Going to Italy to live.?

Question

I am thinking of going to Italy to live. I work as a Childminder and I do facepainting, balloon modelling, discos, bouncy castles etc for childrens parties. I live in the UK. Does anyone know if there is a market for kids parties etc in Italy and could anyone give me advice on living in Italy in general. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Am going to start learning Italian (with my kids too)

Dont fancy USA, prefer european way of life.

Answer 1

Try looking on http://britishexpats.com/ have a look at the living in Europe forum, and specifically the Italy part. Loads of help available there, if you cant find what you want, just ask.

Answer 2

I partly disagree above Conley 39's answer as I'm quite surprised by reading he has "never seen this for a child's party". This is instead rather common,at least in these last years, in my region , but I guess also elsewhere in Italy, and it's becoming more and more popular. In my small village of nor 5000 inhabitans there are at least 5 groups doing the same you're planning to do here and for sure I'm not living in a lucky island. Btw my daughter has hired a group like this for the first time this year in the occasion of my grand child birthday (10 years) and this could be a proof this job is growing...!!
As to where to live I guess in the bigger towns you'll have more opportunities for yr job (though more competitors too!!) but if I were you I would go with medium size towns (not the larger ones) as the cost of house's rental and in general of all other stuffs is way far lower than in towns like Rome, Milan o Florence. Learning Italian is for you absolutely mandatory but in the first times you could be part of a group with some native speaker while you'll be grasping yr Italian; however here youngest generations are generally speaking English, even if not fluently.
Good luck (Buona fortuna)

Answer 3

I've never seen this for a child's party in the 9 years I've lived here in northern Italy - there are several children living on the street and typically the adults get invited to the parties along with the children.

However, it is fairly common to see face painting or balloon sculptors in the piazzas during festivals. Venice is full of trucco (make-up) artists during Carnivale, but that's only a couple of weeks and there's a lot of competition. You might be able to set up during the weekly market - that's a family event here. You would probably need a license though.

Italy is a great place to live. It's very easy to get around and see other parts of the country and there's always something interesting going on somewhere. It's still very family oriented here. The people are wonderful.

Edit - I would defer to Martox on this. People in my neighborhood don't hire in entertainment for children's parties, but that doesn't mean it isn't done elsewhere. There are always balloons at the parties, but the adults blow them up. As I said, there are balloon sculptors and facepainting during the frequent festivals in town. When I lived in the US, it was very common to have children's parties at a location like a petting zoo, arcade, etc which might include balloon sculptors or facepainting.

Answer 4

hum... i know that getting a job here is very difficult even for italian people! i hope to get one after university...
come and try... maybe you'll find it out easily!

Answer 5

much more money to be made in the usa...do you know italian by the way?

Answer 6

All the best if you do decide to go

Answer 7

best of luck blue

Answer 8

Dunno,but good luck !!

Answer 9

wow