A glass of red wine at lunch, cheese with every meal, almost no fish, even on the coast.

This is what people in the world's longest-living region eat. Men there reach 100 at ten times the global rate. Not the Mediterranean diet we've all heard about.

I'm Italian. Longevity isn't my expertise, but the Blue Zone research caught me. I went deep on one question: which other Italian regions have the same patterns, and which qualify for the 7% retirement tax.

Below: Italy's full Blue Zone map. 1 certified, 6 candidates. 6 of 7 also 7% eligible. Plus a livable town for each.

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Quick reality check on what "Blue Zone" actually means before we get into it. It wasn't coined by a wellness app. Two demographers found it.

In 2004, Italian Gianni Pes and Belgian Michel Poulain were studying Sardinian centenarians. They drew blue circles on a map of villages where the centenarian rate was abnormally high. Dan Buettner picked up the brand and made the term global.

The criteria are stricter than most articles imply: rates around 50% above the national average, verified across church, civil, and military records, sustained for decades.

By that bar: Ogliastra is Italy's only certified Blue Zone. Cilento and the Sicilian Madonie have peer-reviewed studies showing similar patterns. Four other Italian regions are reported longevity hotspots but haven't been academically validated yet.

I'll mark each by evidence tier as we go. And by 7% eligibility at the end.

Let’s go.

I'm Italian, living in Portugal. From Lisbon, the Spanish border is two hours east.

I'm in Extremadura more than I'm in Porto.

Almost every foreigner who comes to Spain does the same trip:
Madrid, Barcelona, maybe Sevilla, Granada or Valencia.

The Spaniards I know don't spend their weekends there. They drive inland. To Castile, Extremadura, Aragón, Galicia. The interior that emptied out since 1950, what they call la "España Vaciada".

That's where the country still lives.

10 places I've stayed in. Some many times.

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How I filtered. Three things.

1. The history has to still be in use. Walls being walked on, monasteries with people inside, aqueducts still carrying water. Not behind glass.
2. The town has to function in February. Tapas bars open, schools open, doctors who'll see you that week. Not a place that empties on October 15.
3. It has to be reachable. From Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, or a regional airport. No five-hour drives.

Mallorca and Costa del Sol fail the second test. Both gorgeous, both off.

One important condition: go as a guest, not as a customer. These towns are still themselves because their visitors are mostly Spaniards. Don't be the one who turns them into Tulum.

2 in Extremadura, 1 in Andalucía, 1 in Castilla-La Mancha, 1 in Aragón, 1 in Castile-León, 1 in Navarra, 1 in País Vasco, 1 in Asturias, 1 in Galicia. Two nights each, minimum.

Sergio (Asturias) and Luis (Galicia) read this and corrected me on the north. Any mistakes left are mine.

Four also happen to be livable year-round: Cáceres, Cuenca, Hondarribia, Pontevedra. I'll mark them.

Let's go.

I'm Italian. Greece has been my second country for years.

The Greeks I know rarely spend their summers on the cruise islands. Not Santorini. Not Mykonos. Not Crete. Not Rhodes.

They take the ferry from Piraeus to islands the world hasn't found, or drive into a continental mainland that foreign lists never mention.

Greece is the most layered civilization in Europe.

10 underrated places where the kafeneio is real, the ouzo is local, and history isn't behind glass.

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How I filtered. Three rules:

- History that doesn't sit behind glass. Frescoes still being painted, monasteries still inhabited, Roman aqueducts still carrying water.
- Real Greek life. Kafeneios, schools, fishermen, not the postcard version that empties on October 15.
- Reachable from Athens, Thessaloniki, or a small regional airport without a four-hour ordeal.

Same logic of my Italian selection. Santorini and Mykonos fail rule two. Both are gorgeous. Both stay off the list.

Four in Peloponnese, three in Epirus, one in Macedonia, two in small Cyclades. Two nights minimum per place. Greece reveals itself slowly.

This is a travel list first. Three of these places (Nafplio, Ioannina, Kastoria) are also genuinely livable year-round, and I'll flag them when we get there.

Let's go.

I'm from Central Italy.

The Italians I know rarely spend their weekends in the hotspot cities.

Not Florence. Not Rome. Not Siena. They drive an hour east, or south, to towns no foreign list ever mentions.

Central Italy is the most concentrated cluster of beauty in the world.

9 underrated towns where the piazza is yours, the trattoria is real, and the Renaissance still feels personal.

