FAQ
Questions, answered properly
Everything people ring and ask about moving to Italy, written out. If yours is not here, the contact page has three ways to reach us and none of them is a chatbot.
The corridor
- Do you move to anywhere other than Italy?
- No, and that is deliberate. This is a single-corridor firm: households from the United Kingdom to Italy. Knowing one route properly — the crossings, the Italian customs process, what a Florence permit takes, which villages need a shuttle — is worth more to you than a list of twenty countries. If you are moving to France, our sister site france-removals.co.uk covers that corridor.
- Full load or part load — which do I need?
- A full house usually takes a dedicated vehicle that leaves when you are ready and drives straight there. A flat, a part-furnished property or a second home is often better as a part load sharing the route with other Italy-bound moves: less cost, less flexibility on dates. We price both so the trade-off is visible rather than assumed.
- What does Italian customs need from me?
- A detailed inventory with values, your codice fiscale, evidence of your Italian residence or your application for it, identification, and a declaration that the goods are used personal effects moving with your change of residence. We prepare and lodge the declaration; you obtain the personal documents, and we tell you exactly what each one looks like.
- Will I pay duty on my own furniture?
- Normally not. Transfer of Residence relief exists precisely so that people moving their lives are not taxed on their own used belongings. It depends entirely on the paperwork being right and consistent with what is actually on the vehicle, which is why our inventory is written at survey rather than assembled afterwards.
- Do you collect from anywhere in the UK?
- Yes. There is no base town and no collection radius here — London most weeks, and Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol regularly. Once the vehicle is heading for the Channel the rest of the journey is identical wherever it started.
- How long does a move to Italy take?
- It depends on where in Italy, whether you are on a dedicated vehicle or a shared load, which crossing the weather allows, and how clearance runs at the far end. Your written quote sets out an expected window for your specific move rather than a figure chosen because it sounds reassuring.
The journey
- Which Alpine crossing will my load use?
- Fréjus for Turin, Milan and anything heading down the A1. Mont Blanc for Lombardy and the lakes. The Brenner for Venice and the north-east. The Ligurian coast when the tunnels are closed or when Genoa and the west coast are the destination. It is chosen when the load is booked and checked again before the vehicle leaves.
- Do you handle the Italian end, or just the driving?
- The whole thing. The crew who load in the UK are the crew who unload in Italy, and the delivery includes positioning furniture, reassembling what we dismantled and taking the packaging away. Where a destination needs a local transfer — Venice by barge, the Amalfi Coast by small van — that is arranged by us and planned into the job.
- What is the inventory for?
- Two things at once. It sizes the load, and it becomes the customs document. That is why it describes contents rather than counting cartons: "carton 14 — saucepans, crockery, utensils", never "carton 14 — kitchen". A vague inventory is the commonest reason a household load sits at a border.
- Can you store things in the UK before the move?
- Yes, and it is common. Italian completions rarely land when everyone expects, and the UK end is frequently ready first. Containerised storage bridges the gap and the load travels when your Italian date is genuinely firm — far better than a vehicle arriving somewhere nobody can open.
- What cannot travel?
- Anything flammable or pressurised — petrol, gas bottles, aerosols by the crate, solvents. Most plants, perishable food and anything living. Fuel must be drained from garden machinery. Alcohol in quantity attracts duty. We go through the exclusions at survey so nothing is a surprise at the border.
Paperwork and possessions
- Can you move a car or a motorbike?
- A motorbike can travel with the load if it is prepared properly and listed separately on the documentation. Cars need dedicated vehicle transport and their own registration process in Italy — we will point you at people who do that properly rather than improvise it.
- We have antiques. Is there anything extra?
- Possibly, and it is worth raising early. Italy takes the export and import of cultural goods seriously, and genuinely old or notable pieces can need documentation an ordinary household inventory does not cover. Most family antiques are simply household goods — but establishing which yours are belongs at survey rather than at a border.
- Will my furniture fit the Italian property?
- It is worth measuring before you decide. Italian rooms, doorways and ceiling heights vary enormously between a Milanese block, a Tuscan farmhouse and a trullo in Puglia, and the openings are frequently smaller than a UK equivalent. Send us the measurements and we will tell you honestly what is worth shipping.
- Do you deliver into pedestrian historic centres?
- Regularly, and almost never with a full-size vehicle. Restricted traffic zones, narrow streets and stepped villages mean a small-vehicle transfer from a legal standing point. That is established from your address before we quote, not discovered on the day.
- Can you move us back to the UK later?
- Yes. Return moves from Italy are a regular part of the work, and the paperwork simply runs the other way — a UK customs declaration on the way in.
- How do I get a quote?
- Send the UK address and the Italian one through the quote form with a few lines about what is moving and what the access looks like at each end. We will come back to arrange a survey — a video walk-round covers most jobs — and put a written quote together, normally within a working day or two.
Still stuck? Moving to Italy covers the process, the route covers the journey, and customs covers the paperwork.
Question not covered?
Ask it. We answer questions about moving to Italy from people who have booked nothing and intend to book nothing, and that is entirely fine.