The four numbers
€31,000 a year per person. What Italy’s consulates in the US ask for the elective residence visa: about $34,700, or $2,890 a month. Passive income only. A salary doesn’t count. How it compares with other visas →
7%. The flat tax on all foreign income for pensioners who move to a small town in the south. Since April 7, 2026, “small” means up to 30,000 people.
€2,000 a year. The minimum to join Italy’s public health service on this visa, about $2,240. You pay it by calendar year.
March 27, 2025. The cutoff that ended automatic citizenship by descent for most Americans.
Dollar figures use the European Central Bank’s rate of $1.1181 on October 12, 2026.
Italy elective residence visa requirements
The elective residence visa (residenza elettiva) is for people who live on money they don’t work for. Italian law doesn’t set a figure. The consulates do.
Boston’s page asks for stable passive income “totaling more than 31,000 euros yearly per applicant.” New York says around €31,000 per person on family applications. Both accept pensions, annuities and property income; Boston adds trusts and investment funds, and New York names letters from US Social Security. Neither counts a paycheck.
| What the consulate checks | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Income | More than €31,000 a year per applicant ($34,700), passive |
| Counts | Pensions, Social Security, annuities, rent, trusts, investment funds |
| Doesn’t count | Salary or any work in Italy |
| Housing | A lease or deed in Italy, registered with the tax agency, for the whole stay |
| Insurance | Boston: a Schengen policy covering evacuation and repatriation |
| Visa fee | $133.60 for a long-stay visa (Boston) |
| After you land | Ask for the residence permit within 8 working days |
Two rows surprise people. The housing one means signing, and registering, a lease in Italy before you know the answer. And the income is per person. A couple living on two Social Security checks of $2,000 a month has $48,000 a year, about €42,900. That’s well short of €62,000. Not close.
New York’s page puts it in capitals: the visa doesn’t allow any work in Italy. If you plan to freelance for US clients, look at Italy’s digital nomad visa instead.
Cost of living in Italy for Americans
Rent decides it. Mostly. Here are asking rents from Idealista’s report for the third quarter of 2026, priced for a 60 m² apartment, about 650 square feet.
| City | Asking rent per m² | 60 m² a month | In dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milan | €22.40 | €1,344 | about $1,503 |
| Florence | €21.70 | €1,302 | about $1,456 |
| Rome | €19.20 | €1,152 | about $1,288 |
| Bologna | €16.60 | €996 | about $1,114 |
| Turin | €13.50 | €810 | about $906 |
| Italy, average | €14.60 | €876 | about $979 |
| Cosenza | €6.50 | €390 | about $436 |
| Reggio Calabria | €6.40 | €384 | about $429 |
Put that next to the visa bar. At €2,583 a month, a Milan apartment takes more than half. In Calabria it takes about 15%. These are listing prices, not signed leases.
The lease itself runs on Italian rules: often four years plus four, a deposit of up to three months, and registration with the tax agency within 30 days. Lease rules by country →
Healthcare in Italy on an elective residence permit
You get two choices: a private policy, or voluntary enrollment in the national health service (SSN). The public route costs 7.5% of last year’s total income, Italian and foreign, up to €20,658.28, then 4% on the part up to €51,645.69.
Run the visa minimum through it. €31,000 of income gives about €1,963. That’s under the floor, so you pay €2,000. Nobody pays more than €2,788.87 (about $3,118), however much they earn.
The catch is the calendar. It’s strict. Enrollment runs January to December, and it isn’t prorated. Arrive in October and you pay the full year. Medicare won’t fill the gap abroad, so price both options. Public healthcare for foreign residents, compared →
Taxes in Italy for American retirees
Once you’re resident, Italy taxes your worldwide income. The 2026 scale, per the Agenzia delle Entrate, is 23% up to €28,000, 33% up to €50,000 and 43% above that.
Social Security. Article 18(2) of the 1999 US–Italy treaty says US Social Security paid to a resident of Italy is taxable only in Italy. But Article 1 lets the US keep taxing its own citizens. IRS Publication 915 spells it out: the US exemption for Italy applies only if you’re also an Italian citizen. For most Americans, both countries have a claim. Article 23 handles the relief. How Social Security is taxed abroad →
The 7% regime. Article 24-ter of Italy’s income tax code lets a person with a foreign pension pay 7% on all foreign income, not just the pension. The conditions:
- You move your tax residence to a town of no more than 30,000 people in Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise or Puglia, or to one of the listed earthquake-zone towns.
- You weren’t an Italian tax resident in the five previous years.
- You elect it in the tax return for the year you move.
It lasts that year plus nine more. Ten in all. On €31,000 of foreign income, 7% is €2,170 (about $2,430). The ordinary scale on the same income starts around €7,430 before Italy’s deductions. Your US return doesn’t change. Not at all.
Italian citizenship by descent after 2025
This is the biggest change for Americans with Italian roots. Decree-Law 36 of March 28, 2025, converted by Law 74 of May 23, 2025, says a person born abroad who holds another citizenship isn’t automatically Italian. The Los Angeles consulate lists the ways you still qualify:
- You were recognized before 11:59 pm Rome time on March 27, 2025.
- A parent or grandparent holds only Italian citizenship, or held only Italian citizenship when they died.
- A parent lived in Italy for two consecutive years after becoming Italian and before you were born.
A Turin court challenged the rule. Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected the challenge in ruling 63/2026, filed on April 30, 2026. The rule stands. Great-grandparent claims are mostly done.
The other road is residence. The Interior Ministry’s page says a foreigner can apply after at least ten years living in Italy.
The catch
- No work. Not part-time, not a few clients back home.
- Per-person income, all passive. Couples on two Social Security checks often fall short.
- Rent before the visa. You sign and register a lease before the consulate decides.
- A full-year health fee, whatever month you arrive.
- The 7% town list. Rome, Florence and Milan will never be on it. You trade the tax rate for a small southern town.
- Descent is mostly closed, and naturalization takes ten years.
Italy works best for a retiree with a solid pension, maybe two, who wants the south and plans to stay a long time. For a couple on Social Security alone, the income bar is the wall.
