What to Pack for Your Move to Italy

If you're planning a move to Italy, I'm sure you're already making a list of all the things you want to take with you.

Do me a favor. Cut that list in half. Seriously.

You Need Less Than You Think

We all are varying degrees of Packrat or Purger. I skew toward Purger, though I know how rare that is.

Years ago, knowing I was planning to move to Italy, I began getting rid of things I didn't want to pay to ship here. My thinking? I could always buy what I needed here.

And so I moved to Italy with 11 boxes, three suitcases, and two cats!

And so I offer this to you: you need less than you think you do. Italy isn't a third-world country. You can repurchase your blender, your desk, your exercise ball. And remember: your electronics won't easily work here anyway. We use a different plug and voltage.

Make Room for the New You

When I arrived, I immediately began making lists of all the things I was lacking. But then I got busy and didn't get around to buying those things, and something really interesting happened.

After a few weeks, I realized I didn't need them. My American brain felt like I needed all the conveniences of home (um, microwave?) but as I morphed into who I was becoming in Italy, I realized my needs had changed.

I haven't had a microwave in the nearly two years that I've lived here. And I'm doing just fine!

When you bring all your clothes, your apparatuses, your books, your conveniences, you are essentially bringing your American self here, trying to fit it into a new country. But it won't work, my darling. You are going to be someone new, and you have to make room for her.

Also, homes in Italy are different. The kitchens are often smaller than what we're used to. They have an armadio rather than a closet. And if you rent a furnished home, you're limited to what you're given. That necessitates being flexible and traveling light.

In another post, I'll share tips for actually shipping your shit to Italy. But in this post, I wanted to dive into the psychological attachment so many of us have to our things. But that's it, isn't it? They're just THINGS. They don't define who we are, and we don't need most of them.

So let it go. Take that list of what to pack for your move to Italy and start slashing items off. For me, I kept an entire box of nostalgic Christmas decorations, a small handful of books (that one hurt, given how much of an avid reader I am, but...KINDLE! Plus you can buy books in English online), a few clothes (because who doesn't want to buy new clothes in Italy??), art supplies, photo albums, and a few precious keepsakes.

If you are early in your plans to move to Italy, take this as the opportunity to start shedding weight from your life in the form of the unnecessary items that clutter your home. Trust me: you'll never miss them once you're sipping an Aperol Spritz watching the sunset in Italy!