Hello everyone! I have been reading a lot this website and forum and now I want to ask a question.

First a little background: I live in Chile (Southamerica) and I have the Italian citizenship (I realized how good was to hold it when I entered to Madrid and they didn't ask me a question, while some Chileans are sent back). My family always was planning to move to Italy but for any reason (mostly because my parents were separated) we never did it. Now I have frozen my studies (I was in Medicine) and I'm quite bored of the unqualified jobs in Chile (which are really bad paid).So, I want to give my life a new start and I decided to move to Italy.

So, my rough plan is to "find a city", to rent a small apartment and find a normal, unqualified job (waitress, salesgirl, hotels, tourism -i speak english, spanish, greek and less italian-) to improve my italian. With time, and more italian knowledge I would find a better job and then with fluent italian I'd like start studying there. For this I consider one or two years.

In this part I need to find the first city to move! I would like to go to the city of my grandfather -Rapallo- but the city I will choose must fulfill some basic requirements.

1. Rents must be "cheap", and it should be easy to find a small one-room apartment (I would share and apartment only if theres no chance but i prefer to live alone)
So please give me ideas about prices.
(I know that one should spend 1/3 of the salary in accommodation so if you consider a salary as the jobs I said, the term "cheap" would fit 1/3 of that salary.

2. There must be these kind of jobs available. Sure I would like to live in a Tuscan villa but where will I find a job???

3. There must be places to study - state universities nearby. This should mean that cheap rents (student prices) could be easy to find, but I don't know how true could this be.

4. Last but not least some "accessory" preferences:
-North of Italy
-Connected with train with main cities
-Not too modern (in fact, the older the better ...i would love to live in a city like Toledo in Spain)
-Some green around (I will kill myself in a cement city with no trees)

So, I hope this wasnt a borin message for you. I will be very happy if someone takes the time to answer me. I will keep searching here anyway.

BTW, this is where I live. This district in the capital of Chile (santiago) has everything -commerce, banks, etcetc) but there are mostly offices - so it's very quiet during weekends. There are older parts, and other more modern with big buildings. There are a lots of cafes and restaurants. Streets are wide, with lots of trees everywere. There are parks and streest for bycicles. Some museums and art galleries, theaters. Low crime, and as i said, a little crowded on weekdays but a glass of milk on weekends.

Hola Aspasia,

Rapallo could be quite a good choice for you. Its a small city of course, but has plenty of shops to choose from, reasonable prices, and a beautiful seaside promenade. There are parts of the city that are green - ie. a few nice parks - and there is wonderful hiking nearby in wooded areas, both above Rapallo (you can catch the funivia up to Monteallegro) or in Monte Portofino park. Rapallo has very good train service to Genova as well as to nearby towns and cities.

While I didn´t have any luck finding an apartment in Rapallo, I was looking for something bigger and with a garden. I would think that finding a one-room apartment (studio) would be easier, and they would start at around 400 I expect, or possibly a bit lower ($300?)if you´re lucky. Genova itself would have a greater selection of apartments in the lower price range, as well as a university population, but it would be a lot more hectic living in Genova as compared to Rapallo.

As for service-sector jobs, I can´t comment on how easy they are to find, but there are plenty of immigrants from Latin America working in the area. Many jobs in the smaller cities such as Rapallo would be seasonal since this area is much busier in the summer season when it is full of tourists, but your languages of course would be a benefit.

Anyway, there you have my two-cents worth... good luck in finding your place...

Carolina

Hey Carolina!
Thank you very much for your answer!
And I like it too, because I want so much to live in Rapallo, but I didnt know how could be lifestyle there now... I only have this picture of by bis-bisnonno that says Rapallo, but 100 years old...


grazie!