Tuscany – so what is it really like?

I am happy to say that I get a lot of emails from readers and it still amazes me that they come from all over the world. Many are from people who long to live in Italy and would be delighted if I could pass their details on to someone I might know who has a job and/or home available for them, now. Alternatively some say what is it really like, a question I am asked face to face when I go back to the UK, as if there must be more to it than I write about and it can’t all be good.

For those who want to, finding work here in the current economic climate must be more difficult as there are currently around 8% or  5M unemployed. Italian workers earn the lowest salaries in Europe, the current average being 14,700 Euros, which is about $21,300 and over 40% less than the average in the UK . Income tax can be up to 46% of earnings for a single person.

My neighbour, Angela, was made redundant last December from the graphic design job she has had with a local printer for nine years. A client of the company recommended her to a competitor who said yes, come and see us, which she did. A job would be there for her, before long, they have said, every month since then. It is a confusing aspect of the Italian culture of bella figura which is not just about how you look but also how you present yourself to the world in every way, including gracious manners, and inclines people to say yes, regardless of the reality.

In the meantime she has worked for a month, unpaid, as a trainee production supervisor in a small shoe factory making high quality, design led men’s shoes that are selling well in the US. After a month she asked how they thought she was progressing and when she may become wage earning. Oh, you are doing well, they said, but you need to complete three months before we can start to pay you. No, it isn’t legal, but some employers know how to take advantage of the situation. She left. Now she has two months work in a supermarket an hour away as holiday cover for regular staff, shifts changing daily.

I’ve always felt at home in Italy, with the people, their culture, the landscape and the climate. At sixty I was ready to retire from work, but not from life, so I came to Tuscany and began again, the Italian way. – Liz Taylor

Over 99% of businesses in Italy are small to medium with under 250 employees, the majority far less than that and family concerns. Many of them in production experienced a fall in orders of up to 50% in the last year and millions of self employed are seeing their incomes halved. Angela is remarkably cheerful. Yes, she works hard at chasing any job she can find but seems, on the surface at least, relatively unconcerned. Whilst appearing to outsiders to be excitable and emotional individually, the national characteristic is more sanguine, live in the moment and take what comes. They have seen many governments come and go, one crisis after another and rely on everyone muddling through somehow.

By and large this works because prudence is one of the main supports of family life in Italy. They are savers by nature, not borrowers, and tend to have something to fall back on in hard times, if not cash then the family. Home ownership is very high which reduces the stress in difficult times and the mortgage market is less than half that of the average for Europe, generally with higher down payments to lessen the loan. Getting a mortgage has also become more difficult, credit ratings need to be dependable as banks are a lot more cautious. This is not just a result of the economic situation but because in the tortuous Italian system, if a borrower defaults it can take between five to seven years for final settlement of the legal proceedings.

Tax is high and touches almost everything, IVA, the equivalent of VAT in the UK, is 20%. Buying a house incurs between 10 and 15% of the purchase price. But nonetheless there is a black hole of unpaid tax amounting annually to about 24% that somehow never reaches the government. Not paying tax is common, as is looking the other way whilst alternative arrangements are made. At the same time as announcing that they were planning cuts of 24Bn across 2011/12, Berlusconi’s government have said that they intend to recoup 7Bn in unpaid taxes in 2011 alone, offering incentives to local administrations for their help. It will be interesting to see if they can achieve anything like this, I think Italians are a little too foxy to be easily caught out.

One attempt to stop small businesses getting away with undeclared earnings has been to impose a law that requires every transaction to be provided with a receipt, even down to an ice cream. As the customer  you may be asked to produce it for inspection by a passing policeman doing a spot check, though how many would in an area where they grew up is another matter. But if they do and you have nothing to show, the owner of the business will be in trouble for failing to provide one. Hence few leave the receipt for their caffe on the counter, it isn’t fair on the proprietor. I empty out my handbag of all the little slips of paper about once a week.

Living in the country is of course less expensive than in a city but nonetheless it is not cheap. You can eat out quite economically here if you choose little places for locals at about 10 to 12 Euros for a reasonable meal and there are worthwhile wines at modest prices. Buying food is quite costly, I have read that it is twice as expensive as in the US and it is certainly on a par with the UK. But by and large it is good, I haven’t eaten a felty peach or a tasteless tomato here and Italians wouldn’t patronise any shop for long that didn’t have the quality they expect. People linger over the fruit and vegetables, feeling and smelling them, considering one against the other and really thinking about what they are buying.

But of course this is a snapshot from my perspective, others will see and experience things in their own way. And in truth I don’t think about the practicalities much. I am here because living in the moment the Italian way suits me, I don’t contemplate being anywhere else and whatever comes, let it be.

Article by Liz Taylor – more on her own site here: A new life in Tuscany