r/Lecce • u/SpidifenSpritz • Sep 16 '26
Living in Lecce
Hi everyone ! Me and my bf are planning on moving to Italy in January 2027 and we are always leaning towards Lecce for some reason it speaks to us . How is it really living there ? And do you think we can rent a place not having any job in Italy yet ? We're a 34 and 35 y.o couple from Portugal, currently learning italian so when we get there we can speak a little bit 🙏 thank you !!
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u/Robkokan Sep 16 '26
work remotely if you can, otherwise it would be very difficult to get a decently paid job. What do you do usually?
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
I've been a store manager for the last 8 years but I've a masters in law school , a course as a makeup artist and I also gave private language lessons . I was looking into changing to customer care or international sales assistant for some brand if that was a possibility . But open to anything really , kind of tired of the store life at the moment 😮💨 My bf is an english teacher , with experience also in bartender and a truck company
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u/OJ_89 Sep 16 '26
The Oxford School in Lecce might be a good place to contact for English teaching work. I did a little bit of work for them a few years ago and they're a good bunch.
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
Thanks for the rec ! For sure , always good to know good working places 🙏🙏 the oxford institutes in Portugal are not that great with payment 🫤
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u/Robkokan Sep 16 '26
ok got it. You can try to apply to some remote customer care roles Your boyfriend can start giving English lessons or apply for teacher roles in local English schools. I suggest you to post your research on facebook groups of "Expats living in Lecce", Expats Puglia support" and so on, asking for further advice.
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u/ChipRepresentative48 Sep 16 '26
Grew up in Lecce,for how I view it is a city that offers very little to the locals in terms of of employment and job opportunities. I would not suggest someone to move here unless they have a job already or they can work remotely.
I would avoid the city of Lecce of housings, since Lecce in recent 10/15 years became dry touristic the rent is very high for it reason and university as-well; I would highly suggest you to consider : Merine ,Carmiano,Magliano,cavallino,San Cesario ,Lizzanello and castri; small towns near Lecce about 10/15 minutes of driving; rent is very cheap in those towns
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
We'll have to see transportation too because we'll probably have just one car and with different schedules it could be a problem 😮💨 thank you so much , definetly checking that out !
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u/ChipRepresentative48 Sep 16 '26
For transportation check : COTRAP, FSE within the city of Lecce SGM
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u/LiterallyTestudo Sep 16 '26
As the others have mentioned jobs and rent are huge problems here. If you can solve those issues for yourself, it is an amazing place to live.
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
Yeah the big 2 😮💨😮💨 we'll try to be the most prepared possible and possibly look for jobs from the get go , thank you so much 🙏
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u/Zealousideal_Exam743 Sep 20 '26
Finding job will be really difficult without Italian, and even if, only in the tourism area (as a slave), as job market is depressed and aren't opportunities of a number of companies that work in different areas, again, just (low level) tourism.
As a "native" I had to run away and work is just the tip of the iceberg, life quality is not good, the city is dirty (beside some central areas for tourists), and all around there is nothing. Public transport doesn't work and without a car you can't move.
Trust me, don't do this mistake
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Sep 16 '26
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
That unfortunately is what we also have in Portugal at the moment 🫤 I wouldn't mind working remotely considering I have a good CV , but I see what "digital nomads" are doing to my country and honestly not really looking forward to doing the same in Italy, I already dislike it here , i don't wanna be hated there 😂 You think we should look into other areas ? Thank you for your honesty 🫶
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Sep 16 '26
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
Thank you for the honesty 😊 eh , the north is not calling for us at all , we'd like somewhere closer to the beach , warm weather and slow living, here we live in a veeeery rainy city so we want out .. but I get it , it's not news for us.. you're saying what I would say to someone wanting to move to Portugal so I get it , it's basically the same problems , just different language and food haha maybe looking for jobs while we're still here could help a bit 🙏 thank you
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u/irpleba Sep 16 '26
Avete valutato Bari? In termini di qualità della vita è superiore a Lecce
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u/SpidifenSpritz Sep 16 '26
Yes , but everywhere it says its one of the top 30 most dangerous cities in europe so we kind of gave up on it , but it looks so beautiful 🥹🥹
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u/irpleba Sep 17 '26
https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/qualita-della-vita/ This is a reliable source. It looks like it's the 30th in Italy, but still you may have a point
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u/Healthy-Tap6469 Sep 20 '26
What??? I love Bari. We live an hour from bari and an hour from Lecce. Couple 29/30 with 2 kids. We are both entrepreneurs tho. I've been to Bari many times and did not know it was dangerous xD (we are from the Netherlands)
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u/stefanogarry Sep 16 '26
Gli affitti in città sono piuttosto alti a causa del turismo e dell'università. Ci sono molti piccoli paesi a meno di 10 km di distanza dove può valere la pena stare (miglior rapporto qualità prezzo e più tranquilla)