536 Lunigiana Bound

My husband and I are planning on relocating in Italy, specifically in the Lunigiana, by the end of 2006. We'll be buying a house before then and making the move after we have the house ready to move into. Right now we live in Ormond Beach, Florida, on the east central coast. Moving to Europe has been a dream we've shared for many years. My grandparents were born in Italy and my husband was born in Germany (he moved to the US when he was 12, in 1948.

Initially, we looked at moving to France and Germany as well as Italy. However, after looking through all the pros and cons, we decided that Italy was our country of choice and Lunigiana the area where we felt most at home.

We have seen what over development can do to the environment and moved to Florida in 1997 to get away from the congestion and pace of the Washington, DC area. While our part of Florida was still very green and relatively undeveloped when we moved here, it is fast becoming like south Florida.

We are both retired from the federal government and our retirement income is more than sufficient to support us in Italy. Right now, the dollar is up and the euro down, which seems to be the best time to buy a home.

There is one consideration to our move and we'll have to deal with that. We have 12 cats. Two are very old and one of them very ill, so it is likely that we'll be moving to Italy with 10 cats. They are all rescued, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and never go outside. (Some veterinarian will be thrilled and delighted at our arrival!)

We welcome any and all advice, suggestions, warnings, etc. from those who made the trip before us.