Moving to the lake: becoming resident, step by step

A Union citizen may stay in Italy for up to three months without conditions, with a valid identity document¹. Beyond three months they have the right to stay if they work, as employees or self-employed, or if they have resources for themselves and their family sufficient not to burden social assistance and health insurance covering all risks in Italy¹. Citizens of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are treated the same way³.

Resources are measured against the social allowance (assegno sociale): a lawful annual income no lower than its amount¹², which for 2026 is €7,101.12⁴. They can be declared with a self-certification¹. Health insurance must last at least a year; the European pensioner's form (today S1) counts as cover, the European health insurance card does not³.

After five years of legal and continuous stay you acquire permanent residence; continuity survives absences of up to six months a year, and the right is lost after more than two consecutive years outside Italy¹.

For British citizens the Withdrawal Agreement protects only those already living in Italy by 31 December 2020⁵; those arriving later follow, as far as we have read, the route for non-EU citizens.

To live in Italy without working you apply to the consulate for an elective residence visa (residenza elettiva). The Foreign Ministry portal lists the documents: the form, a photo, a passport valid at least three months beyond the visa, «documented and ample autonomous economic resources, stable and regular», not from employment, and a home to be your residence, owned or rented under a contract already signed⁶. The portal gives no income threshold; for an application made in London the visa fee is €116⁶.

Within 8 working days of entry you apply to the police headquarters of the province (questura) for a residence permit². For elective residence the application is sent with a special kit from authorised post offices (Sportello Amico); the receipt gives you credentials to follow the case online and a date for fingerprinting at the questura⁷. The State Police state an average of 60 days for issue⁸. With the permit you apply for registration with the municipal registry⁷.

Health cover. The portal does not list insurance among the visa documents, but to stay, those not working must insure themselves with a private policy or by joining the health service voluntarily (see «Health care» below)⁷.

Anyone moving from abroad declares it to the municipal registry within 20 days, showing a passport or equivalent document⁹. The registrar enrols you within two working days, with effect from the day of the declaration¹⁰. For non-EU citizens the residence requirements still apply: you need the permit¹⁰.

Whether you really live there is checked by the municipal police or other authorised municipal staff⁹. If within 45 days the municipality has not notified a negative outcome, the declaration is taken as accurate¹⁰. Failing to declare a move from abroad costs €200 to €1,000 for each year of omission¹¹; non-EU citizens renew their declaration of abode within 60 days of renewing the permit⁹.

Residency also matters for the house: the «first home» tax relief requires moving it to the municipality within 18 months of purchase (Buying property in Italy), and the home where you are resident and habitually live pays no IMU, except luxury categories (IMU property tax on the lake).

With an S1 form. A pensioner from another EU or EEA country or Switzerland who brings the entitlement form (S1) is enrolled by the local health authority (ASL) in the national health service with full care, family doctor included, on the same terms as an Italian¹²¹³.

EU citizens without S1. Residents can join voluntarily by paying an annual contribution¹⁴¹³. What the minimum is today for a Union citizen we could not verify: the ASL VCO page still shows €387.34, the law sets €2,000 for non-EU citizens; ask the ASL.

Non-EU citizens with elective residence. Without an Italian pension you insure yourself with a policy or by voluntary enrolment, which also covers dependants: you pay an annual contribution at the same percentage as Italian citizens on your total income of the previous year, in Italy and abroad, and in any case no less than €2,000 a year². The minimum has applied since 2024, is paid to the Region with the F24 form and may be updated each year by decree¹¹²¹⁴. Those with an Italian contributory pension are enrolled compulsorily instead¹³.

Which ASL. Gozzano and Bolzano Novarese belong to the Novara ASL¹⁵; Omegna, Nonio, Quarna Sopra and Madonna del Sasso, in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, to the ASL VCO, which also covers seven municipalities of the province of Novara¹⁶. Orta San Giulio, Pettenasco, Pella, San Maurizio d'Opaglio, Ameno, Miasino and Armeno do not appear in the Novara ASL lists¹⁵, and the ASL VCO list of family doctors for the Cusio has surgeries in Armeno, Pella and San Maurizio d'Opaglio¹⁷: very probably they are the seven, but we found no official list.

Family doctor. The Novara ASL lets you choose a doctor online, foreign citizens included, with SPID, the electronic identity card or the health card¹⁸; the ASL VCO at the district desk, for the Cusio in Omegna¹³. On enrolment you receive the health card¹³.

