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Girlfriends Guide to Living in Italy
19
items Where to find community, shop, order delivery, and other helpful things collected here! Comment if there are other daily living things you have questions on!
Sections
5
Community
Takeout and Delivery
Online Shopping
Day to Day Stuff
Before you Move
Community
While I consider myself an immigrant, not an expat, this group has been extremely helpful with moving to Italy as well as living here and finding community. I suggest looking up other groups specific to your city/area/town. Homesickness is inevitable...
Expats Living in Italy | Facebook
I really love this group! Here I shared the Rome specific group, if you're in a different city though, check out if there is one in your area! They organize fun events and are encouraging, compared to the Expats group the vibe is more youthful which ...
Rome | Girl Gone International | Facebook
Takeout and Delivery
Free delivery for 3 orders is: BLEMXXL My preferred app for ordering takeout or delivery, they usually have promotions going on as well!
Glovo- Food and Grocery Delivery
I make Deliveroo and Glovo compete to see who is running the best deal on the food I'm most interested in!
Deliveroo - Food and Grocery Delivery
Online Shopping
I am very picky about downloading apps for shopping but I actually really like Zalando, it is easy to favorite things and keep track of them, they regularly run promotions, and delivery/returns have been easy and painless (which is basically unheard ...
Zalando - Clothing, Shoes, Accessories etc
A bit on the higher end of pricing and quality, Marks and Spencer is one place I like to look for closet staples and ideas about outfits
Marks & Spencer Italy- Clothes, Shoes, etc
Sephora's prices are steeeep here and so sometimes I check out other places which, frankly, have better sales anyways! Notino is great, I only ever had 1 issue with a delivery and it was dealt with quickly and professionally so honestly no complaints...
Notino- Makeup, Skincare, Haircare and more
Douglas and Notino don't sell all the same brands, so if I can't find something on one, its usually on the other! Douglas runs sales frequently, I don't like their in person stores as much but online has been great!
DOUGLAS - Haircare, Makeup, Skincare, etc
I had a highly curated poshmark and thred up favorites list while living in the US, and I was bummed to lose them until I found Vinted here and realized I have all of Europe at my fingertips for second hand finds!!
Vinted -Second Hand Clothing
I like to have options and Lookfantastic is another great option for beauty products!
LOOKFANTASTIC - Haircare, Skincare, Makeup etc
Day to Day Stuff
I personally am running late most of the time and don't keep a stack of bus/metro/train tickets on me, so having an app to buy transport tickets on is super handy. For Rome, don't expect the informational side of things (time tables, train platforms,...
MooneyGo - Public Transit App
Unless you are #blessed and lucky, it can be hard to get an Italian bank account for a while. I really like Wise in the meantime, plus the conversion/transfer rates are some of the best! The downside is that you can't deposit cash, at least in Italy,...
Wise- Digital Bank
If you are a lover of Costco amounts of ibuprofen like myself, I have some bad news. Ibuprofen comes in 12-36 packs and they aren't cheap. Also, not every pharmacy has the bigger pack and for some reason they don't understand me when I say “Moment” (...
Online Pharmacy
Here is the good stuff, while it is not as strong as American ibuprofen, the coating on this helps it go down way easier and tastes way better! Important to know, there are many variations of Moment for your specific ailment, and if you can work thro...
MOMENT- Italian Ibuprofen
I am *NOT* a doctor or pharmacist so always talk to them first! Buscopan was recommended by a pharmacist when I was in agony after an IUD placement, it was the only thing that seemed to alleviate the pain a bit. Since then I used it with other cramps...
Buscopan for cramping
While I do recommend trying to find a doctor through other resources, this place does well in a pinch (for those in Rome). The only thing is that it is not cheap, and sometimes the English level is not super great. But the customer service and set up...
English-Speaking Doctors | FirstMed | Rome, Italy
I really like making photo books and coffee mugs with my dogs or otherwise making gifts for people with photos, so far I've found Photosì to be the most similar thing to sites I used in the US
PhotoSì- Print photos, books & gifts
Before you Move
People don't call or text on their normal phone plan (also NO ONE leaves voicemails, its weird), its all about whats app! This will be essential for you, the sooner you get one set up the better
WhatsApp | Secure and Reliable Free Private Messaging and Calling
Likely you're going to need to keep your US phone number, and google voice is one way to do that! This will work for most verification text messages (but not all) but last I heard you still need to do it before leaving US soil, otherwise things get m...
Google Voice- Keep Your US Number