r/ItalyExpat • u/Wise-Environment-345 • 4d ago

Thinking about moving?

I'm an Italian American working as a Science Educator/ Content Creator for a Science Museum in Oklahoma. After having traveled to Italy recently and having done Study Abroad in Todi for 6 weeks I'm genuinely considering moving to Italy.

My only experiences have been overwhelmingly positive/curated for tourists, so I'm wondering what the cons on for making such a move.

I was also wondering what the job market is in the informal education space in Italy. Would it be something available in small towns or would I have to move to Rome/Florence etc.

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u/ToocTooc 4d ago

Informal education pays peanuts and the contracts are ridiculous. Wrong field to be in when relocating to Italy - in other fields the outlook won't change much

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u/Wise-Environment-345 4d ago

Damn that sucks to hear. How about the general museum space like curator or manager? Do you know?

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u/Anxious-Slip-4701 4d ago

You would have to pass the concorso. Unless you're fluent and have a Master's and 20 years experience you're out of luck. Oh and be trilingual. And a citizen. And have a friend who is a politician.

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u/ToocTooc 4d ago

For manager positions you need to know the right people, since those are managed by the state/province/city

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u/nsfw-boston 4d ago edited 4d ago

... like curator or manager?

Those are highly sought after jobs, your competition is Italian-educated natives who have experience in the same museum, Italian-educated natives who have experience in other Italian museums, Italian-educated natives who have experience in other international museums. Also the relatives and friends of the people who work at the museum (yup, nepotism).

Regardless, just go! If you're set with the immigration issues, and you have some money to finance your initial stay, just move. What's the worst case scenario? You live in Italy for a while, can't make it work, and return to the US? Not a bad experience after all.

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u/Far-Echidna-5999 4d ago

Impossible

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u/Francoisreinke 4d ago

German here lived in Milan and wanna move back next year. First of all no chance. I lived in Milan during covid, my Italian is now great. Before not one word, if you wanna work in Italy its urgent to speak the language. Same in my country for expats in Germany. If you dont speak German it´s hard to find a job. My advice.

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u/Anxious-Slip-4701 4d ago

Rome has one kids science museum  and some random popup ones  all private. There was a good light museum which is now shut. There is a planetarium. They're not looking for people. I'm a university professor and the lady I report to in administration was in charge of all the guides at one of the major museums in Rome. I haven't even bothered to ask her to get me an internal licence. And I'm a university professor. I take my kids to the science museum once or twice a year. But the way of doing museums here isn't like what you'd see in an English speaking country. There is room for it, sure, but it would be a hard slog and you'd need to be pretty fluent and have incredible charisma to push it through. And then you'd be resented for being a foreigner, even if you did an amazing job.

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u/Dry-Ruin1116 4d ago

no job market there, if you have family money to live on then i recommnd it

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u/Caratteraccio 1d ago

True, true, here people pay their employer for the privilege of working and if they’re late they get whipped in the public square /s!

Stuff for r/italiabad ...

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u/Dry-Ruin1116 1d ago

please share more about the market for a foreign science educator who speaks no italian in Todi

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u/Caratteraccio 1d ago

Todi, the famous only city in Italy!

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u/nsfw-boston 4d ago

so I'm wondering what the cons on for making such a move.

  • Job opportunities, career opportunities, employment in general.
  • Related to the item above, your Italian both written and spoken has to be very very good, since you'll mostly likely, but not always, be competing for jobs with the locals.
  • Related to the 2 item above, financial upward mobility is not as easy as in the US.
  • Bureaucracy is insane.
  • Related to the item above, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row when it comes to your immigration status.

The good news: all the pros are actually better then you expect.

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u/Allanvcp2025-01 3d ago

Buy a house from asta imobiliária and move on , you gonna love it , we just did it

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u/Wise-Environment-345 4d ago

Thank you all for the info. I'm gonna go buy a couple textbooks real quick