Licences from the European Union and the European Economic Area are equivalent to Italian ones: you drive until they expire. If yours has no expiry date, or a validity longer than EU rules allow, you must convert it after two years of residency¹⁹.

Licences from other countries, Switzerland included, are valid only until you have been resident in Italy for more than a year, with an international driving permit or an official translation²⁰. After that you convert it if the issuing State has an agreement with Italy; otherwise you take the test again¹⁹:

• United Kingdom: agreement in force until 30 March 2028, renewable; conversion must be requested within 6 years of residency¹⁹;
• Switzerland: agreement extended to 12 June 2031; within 4 years of residency¹⁹;
• United States: conversion only for diplomatic staff and their families; everyone else takes the test¹⁹.

Beyond those limits the application is rejected; the licence must have been obtained before becoming resident in Italy. The application goes to the Motorizzazione civile, with €10.20 in fees, €32 in stamp duty and the receipt of the medical fitness check¹⁹.

A car registered abroad and owned by someone who has become resident in Italy may be driven only if it is registered in Italy within three months of acquiring residency²⁰. Otherwise the fine is €400 to €1,600, the registration document is withdrawn and, if within thirty days the car is not registered or taken across the border, it is confiscated²⁰.

A foreign car registered to someone else, for instance a company or a family member abroad, may be driven with a document on board signed by the owner with a certain date, stating on what basis and for how long; beyond thirty days a year, even non-consecutive, the use must be recorded with the PRA vehicle register²⁰. Cross-border commuters working in Switzerland have their own regime: registration within sixty days instead of Italian plates²⁰.

When you are tax-resident. Since 2024 you are resident in Italy if, for most of the year, counting fractions of days, you have your civil residence here, your domicile, i.e. the centre of your personal and family relations, or are simply present; anyone on the population register for most of the year is presumed resident unless proven otherwise²¹. Residents pay IRPEF on all their income, wherever it arises²¹. From 1 January 2027 the same rule moves into the new consolidated income tax act²².

Surtaxes. On IRPEF taxable income you pay Piedmont's regional surtax, in bands (1.62% up to €15,000, 2.68% up to 28,000, 3.31% up to 50,000, 3.33% above)²³, and that of your municipality of residence. On taxable income of €40,000 the regional surtax comes to €988.60; the municipal one ranges from €0.00 in Orta San Giulio (2025 figure) to €320.00 in Omegna and Bolzano Novarese²⁴:

Property and accounts abroad. Residents pay IVIE on property they own abroad, 1.06% of its value (not due up to €200), and IVAFE on foreign financial products, 2 per thousand²⁵. The value is the purchase cost; for property in the EU and EEA with exchange of information it is that country's cadastral value. The main home is exempt, except luxury categories²⁵. An example: the house in Zurich or London bought for €400,000 which, after the move to the lake, is no longer your main home pays €4,240 a year; €200,000 of securities in a foreign bank, €400.

The flat tax for new residents. Anyone who has not been resident in Italy for at least nine of the previous ten years can pay, instead of IRPEF on foreign income, a fixed tax of €300,000 a year, plus €50,000 for each family member it is extended to, for those moving from 2026²¹²⁶. It requires a favourable ruling (interpello) from the Revenue Agency, lasts at most fifteen years, excludes gains on qualifying shareholdings in the first five, and exempts you from the RW foreign-asset form and from IVIE and IVAFE²¹. From 2027 the rule is in article 246 of the new consolidated act, with the same amounts²².

The 7% regime for foreign pensioners does not apply here: it is reserved for municipalities of up to 30,000 inhabitants in the South and in the areas of the 2009 and 2016 earthquakes, and Piedmont is not among them²¹.

This section describes the rules, not your case: double taxation treaties, pensions, capital gains and the choice of the flat tax should be reviewed with a tax adviser (commercialista) before the move. We have not yet read the 2027 budget bill, before Parliament at the end of October 2026.

Anyone moving to the lake usually leaves a house elsewhere; anyone leaving the lake after a few years leaves a house here. Either way the question is the same: keep it and let it, or sell it.

If your lake house stays empty, or you are thinking of leaving it, the guide Renting out your lake home explains the rules for letting; the tool From price to net shows what a sale leaves you; for our view on your house, tell us about it.