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Four things I screen for, in order:

1. Cultural depth. A fresco, piazza, festival, ruin you can't see anywhere else.
2. Real life. Bakeries, schools, doctors. Not a film set rented out from May to October.
3. "Beauty without the crush". Visitable in August without August ruining it.
4. Accessibility. Reachable from Rome, Florence, Bologna, or Ancona without a four-hour ordeal.

San Gimignano is gorgeous. Left it off. Fails the last two. Same for Assisi on a weekend in May (I've been there).

Three Marche, two Umbria, two Tuscany, two Lazio. Two nights minimum per town. Anything less and you miss the tempo.

This is mostly a travel list, but a few of these towns are also genuinely livable year-round.

Let's begin.

Everyone praises the Swiss Alps.

Almost nobody talks about the Italian ones. Which is strange. The Dolomites are on the Italian side.

Same Mont Blanc and Matterhorn views. Better food. Better wine. Top-tier healthcare. Real working towns where Italians actually live year-round.
And property at a third of the Swiss price.

One of the most underpriced retirement lifestyles in Europe.

Here are 11 alpine towns to actually retire to.

6 in the Dolomites, 5 in the Western Alps.

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First, why that? It's mostly a marketing story.

To be clear: the Swiss reputation is fully earned. World-class healthcare, infrastructure, public services, the Alps as national identity. They built something extraordinary, and they deserve every bit of it. The point isn't that Switzerland is overrated.

The point is that Italian alpine country sits at almost the same level on most lifestyle dimensions, and almost nobody outside Italy talks about it.
Switzerland and Austria spent the 20th century branding themselves as alpine destinations. Italy never did. Italians treat their mountains as a place to live, not a product to sell.

The asymmetry is striking. The Italian Dolomites (UNESCO heritage, 18 mountain groups, hundreds of peaks above 3,000m) see a fraction of the international attention of a single Swiss canton. Mont Blanc has two sides: the French (Chamonix) marketed globally for a century, the Italian (Aosta Valley, Courmayeur) quieter, cheaper, equivalent views.

For a retiree, that asymmetry is a gift. World-class alpine without world-class prices.

How I built this list: I called friends from the North for ground-truth on what daily life actually looks like (bakery hours in February, which hospitals work, where the locals send their parents). Merged with my own years in the Italian Alps and Dolomites. Cross-checked against the data: Sole 24 Ore Qualità della Vita rankings, ISTAT population, regional healthcare scores, real estate platforms.

11 towns. The output of those findings.

I've been covering Italy's hidden cities for a while.

Recently a reader asked a question that made me think harder: where in Italy can you actually retire by the sea?

Not Capri. Not Portofino. The real version of that life.

Then Italy raised the eligibility cap for the 7% flat tax reform from 20,000 to 30,000 residents. Roughly 70 new towns just qualified. Ostuni is the headline. Roseto degli Abruzzi is the surprise.

The question became more urgent.

Here are 11 real coastal towns where Italians themselves retire.

6 qualify for the 7% flat tax. 5 don't, but earn their place anyway.

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Italy's 7% flat tax on foreign income, for 10 years, is the best retirement deal in Europe right now.

Eligibility: a foreign pension (state, occupational, private annuity, US Social Security) plus a Southern town under the population cap. Until April that cap was 20,000. The reform raised it to 30,000.

Six towns below qualify under the new cap. Two of those – Ostuni and Roseto degli Abruzzi – are newly eligible since April. Five don't qualify, but I'd recommend them to a parent or close friend who wanted to retire by the sea in Italy without the tax angle.

For each: property prices, nearest airport, hospital access, population, who it's for, and the honest downsides.

11 cities. Data on every single one. Starting with the 7%-eligible:

My post on Japan's 9 million abandoned houses blew up last week.

Right after, my Japanese friend called me.

"Now write about hidden locations where people are moving in Japan, like you did for Italy and France."

He pulled in his family and contacts across Kyushu, Kanto, and Okinawa. I ran the data: foreign resident growth, rental yields, Shinkansen times, the honest downsides.

27 cities made the initial research list.

7 made the cut. Not Tokyo or Kyoto.

These are 7 Japanese cities where people are moving to but few talk about them outside Japan. 🧵

Most Japan relocation advice still points to the same four cities: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and maybe Sapporo.

But that's not where the Japanese are going at least.

Japanese professionals are relocating 70 Shinkansen minutes outside Tokyo. A Kyushu prefecture most people outside Japan can't place on a map has the fastest foreign resident growth in the region, and Kyushu itself is the fastest-growing region in Japan.

For each one: who's moving there right now, property dynamics, connectivity to a major hub, cost of living, and the honest trade-offs.

