For the mature household with a long Italian arrangement. Tuscan villas. Umbrian townhouses. The slow Italian country interior.
The Sevenoaks Italian move is cultural rather than impulsive. The Tuscan villa held for twenty years, the Umbrian townhouse restored over a decade, the family connection to a Chianti village through three generations. Mature professionals and pre-retirement couples completing a long Italian arrangement. We handle the UK side; the destination side has its own established rhythm.
Plate II · Italy
Sevenoaks and rural Italy share a register that few will articulate but most who live in both will recognise. The considered restoration of a long-held property, the slow rhythm of the seasons, the importance of getting things done properly rather than quickly. Our Sevenoaks Italian customers are typically mature professionals or pre-retirement households with an Italian arrangement of long standing — a Tuscan villa purchased in the 1990s and gradually restored, an Umbrian townhouse in Todi or Spoleto, a stone farmhouse in the Marche held since the children were small.
The Italian language is often a part of the family history. Independent-school children who took Italian to A-level. A parent who studied art history at the Courtauld and led on the family acquisition. Decades of summers in the destination region. The Italian move, when it comes, is therefore not first contact — it is the conclusion of a long relationship.
Italian customs is procedural and well-known. We file the UK-side ToR1 with HMRC and the Italian-side declaration with the Agenzia delle Dogane. You provide the codice fiscale (usually issued at the Italian consulate years before any move was contemplated, or held from long property ownership), the residency-evidence pack, and the inventory we prepare from the Sevenoaks-side survey. Italian customs is more procedural than French — inventories require euro-denominated valuations submitted in Italian — but we handle the translation and the filing on your behalf.
Established Sevenoaks couple, often with a substantial property in the town or surrounding villages, completing the move to a Tuscan or Umbrian property that the household has known for fifteen or twenty years. The UK home is sold or retained as a UK base; the Italian property is becoming the principal residence. We handle the consignment with the discretion the move deserves — no spectacle, no pressure on the timeline.
Independent-school family (one or both Sevenoaks School / Tonbridge School parents) where Italian language, art history, or cuisine has been a substantial part of the family identity. The move to Italy is therefore the natural conclusion of decades of cultural connection — the named Tuscan village, the known restorer, the family relationship with the comune. We work in support of that established context rather than introducing the family to it.
Sevenoaks business owner — often a professional services practice or a family business — winding down toward retirement, with an Italian property held as a long-term arrangement now becoming the principal residence. Often a phased move with several consignments rather than a single load-out, coordinated around the business sale or succession. We work to the business calendar where it matters and to the family calendar where it matters more.
Our service taxonomy is by current life position rather than by transition stage. The same corridor runs differently for a mature professional than for a pre-retirement household.
Established Sevenoaks household, fifties or early sixties, completing a long-planned move to a destination property held for years. The UK home is sold or retained as a UK base. The move is dignified rather than urgent; we schedule around the destination completion and the UK arrangement, not the other way around.
Pre-retirement household, one or both adults winding down professional careers, taking the move to a destination property that has been part of the family arrangement for years. Often phased — several consignments rather than a single load-out. We coordinate the phasing carefully; the household keeps its life together throughout.
Sevenoaks business owner — often a professional services practice or family business — winding down toward retirement, with an overseas property held as a long-term arrangement becoming the principal residence. Often a phased move with several consignments coordinated around the business sale or succession.
Sevenoaks family where the children have left for university and professional life; the long-held overseas property — Dordogne stone house, Tuscan villa, Alpujarras village house, Algarve community residence — is becoming the principal residence. The remaining UK-side items make the final consignment; the destination household already exists.
Yes — the codice fiscale does not expire. A long-held codice from years of Italian property ownership is fully valid for the residency-evidence pack and the customs declaration. Confirm at the survey conversation; if the codice has been issued to a household member who has since changed name (marriage, deed-poll) a small clerical update may be needed at the Agenzia delle Entrate, which we will flag.
Materially. A long-restored property is essentially a working household already — bedrooms made up, kitchen equipped, library on shelves. The 'move' is therefore typically a partial consignment of the items that close the chapter on the Sevenoaks home rather than a full-house relocation. The customs side is correspondingly modest, and the survey conversation is weighted toward the specific items that travel rather than a generic full-house inventory.
Yes. For households with working land — olives, vines, fruit — the move is often timed to avoid disruption to a harvest or to coincide with the quieter agricultural months. We have done enough of these to know that the August harvest holds the family in Italy and the autumn settles the agricultural year; load-out dates can be planned accordingly. The conversation at survey reflects this.
Completing the move to a French property held for years — the Dordogne, Languedoc, established Provence.
Read the briefInland Andalusia, established expat enclaves, the mature considered Spanish move. Not the Costa.
Read the briefMature considered Portuguese moves — established Algarve, Alentejo, Lisbon and Porto cultural.
Read the briefA surveyor will visit at your pace. Considered conversation, written quote held in writing, discreet handling.