Does anyone live in Italy?

[Almostreadyforautumnnow]

What is it like?
Is there an ex pat community?
Was it hard to learn Italian?

I lived there for years,2 of my children were born there.I lived in Milan,there was a big expat community,lots of English speaking groups to join.Italian is an easy language to learn I think,but I don’t understand dialects!

The north is very different from the south,I love Naples,it is my favourite place on the planet,yet it gets a bad press.I couldn’t live there though with Vesuvius looming over the city.

Italians are family focused and I didn’t make many Italian friends.The south is more friendly than the north.
My husband worked there which is why we lived there.

Sounds wonderful, were you sad to leave? How does it compare to the uk?