Retiring in Italy from Australia: costs, the elective residence visa, pension and health cover (2026)

Who Italy suits, and what to weigh up

Italy suits two quite different people. If you were born there or hold an Italian passport, you can go home without a visa, and the Age Pension can follow you under the agreement between the two countries. Department of Social Services figures show 6,994 people paid the Age Pension in Italy in December 2025, down from 11,378 five years earlier. They averaged about A$378 a fortnight each, which points to part pensions paid under the agreement.

On an Australian passport alone, Italy is harder. Visits are capped at 90 days in any 180 across the Schengen area. Living there means the elective residence visa, and the Sydney and Perth consulates ask for 2,600 euros a month (about A$4,360) in passive income. That is more than the Age Pension pays a couple overseas, so this route fits a self-funded retiree with a super pension, an annuity or rent coming in.

Smartraveller says medical facilities are good in the major cities and limited in rural areas. The Medicare agreement helps on visits of up to 6 months; people who live in Italy join its national health service or insure privately. Smartraveller also says Italy doesn’t recognise de facto relationships, which matters for couples who never married.

What a month costs

Our estimate for a month in Bari is about A$4,900 for a couple and A$3,500 for one person, rent included. We wanted to price Lecce, but Numbeo has no full cost page for it, so we use Bari, the nearest larger city in Puglia that has one.

A month in Puglia (Bari)	Couple	One person
Rent, one-bedroom flat in the centre	A$1,340	A$1,340
Living costs (food, transport, bills)	A$2,420	A$1,350
Eating out, local trips and extras (30%)	A$1,140	A$810
Total	A$4,900	A$3,500

How a month in Italy compares

For a couple

Italy, our estimate

A$4,900

Comfortable in Australia

A$6,580

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$4,040

About A$1,680 a month less than a comfortable month in Australia.

For one person

Italy, our estimate

A$3,500

Comfortable in Australia

A$4,680

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$2,680

About A$1,180 a month less than a comfortable month in Australia.

Not built the same way: Australia's figure (ASFA Retirement Standard, comfortable, June quarter 2026) assumes you own your home and includes health insurance; our estimate for Italy includes rent and leaves health insurance out. Age Pension: the most paid in Australia from 20 September 2026; living overseas for good, the base rate is about A$3,710 a month for a couple and A$2,460 for one person.

Our estimate: Numbeo’s living costs for one person (without rent) plus a one-bedroom city-centre rent, plus 30% for eating out, local trips and extras. For a couple, living costs times 1.8. Converted at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s average exchange rate for the 12 months to September 2026 (A$1 = 0.5957 euros). Health insurance is not included. Numbeo’s Bari page was last updated 20 October 2026. Short furnished lets usually cost more than the long-term rent in this table.

Tuscany costs more, mostly in rent. Numbeo’s figures (updated 20 October 2026) put a one-bedroom flat in central Florence at 1,396 euros a month, about A$2,340 at the RBA’s 12-month average rate. Worked out the same way, a month in Florence comes to about A$6,980 for a couple and A$5,230 for one person.

Against the Age Pension. After 12 weeks away, the most the pension pays is the base rate: about A$2,460 a month for one person and A$3,710 for a couple, before tax (rates from 20 September 2026). That leaves a couple about A$1,190 a month short of our Bari estimate. One person is about A$1,040 short.

What costs more than you’d expect. Health cover sits outside our estimate. On an elective residence permit, joining Italy’s national health service costs at least 2,000 euros a year (about A$3,360). For the visa itself, Perth wants insurance with at least 30,000 euros of cover (about A$50,360). A car can mean sitting Italian licence exams, and a house kept in Australia can be taxed in Italy (both covered below). Flights home from the east coast take at least one stop.

Renting long term. Italian leases come in set types. The Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy’s tax agency, lists free-market leases of 4 years plus 4, agreed-rent leases of 3 years plus 2, and temporary leases of up to 18 months. Any lease of more than 30 days in a year must be registered with the agency within 30 days of signing. The Sydney and Perth consulates accept only a registered lease or deed for the visa. Italian law caps the deposit at three months’ rent (Law 392 of 1978). It helps to have the lease type, the length, the deposit and who pays which bills in writing. A lawyer in Italy can read the lease for you if your Italian isn’t strong.

