Asklemmy

Hello, Italian here.

So I've been a traveller most of my life, for work, and when I was younger, like so many Italians, I dreamed of emigrating to so many different places; life had other plans, and I stayied. Luckily I was able to make a career in a profitable field, and over time I came to appreciate my own country, always looking forward to coming back home.
There's much to be said for Italy's cultural heritage and natural beauty, and anywhere you may be in our country, a weekend getaway to visit a beatiful city, historical sites, beach or mountainside is always fairly accessible.

While the rightward move is worrisome, we also have the factor that governments in Italy rarely last to the end of their mandate (we've been getting better on that), let alone get elected more than once. Italy was never rid of fascism, in part because that wasn't in the US' interest, but also always had one of the strongest communist factions in Europe, so who knows.

What I've got to warn you about is economic struggles: Italy has among the lowest wages in developed Europe, for most of us it is impossible to afford an abode alone, most people wait until they're married because it takes two working people to be able to pay for a single apartment or house (houses for most people are only affordable way outside of cities) and where possible we get mortgages, because rents are impossible; all of our lives are coloured by monetary constraints: we drive small cars because they're cheaper to own and operate, we mostly hang clothes because driers are another appliance you have to buy and are expensive to run, we rely on a deteriorating public healthcare system because private healthcare is, while usually accessible, an expense we cannot afford.

That said, if you can manage to find good paying jobs, in my opinion this is a good place to live. Of course you need to speak Italian, there's very low knowledge of English here.
Best work chances are in the North, unfortunately it's also the least appealing when it comes to natural surroundings, fog, humid heat and bad weather are typical unless you go WAY north to the Alps. If you really feel the need to be in a left-leaning environment, Emilia Romagna is the "red" land of Italy, since the country's creation has always been governed by left wing parties, and as such has among the best public infrastructure.

Let me know if you need to know anything more.