Work And Study
All EU citizens are eligible to work in Italy. The two main bureaucratic requirements are a libretto di lavoro and permesso di soggiorno, respectively a work and residence permit, both available from the Questura (police station). For the first you must have a letter from your employers saying they are prepared to take you on; for the second (which is also necessary if you want to buy a car or have a bank account in Italy), you'll need a passport, passport photos, and a lot of patience. Work permits are pretty impossible for non-EU citizens to obtain: you must have the firm promise of a job that no Italian could do before you can even apply to the Italian embassy in your home country. A useful publication to have is Live and Work in Italy by Victoria Pybus, published by Vacation Work in the UK, costing £10.99, a comprehensive guide and full of practical information. 

Work
The obvious choice is to teach English , for which the demand has expanded enormously in recent years. You can do this in two ways: freelance private lessons, or through a language school. Private lessons generally pay best, and you can charge around £30,000-42,000/?15.49-21.70 an hour, though there's scope for bargaining. Advertise in bars, shop windows and local newspapers, and, most importantly, get the news around by word-of-mouth that you're looking for work, emphasizing your excellent background, qualifications and experience. An advantage of private teaching is that you can start at any time of the year (summer especially is a good time for schoolchildren and students who have to retake exams in September); the main disadvantage is that it can take weeks to get off the ground, and you need enough money to support yourself until then. You'll find the best opportunities for this kind of work in the tourist resorts and the bigger towns and cities.

Teaching in schools , you start earning immediately. It usually involves more hours per week, often in the evening, at a lower rate per hour, though the amount you get depends on the school. Don't accept anything less than £15,000/?7.75 an hour (approximately £5/US$8), while the bigger schools should pay much more than this. For the less reputable places, you can get away without any qualifications and a bit of bluff, but you'll need to show a TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) certificate for the more professional establishments.

For the main language schools, it's best to apply in writing before you leave (look for the ads in the Guardian and Times Education Supplement , and contact the Italian Cultural Institute), preferably before the summer, though you can also find openings in September. If you're looking on the spot, sift through the phone books and do the rounds on foot, asking to speak to the direttore or his/her secretary; don't bother to try in August when everything is closed.

The best teaching jobs of all are with a university as a lettore , a job requiring fewer hours than the language schools and generally providing a fuller pay-packet. Universities require English-language teachers in most faculties, and you can write to the individual faculties (addressed to Ufficio di Personale). Strictly speaking you could get by without any knowledge of Italian while teaching, though it obviously helps a lot.

If teaching's not up your street, there's the possibility of courier work in the summer, especially around the seaside resorts. These are good places for finding bar/restaurant work , too - not the most lucrative of jobs, though you should make enough to keep you over the summer. You'll have to ask around for both types of work, and some knowledge of Italian is essential. Au pairing is another option: sift through the ads in The Lady to find openings.

Studying
One way of spending time in Italy is to combine a holiday with learning the language, or taking one of many summer courses on myriad aspects of Italian art and culture. There are a great many places where you can do this, usually offering language courses of varying levels of intensity for between one and three months.

Italy guide

Getting there
When to go
Where to go
Italy general info
Italy
Average costs
Credit and debit cards
Cost, money, banks
The euro
Insurance, health cover
Embassies, consulates
Red tapes, visas
Banks and exchange
Travelers with disabilities
North-South divide

Getting around
Ø Trains
Ø Flights
Ø Driving
Ø Cycling, motorbiking
Ø Ferries, hydrofoils
Ø Hitchhiking
 

Festivals:
Ø Religious, traditional
Ø Diary festivals
Ø Food festivals
Ø Arts Festivals
Ø Ferragosto

Italy food and drink
Ø Italian cuisine
Ø Italian pizza
Ø Lunch and dinner
Ø Drinking

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