7 cities. Data on every single one:

This is Uruguay 🇺🇾, the "Switzerland of South America":

- 0% tax on foreign income for 11 years
- Permanent residency in under a year
- Less corrupt than the US

It is the safest country in South America.

10 years ago almost nobody in my network was talking about it. Today every HNW family I know has it on the shortlist. And on January 1, 2026, the country priced that in.

Here are 11 reasons why it's still a hidden gem, updated for the 2026 rules.

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First, let's set the scene.

Uruguay is South America's 2nd smallest country. Total population: ~3.4 million. I know, you always thought it was bigger.

Rich history though, spanning from the indigenous Charrúa peoples, Spanish conquests, independence from Brazil in 1825.

Since then, it has become a quietly thriving country. Now, explicitly built for serious wealth.

This tiny country is beating the US at its own game:

- Higher press freedom ranking
- Better income equality
- Ranked 'full democracy' by The Economist (US is 'flawed')

Super impressive. And still largely unknown.

Let's dive in.

Eurosummer is getting closer and many asked: where in Italy is ideal for a true dolce vita summer.

I put together a list based on personal preference. 9 spots: 5 obvious, and 4 less obvious that Italians also often choose.

A post slightly different from the usual, because this week was my birthday and tomorrow I'm hosting friends for a legendary BBQ. Yesterday I bought an infinite supply of Aperol and 30 fresh burratas. I couldn't not think of dolce vita.

Mocassins, linen, positive vibes, "Pavarotti mode".

Here's the list of places that make you want to cruise top-down in a vintage 911 or Alfa Spider, pull over for an aperitivo and spaghetti alle vongole on the beach.

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First, what is la dolce vita?

Fellini inadvertently consecrated it in 1960. A philosophy Italians had lived forever: sun on skin, long lunches, Spritz at 7.

It's less superficial than it seems. Its Latin ancestor is otium. Not laziness, but the serious business of doing nothing, where Cicero and Seneca did their best work.

Staying busy doing nothing. Which, according to some, is where the highest productivity actually lives.

One of the real flavors of Eurosummer. If you haven't felt it, you should.

Now, to the list. The obvious picks first: the places you immediately associate with white linen shirts and fresh cologne.

I've lived in Switzerland. I've incorporated there. I've walked the lakeside in Zug at 8pm wondering where everyone went.

250 millionaires a month are moving to Switzerland. Most end up in Zurich or Geneva.

For many it works. But not for all.

I asked friends living there, compared it with the data and assembled this guide. I came to the conclusion there are two approaches to Switzerland for most of us.

A practical and unfiltered Swissmaxing thread 🇨🇭

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Many love the stability, the family life, the capacity of working remotely while immersed in nature.

In the end we all want two things: low taxes and a place where your daughter can walk at night safely.

The baseline: Switzerland has 0% capital gains tax on private investments. Federal level. Every canton.

Everything below is about optimizing on top of that.

Then there's the lump-sum tax, which can also change the math if you're a HNWI. More on that later.

Let's dive into it:

Part 1 blew up. The real gift was the DMs.

Dozens of parents wrote in with the cities I'd missed.

Almost none of them were Mediterranean. I'm Italian, I love the Med, that's why Part 1 leaned south. The parents pulled me north.

7 more European cities where families actually thrive. Cheaper than London. Better schools than your hometown.

And one of them might be the most surprising city on either list.

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Same method as Part 1. I called friends actually living in these places, asked the parents from the DMs to walk me through their daily life, then cross-checked everything against the data:

- Safety and walkability
- International schools (quality + real cost)
- Pediatric healthcare
- Monthly budget for a family of 4
- Parental leave and childcare
- Outdoor life, beach and mountain access
- The honest downsides nobody mentions

Same rule too: underrated only. Otherwise I'd just be telling you to move to Switzerland.

Less sunshine. More infrastructure...

Let's go.

Easter lunch with the family got me thinking.

Most people default to London, Barcelona, or Amsterdam for their kids. Great cities. Also: €2,500/month for a 3BR in Amsterdam. £15K/year school fees in London. Per child.

A friend of mine, well-known author, just moved his family from Lisbon to Genoa. Nobody saw that coming. His reason: the food, the proximity to France, one of Europe's best pediatric hospitals.

That conversation sent me down a rabbit hole.

7 cities where your family will actually thrive, usually not that considered, that I'd opt in for myself.

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I took the cities my friends with families like the most and re-assessed with some criteria.