Visas for Australians

An Italian or other EU passport means no visa. An Australian one alone means 90-day visits, or the elective residence visa for longer.

Visiting. Smartraveller says Australians can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen area, not 90 days per country. Italy has no separate deal that lets Australians stay longer. The Entry/Exit System (EES) takes your fingerprints and photo at the border for free, and Smartraveller warns of fake websites that charge for it. Overstaying can mean a fine, detention, removal or a ban on returning. ETIAS, a pre-travel approval, has no confirmed start date.

If you hold an Italian passport. No visa is needed. Once ETIAS starts, Smartraveller says dual citizens must enter on their European passport, so check yours hasn’t expired. If you’re on AIRE, the register of Italians living overseas, you declare your new address at the town hall where you settle, and it takes you off AIRE. With another EU country’s passport, EU rules let you live in Italy if you have health insurance and enough income not to need support.

Born in Italy, and lost your citizenship? Before 16 August 1992, becoming an Australian citizen usually ended your Italian citizenship. Law 74 of 2025 reopened a window to get it back. The Adelaide consulate says it covers people born in Italy, or who lived there two years in a row, who lost it by naturalising no later than 15 August 1992. You declare it in person at the consulate between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027, for 250 euros (about A$420). Citizenship returns the next day, not backdated. The consulate also lists reacquisition by moving to Italy, which the town hall completes. With a declaration at the consulate and a move within 12 months, it can take days or weeks; without one, it takes 365 days of residence. Adult children living abroad don’t become citizens with you.

Children and grandchildren. The same law limited citizenship by descent to two generations. The Sydney consulate says someone born abroad now needs, for example, a parent or grandparent who held only Italian citizenship at their birth. Sydney has stopped taking new adult appointments, and from 1 January 2029 a new office in Rome takes over adult applications.

An Australian husband or wife. Italy’s routes for a spouse need a marriage or civil union registered with an Italian town hall, because Smartraveller says de facto relationships aren’t recognised. A non-EU spouse can live in Italy with an Italian husband or wife on a family residence permit from the Questura, the local police headquarters. Citizenship by marriage comes later. The Adelaide consulate says you can apply from abroad 3 years after the wedding, or 18 months with children; in Italy, Law 91 of 1992 sets 2 years of residence. You need Italian at B1 level, an apostilled and translated AFP police check, and 250 euros (about A$420). The ministry has 24 months to decide, extendable to 36. Our page for couples retiring overseas has more on planning as two.

Staying longer without an EU passport. The elective residence visa is for people living on income that doesn’t come from a job. The Sydney and Perth consulates ask for proof of at least 2,600 euros a month (about A$4,360) from pensions, annuities, property, investment funds or a registered business. Perth says that figure is after tax, and both say job income and savings don’t count. You also need a lease or deed registered with Italy’s tax agency, so the home comes first. Italian consular offices elsewhere, in Cairo and Moscow for example, say the visa and the permit that follows don’t allow work in Italy.

You apply in person at the consulate for your state, and each runs its own checklist. Sydney asks for proof of a New South Wales address. It takes applications from 180 days before you leave, and says processing takes a few hours to 15 days. Perth asks retirees for 12 months of bank statements, a super statement and the last tax return, plus insurance with at least 30,000 euros of cover (about A$50,360). Our guide to retirement visas by age compares other countries.

Within 8 days of arriving, you apply through a post office for a residence permit (permesso di soggiorno), and renew it in Italy while you still qualify. Poste Italiane lists the costs as a 16-euro stamp (about A$27), 30 euros at the counter (about A$50) and 30.46 euros for the card (about A$51), plus any contribution due.

Couples and a younger partner. The visa has no retirement age, so a partner under pension age applies on the same terms. The Australian checklists don’t say how much a couple needs. The Italian embassy in Cairo’s checklist says a spouse living with you can get the visa if the income is judged enough for them too. The consulate for your state can say what it applies.

The path to staying. After 5 years of legal residence you can apply for an EU long-term residence permit. Treviso’s Questura lists Italian at A2 level, income of at least Italy’s social allowance and a housing certificate, with a language exemption for age-related limits shown by a public doctor. Citizenship by residence takes 10 years for people from outside the EU.

