1247 Anyone started a small business ?

Colin
I don't know anything about small businesses in Italy but I believe the country is in recession at the moment.
Having said that the right business in the right area should do ok.
I also believe that you should have a good command of the language.
To get the right responses maybe you should give a clue to the type of business and the area you are interested in.

Stribs

If you use the "search" facility, there are a couple of threads already on the economy, as stribs has already said, depends what you intend doing and where, many people start up businesses all the time, some work some don't, a bit like almost everywhere really. :)

I'd suggest that the EU might make things easier; if you set up a company that [i]deals with Italy[/i], then (in terms of bureaucracy) you might find it easier 'sticking with what you know' & setting up a company that's UK registered & UK based.

In my experience, it's not where a company's based that's the keyto a successful business, it's whether it's got something good to sell. The desire to make money (or just keep your head above water!) is universal, so you'd better have a good idea, so if you are selling to locals, then again, I defer to the previous comments.

........sorry if this sounds patronising. I'm sure you've sussed that a company [i]has to have a good idea[/i] thing already.

One question.......do you need to set up a company? I'm sure there going to be a rather energetic (ahem!) local economy that you could tap into........

As someone who has set up in business as a libero-professionista providing IT and website development services here in Italy I would seriously tell you to consider your options carefully.

If you already have a business in the UK (Like I did) and are considering moving it to Italy I suggest it might be better if you can leave it in the UK by taking on a silent partner or something, as taxes, expenses and bureaucracy are a lot less in the UK.

You will also find that depending on what business you are in there may be requirements for specific qualifications before being able to setup in certain businesses, which are sometimes impossible to get due to yearly quota's. Selling coffee and alcohol come to mind.

No - but want to!!

Depending on what you like to do some time you can get lots of help financially from local authority (comune o regione) specially if you are increasing the tourism in the area and if you are setting up a new business. If you are fluent with the language you can find some helpful information’s on the web of the comune o regione. Keep in mind that taxation and bureaucracy can be a bit painful (more expensive then in the uk )in italy but if you believe in what you like to achieve then you will be fine…. :)
stef

I tried.. It cost me a 1000 Euro's. You can set up a company in Canada in 1 day. In Italy after 3 months I was still at the beginning stage. I decided to drop the idea for now.