What I looked at for each:

- Safety and walkability
- International schools (quality + real cost)
- Pediatric healthcare
- Monthly budget for a family of 4
- Parental leave and childcare
- Outdoor life, beach and mountain access
- The honest downsides worth mentioning

The output is the below list: not just places to park your family. But places where kids can grow up well and you can actually enjoy life too.

Let's go.

There are European countries that keep coming up in conversations but NEVER go mainstream.

A friend moved to Cluj, Romania 10 years ago. I didn't get it for a long time.

Italian friends recently moved to Albania to open ice cream shops. Crazy as that would have sounded 20 years ago.

I selected 7 underrated European countries, with specific cities to make it tangible, plus a bonus, that have a real chance of emerging in the coming years.

One will likely surprise you

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I won't be covering Portugal or Spain or alike. Everyone knows about those.

These are the countries that offer real tax advantages, lower cost of living, strong infrastructure, and genuine quality of life.

Yet almost nobody talks about them.

Let's begin:

Rural Europe is going to become a lifestyle destination for millions, not just Europeans.

Thousands of historic towns sitting half-empty. Stone houses for €30-80K. Solid houses built for generations, realistically yours for under €200K. Often with incredible tax regimes.

The two things that were missing: internet and services. Starlink fixed the first. And these aren't the rural areas of the 90s, many towns close to larger cities are now perfectly served. People are moving back.

This is my "Starlink guide" to rural Europe: 10 places I'm considering for living or investment myself.

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First, why Europe? Because nowhere else has 2,000 years of micro-cultures compressed into a continent the size of the US.

800-1,200 year-old communities, each with its own dialect, cuisine, architecture.

I moved to the beach outside Lisbon and proved it to myself.

You build your own fortress, everything changes.

I mapped 10 places I'd consider myself.

Here's what I found.

I'm Italian. After my thread on Italy's hidden cities blew up, a close French friend called me.

"You did Italy. Now do France. But don't embarrass yourself, let me 'elp."

We spent a weekend going back and forth. He'd suggest a city, I'd research it. I'd push back, he'd prove me wrong. By Sunday night, we had a list.

7 hidden cities in France that most people, including most French, will never think to visit, let alone move to.

No crowds. No tourist markup. Insane quality of life.

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France has 34,875 communes. Tourists visit maybe 20.

The cities on this list are genuinely incredible. Where wealthy French people peacefully live their best lives, completely off the radar.

For each one, I broke down property prices, nearest airport, population, who it's actually for, and the honest downsides you should be aware of.

7 cities I'd personally relocate to. Data on every single one:

I'm Italian. I wrote about 7 hidden cities in Italy. Since then, one thought has been haunting me. I missed one.

A city my trusted CLO is from. We've worked together for over a decade. In all that time, I don't think he's ever used a word more than strictly necessary. Centered, sober, elegantly precise.

The opposite of what you naturally associate to Italian cities.

Turin.

This is why it's the most underrated big city in Italy

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First, the historical context.

Turin was Italy's first capital from 1861 to 1865. Before Rome. Before Florence. The House of Savoy built it like a European capital, not an Italian town.

Grand boulevards. Baroque palaces. 18km of arcaded porticos. The Alps visible from your window on a clear day.

As a Roman, I felt it every time I went there. People speak quietly. Restaurants don't shout at you from the street. Nobody's performing.

Everything is measured.

I'm Italian. I just got back from Rome.

Over dinner, old friends and I started arguing about the same thing we always argue about: which cities in Italy are genuinely incredible but nobody ever talks about?

We went back and forth for hours. By the end of the night, we had a list.

7 hidden cities that most people, including most Italians, will never think to visit, let alone move to.

No crowds. No tourist markup. Insane quality of life.

Thread 🧵
Italy has 7,904 municipalities. Tourists visit maybe 15.

These aren't "cheap places to test it out." They're cities where wealthy Italians live their best lives, completely off the radar.

For each one, I broke down property prices, nearest airport, population, who it's actually for, and the honest downsides you should be aware of.

7 cities I'd personally relocate to. Data on every single one:

I analyzed every coastal town in Italy on a €1M budget.

Taxes. Airports. What €1M actually buys you in each location.

I cross-checked every detail with two friends on the ground for accuracy and hidden alphas.

10 towns. The definitive guide for FIRE and wealthy nomads eyeing Italy.

Thread 🧵
First, why €1M changes the game.

At €200-300K, you optimize for value. Hidden gems. Undiscovered towns.

At €1M, the game changes completely: you unlock some of Italy's most iconic coastal locations.

And here's what nobody tells you: most of them STILL qualify for the 7% flat tax for retirees.

8 of my 10 picks do.

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.

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...

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…