Just don't cut any holes in the container until you're sure you want to stay -)

Some of the prices quoted here for furniture bought in Italy seem outrageous. I hope it's not generally true. We have good quality American stuff and I think when all is said and done the best bet is to ship it--we'll somehow make it fit into the place we buy or rent.

Hi,

in my exploration for a mover, I went to international movers and filled out the form. What happens is that initially you get a bit pestered by all these fly by night outfits, but eventually you can find something with a good price/value ratio (use a lightly travelled email address, or get one specifically for the movers' quote would be my suggestion if you don't want your inbox too full). It seems to me that reasonable means less $10/cu.ft. I have not called back anyone though.

One bit of a pain is that some companies will not give you quotes if you call many months before departure. I have had people say to me "call back in March or April" when I called in Nov. I expect this is because they don't know what they will have until very close to pickup date (it helps to be flexible to save some $)

I will keep looking. Meanwhile if any of you finds the perfect solution (on the East Coast), please post it: I am still interested too!

Maybe store some of you most precious pieces, and those that are large and heavy, and if you decide to stay you can always ship them over later. If you return, they are there waiting for you.

We shopped at Ikea and Semeraro for some basic pieces because everything takes around 3 months to arrive when you order through a design store.

We bought a 160 x 200 Sealy mattress here, and my queen sheets fit.

Is there a law that my household goods must enter within 6 months of my establishing residency or I must pay duty fees? That's why I'm thinking they have to come more or less with me...also, my husband has had his Italian residency re-established for more than a year now (don't ask!) and I'm wondering how this will affect the above, if in fact I'm right about this "law"...

quote:

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Originally posted by Diane:
Is there a law that my household goods must enter within 6 months of my establishing residency or I must pay duty fees? That's why I'm thinking they have to come more or less with me...also, my husband has had his Italian residency re-established for more than a year now (don't ask!) and I'm wondering how this will affect the above, if in fact I'm right about this "law"...

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Yes, the 6 months requirment is still in effect. Our neighbor Frank just had to pay a hefty customes fee...he had applied for his P di S in Sept of 2003, but didn't actually move to Italy until March 2004. When his goods arrived in June, he was told that the Sept date was the "official" one. Altho the fee was eventually reduced, he still had to pay. I think you should have to goods shipped in your name only.

I am throwing these couple of things out for those who will ship things.
They have this sticky bubble wrap theses days. You need to tell them NOT to stick it to things that are old or have fine finishes. It makes permanent measles on finishes and removes patina on antiques or even pieces of paint or lacquer.
Someone should watch the packing of the container. In my move they stood a wheeled piece on top of a cherry dining table and it made huge gouges in the top.
My things were loaded into the container, then off-loaded and reloaded, so watching wouldn't have helped. Why? I don't know. You should include in your contract that they will NOT disturb the container once it is loaded at your house.
Also, watch that they don't put customer packed on boxes they pack, which was done in my move. I packed only linens and books, mostly because I was making decisions while I packed. I surely don't regret bringing any of the linens I brought. For the quality and the quantity I would pay lots here. Besides, it may be difficult to fit your table, for example.
I brought too many clothes. No one here has so many clothes and there are no closets!

Judith - I can SO relate to the clothes problem. I got rid of so many things before I came, but still have WAY too many clothes for my house. I have given away so many things since I have been here, but still have too many! But I just can't downscale any more! I can't part with anything else! (Is it sick and wrong to love your clothes, shoes and purses?) haha

Our little second bedroom is our closet, and we have slanted ceilings, which makes it impossible to have nice, tall armadios. I am still trying to figure out a layout that will give me the most closet space...

I did not bring most of my plastic hangers when I came because I thought, surely, I can find those in Italy. Well, bring them if you have them! When I can find them, they are like $1 a each.

Hello!

Today is my first day visiting your site as I begin the "expatriation" process (sounds painful ...I am very impressed with the depth of knowledge shared and even more impressed with everyone's willingness to share it.

