IL Magazine: How to Move Out of the US... Discover the #1 Retirement Haven + 24 More SUBSCRIBE NOW AND SAVE 35% about subscribing to International Living Magazine 
The first thing people ask when I tell them we have a house in Italy is why we chose Italy. The answer is simple, once Italy gets under your skin there is no escape. I think Italy has more beauty per square inch than anywhere else in the world...
The charming mountain village of Vergemoli sits in an area of Italy known as the Garfagnana, a lush, historical region in the north-western stretches of Tuscany where the Apennine and Apuan Alps meet. Just outside Vergemoli is a national park full of chestnut, hazelnut and oak trees...
Rolling hills, romantic waterways, and passionate people… Italy is a place that draws many dreamers to its shores. But to really experience authentic Italy, you need to get off the beaten track. Part of the fun is watching Italians going about their lives as they always have.
When Italy gets under your skin, it's hard to ignore the call of La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life). The country has enchanted me since I first visited in 1972, and so, in 2003—when life finally allowed—my husband Jim and I bought a home there so could we spend part of every year in the country.
Cathy Pegolo loves cities with theaters, music, restaurants, and culture. And she has found all that and more in her new home of Bologna, Italy. Cathy’s Italian heritage inspired her to visit the “old country” and she and her husband, Paul, traveled widely in Italy before finally deciding to buy a place of their own there.