bank account

not sure where you are maureen but we have a current account at Banca Delle Marche, cost is approx 7 euros per month.opened the account at local office - easier dealing face to face 

Poste Italia

Hi we opened a bank account with Banca Intesa...now called Banco di Napoli. They charge us 10 euros a month. Dont know if you have a branch in your area but try them!! Fortunatly for us our Bank Manager speaks wonderful english & made opening the account soooooo easy!!

 Our bank charged us € 35 + tax every three months. I went to another bank and told them that I was looking for a cheaper alternative. Now we pay the tax  € 8 and charges € 5 every three months.  No internet banking and to withdraw money one has to use the ATM or pay with the cards in shops.  

Hi. We are just about to purchase our house in abruzzo, can you advise the best insurance companys to use, and info on ones to avoid. thaks Maureen

We've had an account with Intesa San Paolo for about 2 years and only lately realised we have been paying fairly high charges on a piecemeal basis. We had a chat with our manager just yesterday and she immediately changed us to a cheaper system, at 10 euro per quarter. We get a complete banking service including online banking.- seems OK to me now.

the comments from above are they from residents or none residents!! i think there are different ratesthe 10 euros a quarter is that the total for all taxes , transactions etc.We seem to pay about 35 euros taxes a quarter plus tranactions chargesseen our bank charges range from 300 to 400 euros a year

I used Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and opened the account in the UK  as they had a local branch in Le Marche (where the account was opened for me) so it was easy to facilitate and get the cheques etc  to pay the Notario.  They were extremely helpful cheque book / bancomat / online banking etc all ready for me when I went into the local branch in Fermo to sign the papers. I believe that Poste Italiane is by far the cheapest in terms of charges - at least this is what most Italians tell me but my understanding is you need to get your residency to open account with them.  Charges with BMP di Siena and most other banks apply higher charges to non-residents (conto estero)  ....when you eventually become a resident ...compulsory after 18 months of first home purchase .....you then switch over the account to a residents account.  I incurred a Euro 200 charge for them receiving my funds to purchase my house but all in all their transaction fees seem reasonableWith regards to buildings / contents insurance I used Intasure (www.intasure.com) - they were very helpful and efficient and very reasonable price given.  I followed advise on here and they have had  very postive feedbackNot sure where you are based but if you need any other info feel free to PM me - I have just purchased my farmhouse in le Marche at the beginning of September

Monte dei Paschi is probably considered as Italy's premier bank. A cheque drawn on an account with them will almost certainly be taken as cash.

Can anyone advise me where I can get information  on the history of the property we have just purchased in Abruzzo.