My wife and I are at the beginning of our journey to move to Italy. We have been to Italy a number of times and most recently spent Jan/Feb/March in Lucca, as Tuscany and Liguria were two areas we had not previously spent any time in. Our dilemma is where to finally move and make a commitment for a year+ lease? We loved Lucca, and are seriously considering it. However, there are a few downsides that are preventing our decision. First, we enjoyed the closeness to the mountains and sea, but the weather was less than ideal. We have lived in Florida all of our lives and a bit sunnier and warm clime, even by a few degrees would be lovely. Secondly, the food was good but my family came from Agropoli in the south, and their cuisine is much healthier. More fruits, vegetables, seafood and tomatoes based sauces. The Lucchese idea of contorni was frittes and the occasional spinaci. Third, the people although very nice they are more reserved and avoid eye contact when passing by. My experience in the south was there was always a friendly 'Buonasera' when passing a stranger on the street. Now with all that said, Lucca, is full of charm, is clean, relative to a lot of Italy, is safe and not overpopulated with panhandling migrants. (Sorry but come in the front door the correct way, and I can accept you, otherwise head to Germany, Sweden or work to make your own country habitable LOL) Now one thing that is important to us is that my son and daughter-in-law live in Denmark and so we want to be near an airport that does not require them or us when we visit to take all day traveling. I have heard lots of good things about Puglia, and I spent six weeks then when in high school but travel from Copenhagen to that region is at minimum a 10-12 hour journey. So besides the above wish, we also like bike/pedestrian friendly cities/communes, reasonable winter weather, more mild than cold, and the heat of summer does not bother us. So with all this rambling, what I would like to ask, can you tell us why you choose your current Italian location, it's pluses and minuses and any other comments would be appreciated!
