Banking

We can definitely recommend a Banco Posta account.  We've been here 2 years now and haven't needed to have any other type of account.  Pretty straightforward, OKish website & extremely good value compared to other Italian banks.  As for broadband we have an ASDL service provided by Fastweb but we live in the middle of a sizeable town and it may not be good or even avilable in all areas.  It's been a fair price (apart from what I consider to be a highish charge to move the service to a new flat) and speeds are infinitely superior to some which family back in the UK have.  I have however heard some horror stories (on this site?  not sure) about general customer service and difficulties cancelling a contract / DD.

We had a Banco Posta account - very easy to operate both in branch and online. One advantage is that branches are open on Sat am, unlike other banks, but dependng upon where you are, may not be open after 1300 which could be a disadvantage to some. Check whether there is an ATM at your local branch. Makes life so much easier if there is one. As for broadband, it very much depends upon where you are. We had to use Telecom Italia as there was no viable option, but in other areas, especially cities, you are spoilt for choice. I would ask around once there and see which company is recommended locally. Good luck with the move, exciting times ahead! Just remember to pack lots of patience - three weeks to deal with Italian bureaucracy may seem a generous amount of time but don't be surprised if even the simple things take longer!

We had an account with Banco Popolare d'Ancona but changed to BP becuase of the high charges, V satisified with the BP accout. We are with TI/Alive for our broadband. Pretty good as far as we are concerned and we are on it for about 12 hours a day. With ref to Tartuffa comments about complaints with TI, you can sign up for all sorts of services on the Web, but  they don't appear to let you unsubscribe via the web! This may account for some of difficulties people have had with them. TI also offer an "all-you-can-eat" service for international calls to west Europe and USA for €10,00 per month. If you make a few cals to the UK alone each month, this is quite good value.   Buon Viaggio!

Thanks  everyone

Hmmm, hopefully it willl all go smoothly, but you should be aware that Italian bureaucracy is a serial process, and you may not be able to establish contracts or the like until you are the proprietor of your house. It isn't as if anyone is determined to block your rational ideas of getting it all sorted "ahead of time" - just that maybe they cannot comprehend why you would want to do this! I'm just posting this to alert you to an Italian mindset which you might encounter and find offensive or obsructive: that is not their intention (in my experience) they are just being 'sensible' in their terms.

I tried to open an account on-line about a month ago and all was going well until the very last page when I was asked to check everything was correct.  I did, it was, and then when I tried to "continue" - there was a message stating there was an error.  No explanation of what the error was or how to get round it - message just said there was an error and nothing I could do about it.  Seemed to be a technical error rather than information as that had all been accepted.  Hope you have better luck!