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Alessandro Palombo

Feb 8

I've analyzed every affordable, strategically located coastal town in Italy for a €200-300K budget.

Taxes, airports, cost of living, remote work infrastructure. I've called a couple of friends to confirm the data.

10 towns. The definitive guide for FIRE and Digital Nomads in Italy.

Thread 🧵

First, why Italy in 2026?

Three reasons:

• 7% flat tax for 10 years on ALL foreign income for retirees in small towns (pensions, dividends, capital gains), 50% tax exemption for remote workers

• Property at half the price of Portugal and Croatia

• Ryanair is opening bases and routes across the South at record pace

Italy is becoming THE game.

The real tax advantage for FIRE, explained simply:

Italy: 7% flat tax for 10 yrs (town under 20K people, southern region)

Greece: 7% for 15 yrs, but pricier property

Spain: no special retiree regime (standard progressive tax rates apply)

Portugal: NHR closed. Now progressive taxation up to 48% for pensioners.

Croatia: no special retiree regime

On €100K/yr of foreign income, Italy = €7,000 total tax. That's it.

Read 22 tweets

Alessandro Palombo

@thealepalombo

Feb 6

This is Puglia, Italy.

7% flat tax for retirees (small towns only). 50% income exemption for workers. Flat-tax for HNW.

Magical region. Mediterranean coast. Authentic culture.

But most foreigners choose the wrong town and overpay by 30-40%.

I've lived across 5 continents and visited every corner of Puglia.

Here are the 7 best places - and the traps to avoid 🧵

First, LECCE - "The Florence of the South"

The obvious choice (that's actually right).

Lecce is where serious expats land when they've done their homework.

It's a proper city (95k people) with everything functional - hospitals,
universities, year-round economy not dependent on tourists.

The baroque center is legitimately stunning, not Disney-fied.

Here's what nobody tells you about Lecce...

It's become the digital nomad/remote worker hub of southern Italy.

Fast internet, coworking spaces, actually decent coffee culture.

The university (35k students) keeps it young and dynamic.

Real Italian life happens here because locals actually live and work downtown, not just serve Aperol Spritz to foreigners.

I've a personal story to share.

Read 21 tweets

Alessandro Palombo

@thealepalombo

Dec 16, 2025

This is Lugano:

- 0% capital gains tax
- 1 hour from Milan
- Swiss lifestyle with palm trees

This combination shouldn't exist. But it does.

Here’s why Switzerland's best-kept secret should be on your radar:

Lugano is a paradox. And most miss it completely.

It sits in Ticino, Switzerland's Italian-speaking canton.

Officially it’s Switzerland – but it doesn't feel like Switzerland. Mediterranean climate, palm trees by the lake, Italian spoken everywhere. Swiss quality underneath, but none of the coldness.

And here's what's interesting…

Swiss cantons are basically independent states with their own constitutions.

Ticino happens to be the one that speaks Italian and feels Mediterranean.

Milan is just an hour away by train. Lake Como is right next door.

You get access to Italian energy when you want it, and Swiss calm when you don't.

That setup creates something very unique.

Read 18 tweets

Alessandro Palombo

@thealepalombo

Dec 5, 2025

Retiring in Italy with the 7% flat tax.

Here’s the full map: I had to build it manually because it simply didn’t exist anywhere online.

Green regions: automatically eligible. Any village under 20k residents qualifies (Abruzzo included). Plenty of great options.

Yellow regions (Lazio, Umbria, Marche): only specific villages in the official earthquake-area lists qualify. Very niche, almost unknown, harder to navigate, but absolutely possible.

For context: my grandfather’s village in Lazio hosted a Canadian family 50 years ago. They came every summer, built a villa, loved it, and everyone knew them. It was the only modern house in the whole valley. Nobody understood why they chose that place, but when you’re 15 minutes from a real town, have your own home, and want a quiet, culturally rich, food-driven lifestyle… it makes perfect sense. In retrospect, they were basically early adopters.

With that in mind, here’s a shortlist of the 5 most beautiful, American-friendly, high-amenity 7% towns in the yellow regions, close to real cities, fully on the eligible lists, and offering a charming, scenic, safe, year-round lifestyle.

*Important: this list ISN'T for everyone. In most cases, the lifestyle means owning a house there and spending plenty of time in the nearby larger city. Many of these villages are so small and niche that even most Italians haven’t heard of them.

The green regions include well-known, warmer, tourist destinations like Taormina.

1. Sarnano (Marche)
•Spa town + ski slopes nearby
•45 min to Macerata
•Excellent digital infrastructure
•Extremely charming and well kept

2. Norcia (Umbria)

•45–50 min to Spoleto; 1h15 to Perugia
•Gourmet capital (truffles, salumi, Michelin culture)
•Completely rebuilt after 2016 → spotless, safe
•Outdoors heaven (Sibillini mountains)

Feels like: Jackson Hole meets Tuscany. Personally top-tier for culture + food.

Read 7 tweets

Alessandro Palombo

@thealepalombo

Dec 1, 2025

I'm Italian.

Everyone asks me about moving to Italy. But Italy isn't for everyone.

I've isolated 4 specific profiles. For these, it might be the best decision you ever make.

Here's who should actually consider it (and who shouldn't):

First, let me be clear.

I left Italy a decade ago when it was considered a sinking ship. Brain drain, bureaucracy, stagnation.

But over the years, something has quietly shifted.

Italy is back. And it has built one of Europe's top arbitrage + lifestyle opportunities.

But not everyone…

The mistake most people make is thinking Italy is just "lifestyle."

It can be. But it's also strategic and requires diligence.

Italy has four distinct pathways – each designed for a different profile.

Most people might not realize they might/might not be an ideal fit.

Let me break down who actually benefits:

Read 18 tweets

Alessandro Palombo

@thealepalombo

Oct 16, 2025

Italy is back.

For years, I dismissed my own country as a sinking ship.

But I’ve discovered recently that Southern Italy is one of the best arbitrage opportunities in Europe.

And arguably in the world.

Here's everything you need to know to take advantage of this opportunity:

First, let me be open.

As an Italian, you have no idea how happy it makes me to write...

Italy is back.

Rome is finally cleaning up. Milan is the new London. Over 100,000+ repatriates moved back with tax incentives (mainly Milan). 4,000+ applied for the €200K/year flat tax in the first half of 2024 alone.

But the real story is what's happening in the South that nobody's paying attention to…

Before we get there, let me break down what I mean by "Italy is back."

Italy has three tax regimes that are highly competitive:

(and most including myself till recently don’t know about these)

Read 17 tweets

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