Documents to get in Australia before you go. The visa checklists don’t ask for a police check, but citizenship by marriage and family permits need certificates apostilled and translated. An AFP check costs A$57, and the AFP says most online checks arrive within a few days. With fingerprints it is A$114 and 15 to 30 business days. DFAT charges A$105 an apostille. The consulate for your state can also issue an Italian tax code (codice fiscale), needed for a lease or bank account.

Visa rules change. Italy’s embassy or consulate, or a licensed visa agent there, can confirm the current rules. Ask them whether an account-based super pension or the Age Pension counts as income.

Your Age Pension and Medicare in Italy

Services Australia says your Age Pension can keep paying while you are overseas. After 6 weeks away the Energy Supplement stops and your Pensioner Concession Card is cancelled. The Pension Supplement stops completely at 12 weeks (since 20 September 2026). If you lived in Australia less than 35 years between age 16 and pension age, your rate can be reduced after 26 weeks. Our guide to the 6, 12 and 26-week rules explains each step.

Italy is a social security agreement country, so you can generally claim the Age Pension from there through INPS, Italy’s social insurance agency. Services Australia’s factsheet (July 2025) says the agreement lets you add your years in Australia to your years of cover in Italy to reach the 10-year minimum. Claiming from outside Australia, you generally need at least 12 months of Australian residence between 16 and pension age, 6 months of it unbroken. A pension paid under an agreement is often a part pension. If you can also get an Italian pension, tell Services Australia, because it may change your Age Pension.

If you move for good, you get the base rate only from the day you leave: A$29,520.40 a year single, A$44,506.80 for a couple.

Medicare. Medicare never pays for treatment overseas. Italy is one of the 11 countries with a reciprocal health care agreement. Services Australia says it covers care that can’t wait until you get home, through Italy’s national health service, within 6 months of the day you arrive. That includes hospital care at public and authorised hospitals, GP and specialist care at public clinics, and urgent dental care at public hospitals. You may still pay for medicines and tests. Show your passport and Medicare card. Smartraveller adds that it doesn’t cover conditions you already had when you arrived, and it doesn’t replace travel insurance. It is cover for visitors from Australia, not for people who live in Italy.

If you are an Australian citizen and move overseas, you can still use Medicare on visits home for up to 5 years after you leave. Visits home do not restart that clock. After 5 years, you re-enrol when you move back to live. Permanent residents are different: their enrolment ends 12 months after they leave. Our guide to Medicare overseas has the detail.

Health care and insurance

Smartraveller says medical facilities in the major cities are of a good standard, and limited in regional areas. In smaller cities you may be expected to bring your own necessities, such as towels, toilet paper, cutlery and bottled water. Private doctors and specialists ask you to pay up front, and private hospitals generally want a large deposit before they start treatment. For urgent medical help, call 112, where English-speaking operators are available.

What is where. Bari, Florence, Palermo and Pisa each have a university teaching hospital, according to a list from AIFA, Italy’s medicines agency. From Lecce, Bari’s is about two hours’ drive. From a hill town or an island, specialist care usually means a trip to the nearest big city. Smartraveller says travel insurance must cover all medical costs, including evacuation, because the Australian Government won’t pay them.

On an Italian passport. Joining AIRE ends your Italian health cover. The Italian embassy in Maputo explains that people on AIRE keep only emergency department care on visits, for up to 90 days a year. Once you are back on a town hall’s resident register, the local health authority (ASL) can tell you how to enrol with a family doctor.

On an elective residence permit. You are not entered in the national health service automatically. Italian law lets you take private insurance or join the service voluntarily. Italy’s 2024 budget law (Law 213 of 30 December 2023) set the fee. The local health authority in Sassari says the yearly fee is worked out on your income, with a minimum of 2,000 euros (about A$3,360). A Constitutional Court ruling of 5 June 2026 (judgment 97) helps some people who moved onto this permit from a work or family permit, not people who arrive on it. Your local ASL can tell you whether you can join and what it costs.

For a winter away, the usual type of cover is travel insurance for a single long trip. Ask whether it covers your whole stay at your age, and any conditions you already have. Our guide to travel insurance for long stays covers the age limits. Living there without the national health service, the usual type is international health insurance, and its age limits are worth checking early. If you’d like help working out where to start, book a free planning session on Zoom.