As to the moving costs v. buying new issue, it would seem that there is a slightly larger concensus advising to:

1. Take what is precious to you, or might otherwise be difficult to replace because of cost or availability (i.e., grandma's teeth and plastic hangers--nice tip btw, I would not have thought of that);

2. Do not take bulky items which might not pass through the "birth canal" of a winding medevial street...(which of course always seem to go up hill, even when you head back the other way);

3. Pare down on the non-essential clothing and such;

4. Shop around for the best shipping rate,(thanks for those links Nick), and you can pack your own China (or Barb's) thank you very much...and consider purchasing the crate especially if you might be raising elephants in Umbria (that was a very cute comment, Diane);and

5. Less is more (a concept that has taken me 40 years to understand), but if what you are taking will fill most of a good sized crate anyway it might be worth it to fill it up or upgrade because replacing certain things like linens and furniture in Italy can be difficult if you are moving to a more remote area, or costly if you are moving "il centro"; or,

6. If you are renting a furnished place, then ship your personal, decorative, must have items and clothing in boxes a little at a time (I assume someone has to be at the other end to receive them), and get rid of the rest...hopefully you'll sell your stuff for enough to cover the first month's electric bill.

Did I miss anything? I was leaning toward selling most, and glad to read that it will not require me to sell a kidney to pay for shipping in boxes my books, photos, or other items it makes sense to keep. But I wanted to ask of you all, do they have "flea market" or garage sale type events over there where one can pick up bargains or finds as to household things like we have in the States? I have seen the open air markets, but those don't seem to be the same thing as what I'm refering to.

Also, any thoughts about shipping my car? I know I can do so duty free (as long as I do so within the 6 mos. period from apparently the date I register as a resident--again, thanks for that tip Barb , but is the cost of shipping my little sport car worth it versus purchasing one in Italy, assuming there is anything left to purchase it with? I had planned on selling my vehicles as public transportation and/or a moped seemed enough... but some of what you all wrote has me wondering.

Thank you, in advance, for your input regarding my questions above... This is a great site!

My feelings.

Start with the belief anything really essential can be bought in Italy. If you can't buy it there then you don't need it. So only ship the stuff you'd find painfully living without.

Books and photos tend to be heavy. Remember dead trees.

Rome flea market

Some thing like that?

The hassle/cost of shipping a car to me implies only ship something with special personal value to you.

The nice thing about buying your own container is you don't have to unload it Take out what you need and leave the rest until it's needed. Real nice if you're buying a run down country place. You can fix the place up in stages while your goods stay nice and dry. Worse case you can camp in the container. OTOH if you rent a container then it needs to be emptied on schedule or you'll get charged extra. But if you buy a container make sure you have a place to put it. Even a small one is going to need some land to hide it.

Patricia,

Hi. I moving from San Francisco to Calabria and have just started shipping packages via reg. mail and got charge a large sum of duty tax when it arrived in Italy. Is there a secret to not get charged duty tax? We have been buyiny insurance on the boxes but listing art supplies and old stereo. Do you have any ideas how not to get duty taxed.

Regards Natalie

How much did you insure them for? If you list the value over about $75 - $100 I think you have to pay duty. I always listed the value under $100, insured them, and never paid duty (on 50 boxes).

I am mostly reading this to get info for our upcoming move to Belluno. But I wanted to pass along some ideas about moving cars. If you search for used cars in Italy you can find a few sites that list cars for sale and this is a good way to find the value of your US car there. We have discoverd that ours a 2002 Honda CRV is worth 3 to 6 thousand more there than here so the cost of moving it is well justified.

We have been trying to decide also about how much stuff to move, that's what brought me here. Is there a site were one can see the actual rules about duties, etc. Italian language is fine. It was revealing to see that we would only have 6 months to bring in things duty free. I'd like to see the actual law. Thanks,

John

I think it should be in there.

I'm not sure but it should be buried some place in there. Duties are an EU thing.