Dear Nomads , many of us have noticed that Italy isn't a very popular choice for the DN community , and we'd like to understand why. WOULD YOU CONSIDER ITALY AS COUNTRY WHERE TO SPEND SOME TIME AS DIGITAL NOMAD?IMPORTANT: motivate your answer in the comments under the survey!!

Question

Dear Nomads , many of us have noticed that Italy isn't a very popular choice for the DN community , and we'd like to understand why.  WOULD YOU CONSIDER ITALY AS COUNTRY WHERE TO SPEND SOME TIME AS DIGITAL NOMAD?IMPORTANT: motivate your answer in the comments under the survey!!

Accepted Answer

Here's why:90% of digital nomads are broke men looking for cheap destinations with easy pussy.That ain't Italy.

Answer

I was born and raised in Italy (half of my family is Belgian though) and left as soon as I turned 18 basically. It's a fantastic country, yes, the food, the sun, the landscape. Italy is amazing, but I couldn't stand the people, the mentality, the manners, the incredible negativity!! also, if you have traveled and speak many languages, have different experiences in life and interests, you'll feel like a monster as Italians are extremely narrow-minded, only speak Italian, and they usually don't like whatever is different from their own corner (very racist indeed, but also very judgy and shallow). I don't mean it in a bad way, but I see my friends from childhood, and I see how traveling Italians bring along this terrible mentality. I do love my friends and family, but I can't stay more than a week, the amount of negative shallow judgements, victim behaviours, racist comments and lack of goals in the culture, it's really draining for me. (Of course I'm not say every single person is the same). I always struggled to fit and feel accepted, since a little kid. I'm happy to go traveling there, but I wouldn't stay too long! And as many already said, yes life is more expensive than other EU countries (I'm in Spain now and it's way cheaper living in the city, than being in the countriside in the northern Italy). Italy is gorgeous but lacks in differentiation, multiculturalism, Growth mindset and opportunities.

Answer

I am in Venice right now (Airbnb for 2 months) and - My internet is perfect. - The prices are very reasonable (but that's probably due to covid). - The people are amazing! They recognise their new neighbour and say hello (or ciao). - The local food is amazing... a lot of local fish dishes from the Adriatic Sea. Also stuff like sushi, Arabic, Greek, burgers & kebab.  - Almost everywhere I am able to pay with a card here.. apart from the local ice-cream stand.- Most people speak English here...but I have been to places in Italy that are not touristy at all and there English was a challenge. But when you are able to speak Spanish, you can get a long way anyway. And google translate is your saviour. For all places in Italy, Venice must be one of the most touristy ones and still I feel like a local. Whenever the crowds come back, I'd come here again, maybe leave the city centre and pick one of the less busy islands around.  One of my other Italian favorites would be Sardinia.

Answer

Too expensive for what it offers. Like most of the western world, it's a nice place to visit and a terrible place to live.

Answer

Italy is really beautiful, but fairly 'chauvenistic' - it suffers from some of the same problems as France. Most people don't speak English very well, are overly self-centered (italy/their region/their city = the best) or are a bit negative in general. Most Italians I've met outside of Italy weren't .....so nice. It's like you guys got the worst of the north of europe (arrogance) and the worst of the south of europe (drama). Furthermore it's not very cheap, I am gluten and cheese intolerant so at least one huge reason to go to italy (amazing food) is not there for me haha. The landscape is AMAZING, stunning, beautiful..the architecture, the history...beyond words. I know there is a purer, more classical italy behind all the chaos, drama and arrogance/nationalism and you can find it in for example Sicily or Sardinia or other less densely populated regions, but internet will be slow, and living is a lot more basic (compared to smaller villages and remote place s in say, Spain). Also I think Italy suffers from a bit of a "it's meat nor fish" problem - It's wedged between Spain, Greece, Malta and Croatia, all of whom offer most of what Italy has to offer but usually cheaper, less hectic, friendlier people and easier access. So there is a lot of competition and Italy doesn't score the best on any one thing (although I'd argue that for architecture and history it's probably on par or better than Greece). And it ends up being "average" in the end because of that.

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