Medicines. Smartraveller says some Australian medicines are illegal overseas, even with a prescription. Take enough for the whole stay, with a copy of the prescription and a doctor’s letter. Our guide to taking medicines overseas has the Australian rules. West Nile virus, dengue and chikungunya have been reported in Italy, and tick-borne encephalitis is a risk in forests from May to October.

Where Australians live

There is no official count of where Australians settle in Italy. If your family came from a particular town, you may already know where you’d go. These five are a start, with rough driving times.

Area	What it’s like	Getting around	Hospital	Airport
Bari	Puglia’s main city, on the Adriatic; our cost base	Flat; walkable old town and centre; buses and trains	University teaching hospital	Bari
Lecce and the Salento	Baroque town in the heel of Italy, with small towns and beaches around it	Flat, small centre; about 2 hours to Bari by road	Local health authority hospitals	Brindisi, about 40 minutes
Palermo and Sicily	Sicily’s capital, with family towns across the island	Flat centre with hills behind; heavy traffic	University teaching hospital	Palermo
Florence	Tuscany’s capital; the dearest on our figures	Flat centre with a limited-traffic zone	University teaching hospital	Florence; Pisa about 1 hour
Lucca	Walled town in Tuscany	Flat and walkable inside the walls; trains to Pisa and Florence	Pisa’s teaching hospital, about 30 minutes	Pisa, about 30 minutes

Bari is our cost base, with its own airport and a university teaching hospital.

Lecce and the Salento sit further south. Lecce itself is too big for the 7% tax offer, but the small towns around it can qualify (more under Tax).

Palermo and Sicily draw people back to family towns. Smartraveller lists Calabria and Sicily among the regions where heavy winter rain often brings floods and mudslides, and Mount Etna is an active volcano.

Florence costs about A$2,080 a month more than Bari for a couple on our figures, mostly in rent. Its centre is a limited-traffic zone (ZTL), and cars without a pass are fined.

Lucca is a smaller walled town near Pisa. Australians there told the Australian Financial Review in December 2024 what they pay. One rented a three-bedroom flat just outside the walls for 730 euros a month (about A$1,230); another paid 950 euros (about A$1,590) for two bedrooms inside them.

If you are weighing Italy against its neighbours, see our Greece page and our Spain page.

Renting or buying a home

Foreigners can buy in Italy if Italians have the same right in their country, a rule called reciprocity. Italy’s Foreign Ministry says reciprocity applies with Australia, including for property, under an agreement signed in Canberra in 1967. Australians can own a house or flat outright, land included.

A notary handles the sale. The Agenzia delle Entrate’s buyer’s guide (October 2025) says the notary checks the land registry and mortgage records, and pays the purchase taxes when the sale is registered. Buying from a private seller, registration tax is 9%, with a minimum of 1,000 euros (about A$1,680). For a first home it drops to 2%, if the home is in the town where you live or you move your residence there within 18 months.

Old family houses can come with many owners. The Australian Financial Review reported an Australian whose Tuscan house had 17 owners, and whose house in Abruzzo had 11. Buying out relatives’ shares in an inherited family house raises the same title questions.

For the elective residence visa, the Sydney and Perth consulates want the deed registered before you apply, so buying first is a bigger step than renting first. The people to ask are a notary and a property lawyer in Italy, who can check the title and the land registry records. Smartraveller suggests reviewing your will if you buy property overseas. Our guide to overseas property and visa scams covers the warning signs. For the Australian side, see whether to keep, rent or sell the family home.

Tax: there and at home

Italy changed its tax residence test in 2024. The Agenzia delle Entrate says you are tax resident if, for most of the year, your domicile is in Italy, meaning your main personal and family ties. Living there or simply being present also counts. Most of the year means 183 days, or 184 in a leap year. Being on a town hall’s resident register is now a presumption you can rebut.

The 7% offer in the south. Italy has a tax offer for people with a pension from outside Italy who move south. The Agenzia delle Entrate says it covers towns of up to 30,000 people in Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia. Towns of that size hit by the 2009 and 2016 earthquakes in central Italy also count. Move your tax residence to one and you can choose a flat 7% tax on your foreign income for up to nine years. You must not have been tax resident in Italy in the five years before. The 30,000 cap applies from 7 April 2026; before that it was 20,000.

