I moved to Italy just around 25 years ago, it has been a change for the better overall, but with a lot of ups and downs. I'd love to say I have a great work life balance, as often portrayed, but I've never worked so hard or such long hours in my life ( min hours are 40 per week) The red tape took some getting used to, there are so many rules, easier now with internet but still very, very frustrating. You need a lot of documents, have to go to most public offices armed with hundreds of photocopies of everything and then be prepared to queue for hours. There are a lot of taxes to pay which can mean a lot of time off work, I've used so much of my holiday allowance getting all my post Brexit docs in order, taking mornings off, days off etc. Here in the north it's very expensive, most of an entire month's salary goes on rent of a 2 bed flat ( €1500 plus condo fees) we have no minimum wage, although there's a Government contract for every sector which says how much we're paid, how often we're paid ( it can be as much as 16 times a year) how many days holiday we have and our working hours.
On the plus side, I can see I'm in a much better situation than my UK family & friends for healthcare and workers rights & pension. Sadly the UK is a place I no longer recognise and from an outside perspective, it seems to be very broken. A few years ago we were considering moving back, but now I know we're better off here.
I eat great quality food ( although we do have to cook from scratch every day, which sometimes is annoying ) have good holidays, live in a very clean place with low crime and I find the people to be very decent and respectful.
I moved here speaking zero Italian, now I'm pretty fluent from just integrating and speaking daily.