Emigrating to Italy: how do you get your belongings from the Netherlands to Tuscany?
How do you move your belongings from the Netherlands to Tuscany when emigrating to Italy? A personal and practical story about sorting, selling, packing and moving part of your life abroad.
6/6/20263 min read
Emigrating to Italy: how do you get your belongings from the Netherlands to Tuscany?
Over the past few weeks, the same thought kept popping up every now and then: how on earth are we going to get all our belongings from the Netherlands to Italy?
Emigrating to Italy sounds romantic, but at moments like this it becomes very practical: how do you move your belongings, your household goods and, ultimately, part of your life to Tuscany?
When we were still living in our house in the Netherlands and I walked through the rooms, I only then realised how much we had collected over the years. The advantage of having a lot of space is that you can also collect a lot of things without really noticing that the house is filling up.
And yes, that turned out to be quite a challenge. We had sold our house and did not yet have a house in Italy. We knew that, and we had found a good temporary solution, but it still created a fair amount of decision stress. What could come with us to the temporary address, and what could not?
So, on a rainy weekend, armed with a tape measure, pen and paper, and followed around by the family, we went through every piece of furniture in the house. The furniture we knew would be coming with us was measured. The furniture we were unsure about was subjected to a proper inspection.
One example was a wardrobe, completely filled. Or rather: overflowing with clothes. With three women in the house, I have learned by now that this is a sensitive subject to comment on. For that reason, I will keep my opinion to myself. Let’s just say the wardrobe is not coming with us and has since been sold. As for the contents of the wardrobe, I have no active memory of them. 😊
We knew not everything could come with us, so a lot had to go. Credit for that goes to Hanneke. This is the department I wisely stayed out of. Hanneke, now practically a top seller on Marktplaats with buyers from both home and abroad, has turned selling things into an art form.
Seriously, items that I would look at and think, “straight into the bin and that’s that,” Hanneke sees as potential sales opportunities. Like an account manager with a target to hit, she has welcomed the most remarkable people at our door over the past few weeks. And to be fair: almost everything has now been sold, and our temporary home is even starting to feel a little empty.
Forty cubic metres went with the removal company. If you say it quickly, it does not sound like much. But when the movers came to collect everything and loaded it into the truck like a giant game of Tetris, it became clear once again that we had quite a lot of stuff. The big advantage: everything from the “this absolutely has to come with us” selection is now on its way.
And honestly, I often read that the move is the final step in the emigration process. I seriously considered driving our belongings to Italy myself. I could already picture myself heading to Tuscany like some sort of Dutch DIY comedy act. But the closer the move came, the more I started to wonder: do I really want to be that person?
Where would I find the time to drive back and forth several times with our household goods? Not to mention the van, the maximum weight, the costs and everything else involved. No, that was not going to happen. No DIY moving adventure for me!
So we decided to request several quotes from removal companies that specialise in moves to Italy. I walked through our house with five different companies. We had everything from down-to-earth Brabant practicality — “oh, is this all, no problem at all” — to a full photo presentation of one company’s vehicle fleet, proudly featuring an electric truck. During that appointment, I briefly had the feeling that the man in question would rather have been a car salesman than an account manager.
In the end, we made our choice. A choice based on flexibility, costs and communication.
Those choices are becoming very real again now, because very soon the removal truck will arrive in Italy. I will also be heading that way myself with a van, so I can take as many of the temporary belongings with me as possible. At first, it did not seem like there was much left here, but the contents of the previously mentioned wardrobes appear to be filling the car all by themselves.
And in the spirit of clearing things out, we also found a box tucked away in the small attic, a box we had put there twelve years ago. Yes, and I am the guilty one in this case. A box full of memories is not something you throw away. In fact, you simply put it back into the moving truck and take it with you to Italy.
As mentioned, we will soon be heading back to Italy. Back to the house that is slowly becoming our home; with every new discovery, with our belongings, and with the memories we are bringing along with us.