A house you keep in Australia. Italy taxes residents on property they hold abroad. The tax, called IVIE, is 1.06% a year of the property’s value from 2024, less property tax paid where the home is. Nothing is due if it comes to 200 euros (about A$340) or less.

The treaty. Australia and Italy signed a tax treaty in Canberra on 14 December 1982, and it is on Treasury’s list (updated 24 March 2026). An Italian Senate committee report on it says its pensions article taxes pensions, government ones included, only in the country where the person lives.

At home, the ATO’s residency tests decide whether you are still an Australian resident for tax; our guide to tax residency when you retire overseas walks through them. As a foreign resident you lose the tax-free threshold, so Australian income such as rent is taxed at 30% from the first dollar (2025-26). The foreign resident tax rates have the detail. Sell your Australian home while a foreign resident and, for sales after 30 June 2020, you generally lose the main residence exemption from capital gains tax, apart from narrow life events.

Talk to a registered tax agent in Australia, and a tax adviser in Italy about the 7% offer and how Italy treats your pension and super, before you go.

Money and banking

Italy uses the euro. Smartraveller says ATMs are widely available and shops, hotels and restaurants take international cards. Card skimming happens, so it suggests ATMs in banks, shops and shopping centres, and police have warned of fake euro notes.

Your pension. Services Australia pays every 2 weeks into your Australian account if you’ll be away less than 12 months. Away longer, it pays every 4 weeks into an Australian or overseas account. Italy is on its euro currency form (AUS178), so the pension can go into an Italian account in euros, usually arriving in 2 to 6 days. Our guide to living overseas on the Age Pension has the numbers.

A local account. Italian banks ask for a tax code (codice fiscale). The Bank of Italy says the law gives consumers legally resident in the EU the right to a basic account (conto di base), free for people on the lowest incomes.

Moving money. The main options are a transfer from your Australian bank, a currency transfer service, or cash from an ATM on an Australian card. Each charges a fee and builds a margin into its exchange rate; ask for both. Carrying more than 10,000 euros (about A$16,790) between Italy and a country outside the EU, in any form, must be declared.

Currency swings. Your pension is in Australian dollars and your bills are in euros. At the RBA’s 12-month average rate (A$1 = 0.5957 euros), 1,000 euros is about A$1,680. If the Australian dollar fell 10%, the same 1,000 euros would cost about A$1,870.

Day to day

Language. Italian runs the town hall, the Questura and the doctor’s surgery, and the long-term permit and citizenship both test it.

Getting around without driving. Trains link the cities and towns have local buses. Smartraveller says tickets are sold at tobacconists and cafes showing the operator’s sign, and some cities take contactless cards on board. Strikes are common and regularly stop trains, buses, flights and taxis. Use licensed taxis with a meter.

Driving. Visitors drive on an Australian licence plus an International Driving Permit, or a sworn translation; digital licences aren’t accepted. Smartraveller says that once you take up residence and stay more than a year, you need an Italian licence. An Australian one can’t be converted, so you sit the written and driving tests in Italian. Cars without a pass are fined in city-centre ZTL zones.

Safety. Smartraveller says petty crime is common, especially at train stations, on trains to and from Rome’s Fiumicino airport, and at beaches. Thieves break into parked cars, and some slash tyres or stage roadside emergencies. Drinks have been spiked in Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples and Sardinia. Drug penalties are severe. Police can ask for ID at any time, and you can be fined for sitting or eating on church steps.

Earthquakes, fires and floods. Italy has several earthquakes a year, and Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano are active volcanoes. Forest fires come from June to September. Heavy winter rain floods parts of the Veneto, Piedmont, Liguria, Calabria and Sicily.

Weather. Bari has hot, dry summers and mild, wetter winters:

Month in Bari	Average high	Average low	Rain
January	13°C	5°C	54 mm
February	13°C	5°C	64 mm
March	15°C	6°C	42 mm
April	18°C	9°C	41 mm
May	23°C	13°C	35 mm
June	27°C	17°C	23 mm
July	29°C	19°C	25 mm
August	29°C	19°C	30 mm
September	26°C	16°C	60 mm
October	22°C	13°C	62 mm
November	17°C	9°C	73 mm
December	14°C	6°C	54 mm

Figures: the Italian Air Force Meteorological Service’s Bari averages for 1971 to 2000, published by the World Meteorological Organization. Florence, on the same figures, reaches an average high of 31°C in July and a low of 2°C in January.

