Nicholas and Katherine packed up their lives, secured their Elective Residence Visa (Residenza Elettiva), and landed right in the heart of Emilia-Romagna. From local bureaucracy and missing furniture to bicycle paths and Italian summer humidity, here is their honest take on what it’s really like to settle into life in Bologna!
First of all, what has pleasantly surprised you the most since arriving in the city?
Well, two big things! First, the bicycle infrastructure is surprisingly good and very extensive—it makes getting around so easy. Second, the city itself is even more beautiful than we had imagined, and there are way more music events, festivals, and cultural activities than we could have ever hoped for.
Moving across the world is rarely smooth sailing. What have been some of your biggest struggles so far?
Oh, where do I start? On a practical level, IKEA sent us the chairs, but completely forgot the table!
Then there's the weather: temperature isn't the whole story here. Bologna is a great deal more humid than we're used to back home, so the heat hits you much harder.
And finally, navigating the healthcare system has been tricky—it's so complex that even the medical practitioners themselves struggle to give correct guidance, although I have to say the actual care itself is excellent once you get it.
Finding a home in Italy from overseas can be a nightmare. How did you manage the housing search and visa paperwork?
We started by looking at online accommodation platforms and websites to get a realistic idea of prices and availability. But securing a formal lease registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate—and registering our legal residence with the Comune to satisfy the strict requirements of the Italian Consulate—would have been next to impossible without local help, especially given the tight timelines imposed by the immigration process.
“Securing a formal lease registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate would have been next to impossible without local help”
What was the single most essential administrative step you had to take right after landing?
Definitely getting the Codice Fiscale. Without that number, literally nothing else works!
What do you miss most from home in terms of daily living?
We really miss the variety of food, especially authentic Asian cuisine that you can find in Melbourne. And honestly, Melbourne’s tap water! The water here in Bologna is practically undrinkable and leaves heavy limescale deposits on all our saucepans.
How are you adjusting to the social rhythm and daily schedule over here compared to Australia?
Anything involving business hours is quite difficult—dealing with banks, for instance, requires a lot of patience. As for catching up with friends and family, it's a bit more flexible, but overall it still requires a lot of advance scheduling compared to what we were used to.
Australia is famous for its coastlines. Do you think you'll miss the ocean while living in Emilia-Romagna?
You know, back home, except for an annual holiday about 150 km away, we didn't actually visit our city's beach all that often! However, whenever we do manage to head to the coast here in Italy, we’ll definitely miss catching real ocean waves in the surf.