Moving to Italy from Ireland

Irish citizens can live in Italy by right, under the free movement arrangements between the EU, EEA and Switzerland. We estimate €3,041 a month for a couple living centrally in Venice and €3,567 in Rome. Italy is in our high tax tier. Registration and other local rules still apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free
Irish passport
Residency
By right
freedom of movement
Tax tier
High
High personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €3,041/mo
Venice, our estimate

Living there long term

Irish citizens can live in Italy by right, under the free movement arrangements between the EU, EEA and Switzerland. A couple who both hold Irish passports do not need to qualify through a work, income or investment route, though registration and other local rules still apply. Check the official requirements before you move.

If one of you holds a different passport, that partner's position can differ. For people without a right of residence, our residency index rates Italy 72/100 (comparatively open). Italy offers several realistic long-term routes for a capable applicant: a digital nomad/remote-worker visa, an elective-residence (passive-income/sufficient-means) visa for retirees and the independently wealthy, and an investor (golden) visa, all leading to permanent residence after five years.

For short visits, Irish passport holders can visit visa-free, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit or a right of residence.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in Italy to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold Irish passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Florence

    85% match
    Est. cost
    €3,313/mo
    Avg temp
    16°C
    Safety index
    57/100

  2. 2. Venice

    84% match
    Est. cost
    €3,041/mo
    Avg temp
    14°C
    Safety index
    57/100

  3. 3. Naples

    83% match
    Est. cost
    €3,438/mo
    Avg temp
    17°C
    Safety index
    57/100

  4. 4. Rome

    82% match
    Est. cost
    €3,567/mo
    Avg temp
    17°C
    Safety index
    57/100

  5. 5. Milan

    81% match
    Est. cost
    €3,494/mo
    Avg temp
    14°C
    Safety index
    57/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €3,041 a month in Venice to €3,567 in Rome. For comparison, we estimate €4,127 a month in Dublin. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

Italy is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); Ireland is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in Ireland after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in Italy

Lists with cities in Italy

Moving to Italy from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding Irish passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.