. For those who want to reside in Italy longer: there's the "impatriati" regime (a tax break for those who transfer their residence to Italy after living abroad at least 2 years, a 70-90% reduction of the taxable base on work income for 5 years, renewable). A tax consultant is mandatory before deciding.
Yes, growing. The most active: the Nomad List Italia community (a forum at nomadlist.com/italy); the Facebook group "Digital Nomads Italy" (15,000+ members); Impact Hub (a network of coworking with an active community in Milan, Rome, Palermo, Naples). Bari launched the "Restart Bari" program in 2022, one of the first Italian initiatives to attract digital nomads with utility incentives. The "Lavora dove vuoi" (Work wherever you want) program of some southern municipalities offers contributions for those who relocate, check the up-to-date conditions on the websites of the individual municipalities.
Italy has coworking spaces in locations that no other European country can match: Talent Garden Roma Ostiense (Via Ohm 16, Rome), coworking in a former industrial factory of the 1900s in the emerging Ostiense district, with a terrace; Copernico Milano Centrale (Via Plinio 35, Milan), a design coworking in a historic palazzo in the center; Varaschin Coworking (Treviso), a space in an 18th-century Venetian villa with a garden; Piano C (Garbatella, Rome), coworking in the working-class Roman district of the 1920s, an authentic atmosphere. For those who want to work in extraordinary landscapes: Borgo Egnazia Cowork (Fasano, BR, Puglia), coworking in the luxury masseria that hosted Obama and Justin Timberlake; The Social Hub Florence (the former Hotel Guido Moro), coworking with a view of Florence. The price of the Italian coworkings: €15-30/day (a hot desk), €200-500/month (a fixed desk).
Italy has a rail network that connects all the main cities, the train is almost always the best choice between the big cities. The High-Speed trains (Frecciarossa, Italo) connect Rome-Milan in 3h, Rome-Florence in 1h30, Rome-Naples in 1h10, often faster than the plane when you consider the airport time. The regional trains (slower, less comfortable but very cheap, €5-15) cover the secondary routes. Renting a car is useful for: the coasts without a railway (the Amalfi Coast, the Cilento, Tyrrhenian Calabria), the agriturismo in the countryside, the Dolomites outside the main centers, the inland villages the train doesn't reach. The apps: Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.com) and Italo (www.italotreno.it), book online for the best prices.
Tipping in Italy isn't mandatory and there's no Anglo-Saxon social pressure. Restaurant: the coperto (€1-3/person) is already included in the bill, if the service was excellent, rounding up the bill or leaving €2-5 is appreciated. Taxi: rounding up to the next whole figure (from €12.40 to €13) is the norm. Hotel: €2-3 a day for the cleaning staff (left in the room in the morning) is appreciated. Coffee bar: no tip expected, possibly 10-20 cents left on the counter. Never leave the tip with the card, in Italy the tip always goes in cash to be sure it goes to the staff and not to the owner's till.
Quality Italian products at the right price are found outside the tourist areas. The rule: the farther you are from a famous monument, the more real the prices are. For food: the Italian supermarkets (Esselunga, Coop, Conad) sell DOP prosciutto, pecorino, artisanal pasta, DOP extra-virgin olive oil at normal prices, the shops near the Pantheon or the Duomo sell them at 3x the price. For fashion: the Italian factory outlets (Fidenza Village in Emilia, The Mall near Florence for Gucci, Prada, Ferragamo at outlet prices) offer the big brands at 30-70% off. For leather: Florence has quality leather artisans outside the center (the Oltrarno, via dello Studio), prices 40-50% lower than the tourist boutiques of Via de' Tornabuoni.
Italy is the only country in the world that was for 1,500 years the cultural, religious, artistic, and political center of the European continent. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire for centuries; then Rome was the seat of the Pope, the spiritual center of 1.3 billion Catholics in the world; Italian was the language of European diplomacy from the 14th to the 17th century; the Italian Renaissance (Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan) redefined the art, architecture, literature, and science of the entire Western civilization. This historical weight is physically present in Italy, not in the textbooks but in the walls, the floors, the museums, the churches, the streets. Walking through Rome is walking on 28 centuries of layered history. This historical density is what no other European destination can replicate, not France, not Spain, not Greece. Each of these countries has its own greatness, but the concentration and continuity of the Italian heritage has no parallel.
Yes, with one clarification. The most overcrowded destinations (Venice, the Cinque Terre, Positano, the Colosseum in the central hours of summer) have real overtourism problems that degrade the experience. But Italy has 300,000+ villages, 58 UNESCO sites, 20 regions with different cuisines, and the vast majority of this heritage isn't overcrowded. Those who arrive in Italy and go only to Venice-Rome-Florence in August see the worst version of Italy. Those who add Matera, Tropea, Alberobello, inland Sardinia, Molise, the Cosenza area of Calabria, see the best version. Italian overtourism is a problem of distribution, not of total saturation.
For a trip of 1-2 weeks: the basics (grazie, prego, buongiorno, quanto costa, dov'è) are enough, and they're repaid with human warmth proportional to the effort. For those who relocate or make repeated trips: Italian is one of the easiest languages for those who already speak a Romance language (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian), and one of the most beautiful in the world. Learning Italian profoundly changes the way you experience Italy: reading the menus in the original, understanding the historic signs, listening to the conversations in the bar, reading the local newspapers, it transforms the trip from an outside view into participation.