Public holidays. The national holidays are 1 and 6 January, Easter Monday, 25 April, 1 May, 2 June, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December, and 25 and 26 December. From 2026, 4 October (St Francis’s day) is a national holiday again under Law 151 of 2025.

Making friends. In Lucca, the Australian Financial Review reported a group of English speakers, mostly retired, with 1,600 registered members and a weekly cafe meet-up. Learning Italian helps with the neighbours as well as the tests.

Getting there and coming home

There is no non-stop flight from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Italy. Expect at least one stop and a full day of travel or more. From Perth there is a seasonal non-stop flight to Rome, and BITRE’s figures show it flying in June 2026. Aviacionaldia, an aviation news site, reported in September 2025 that it would run from May to October in 2026.

In our summer, Italy is 10 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne. In our winter it is 8 hours behind. It is 8 or 9 hours behind Brisbane and 6 or 7 behind Perth, depending on the season. Your morning is late afternoon or evening in Australia. For consular help, Smartraveller lists the Australian Embassy in Rome and the Consulate-General in Milan.

Your first steps

One order that works, from a first visit to living there. The right order for you depends on your passport, your health and your money.

1. Ask for help first. Book a free planning session on Zoom, or contact our team. Once we understand your situation, we can point you in the right direction.
2. Talk it over with your partner and family early. Our guide to talking to your family has ways to start.
3. Visit in summer and in winter. Smartraveller suggests a temporary move of 6 to 12 months first; see trying before you move.
4. Work out your route: an Italian or EU passport, reacquiring citizenship (by declaration before 31 December 2027, or by moving to Italy), a spouse’s citizenship, or the elective residence visa.
5. Check what happens to your pension at 6, 12 and 26 weeks, and whether you’d claim it under the agreement.
6. Find out what health cover you can get at your age, for visits and for living there.
7. Work out what happens to the house, and whether it counts for the pension while you are away.
8. Order any papers you need from Australia, such as an AFP check and apostilles, and get an Italian tax code from the consulate.
9. Some people rent short before signing a long lease. Sydney and Perth want the lease or deed registered before you apply for the visa.
10. Apply for the visa in person at the consulate for your state, or renew your Italian passport there.
11. Within 8 days of arriving on the visa, apply for the residence permit. With an Italian passport, register at the town hall instead.
12. Tell Services Australia you are leaving, and set up how your pension will be paid.
13. Know your way back: coming home covers your pension and Medicare.

Questions people ask

Can I retire in Italy from Australia?

Yes. With an Italian or other EU passport, no visa is needed. Without one, the elective residence visa needs a steady passive income: the Sydney and Perth consulates ask for 2,600 euros a month (about A$4,360) and don’t count savings.

How long can an Australian citizen stay in Italy?

Up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen area, not per country. Staying longer needs a visa, usually the elective residence visa.

Does Italy have a retirement visa?

The elective residence visa works as one. It is for people living on passive income such as pensions, annuities or rent, and it has no age limit. The Sydney and Perth consulates want a registered lease or deed in Italy before you apply.

How much do you need to retire in Italy?

Our estimate for a month in Bari is about A$4,900 for a couple and A$3,500 for one person, rent included. In Florence it is about A$6,980 for a couple. Health cover is extra.

What changes if I’m retiring in Italy as a dual citizen?

You need no visa, and once ETIAS starts you enter Europe on your Italian passport. You register at the town hall where you settle. If you lost Italian citizenship by becoming Australian before 16 August 1992, you can reacquire it by declaration until 31 December 2027, or later by moving to Italy.

Does the Medicare agreement cover me in Italy?

Partly, on a visit. It covers care that can’t wait, in the public system, in your first 6 months there. It doesn’t cover people who live in Italy, and Smartraveller says it doesn’t replace travel insurance.

Can Australians buy property in Italy?

Yes. Italy’s Foreign Ministry says reciprocity applies with Australia, so Australians can buy outright, land included. A notary handles the sale, and registration tax is 9%, or 2% for a first home where you live.

Is an Italian pension taxable in Australia?

An Italian Senate report on the 1982 tax treaty says pensions are taxed only in the country where the person lives. A registered tax agent can confirm how that applies to your Italian pension and your Age Pension.