Graham Beresford, 62, originally from Glasgow, moved to the Italian region of Abruzzo in 2019 – before Brexit rules made everything more difficult
A British man who retied early and moved to Italy with his wife has described how they rushed to do so before Brexit after realising they would never be able to live in the EU otherwise.
Graham Beresford, 62, originally from Glasgow, moved to the central Italian region of Abruzzo in 2019 and managed to secure residency just in time before Brexit rules made it far mor expensive and onerous for non-EU citizens.
The couple, who have three adult children, already owned a home in the town of Penne, which they had bought in 2014 for just £70,000.
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Beresford had spent a lot of my time working around the UK as an operations director for an energy management company, and was living in Manchester when he decided to take early retirement.
“It was always my intention to retire to Italy, but not as early as I did. The reason I brought my retirement date forward was entirely due to Brexit,” he told The i Paper.
“In common with many Scots, I was dead against leaving the European Union and the more information I obtained about the consequences, I realised that if I didn’t move prior to Brexit I never would be able to retire to any place in the EU due to the financial requirements for third-country citizens.”
View of Penne, Abruzzo, where Mr Beresford bought a home in 2014 (Photo: Dea/M Borchi/ De Agostini via Getty)
If he wanted to live in Italy after Brexit he would have had to apply for an elective residence visa, requiring at least €31,000–€38,000 (£27,030-£33,134) annually for a single applicant from pensions, investments or rental income.
While the average median salary in the UK is around £37,000, few Britons have a pension or passive income of that magnitude, he said, so it was never an option.
So in 2018, he and his wife sold their house in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire for around £214,000, and paid off the outstanding mortgage. This left them with enough money to live on until Beresford was able to claim his local government pension when he reached 60.
“The original Brexit date was April 2019 so I handed in my notice, sold my house and car and gave away most of my possessions to charity. I moved to Italy two weeks prior to the original Brexit date. Of course the date was put back to December 2019, but I had already registered as an Italian resident using the rules which applied to EU citizens,” he said.
Beresford says his quality of life in the historic town is the best it has ever been (Photo: De Agostini via Getty)
The UK finally left the EU on 31 January 2020.
He said, however, that there was also another factor pushing him to make a fresh start: he had previously been diagnosed with blood cancer and had become very aware of his mortality.
“Many people put off retiring too late and due to ill and health never get to enjoy their later years. I was determined that wouldn’t happen to me,” he said.
“My quality of life 1761372312 is the best it has ever been. My time is my own and I have time to enjoy the things that make my life worthwhile. I think that the pandemic made a lot of people reassess their lives and realise there is more to life than working five to six days a week to earn money to buy things that you don’t need.”
The family originally came across the town of Penne when they visited Abruzzo on holiday in 2013, and Beresford described it as love at first sight. He picked the town by chance on Google street view, he said. It seemed a “pretty town” with good transport links, a hospital and supermarket at walking distance.
Their three-bedroom home is in the historic centre of Penne with “sweeping views” of the Apennine mountains. It is 40 minutes away from the sandy beaches of the Adriatic Sea and the mountain trails, as well as hilltop villages filled with medieval churches and palaces.
“It really is a fantastic place to live and the people are so welcoming. I love the weather and the food tastes so much better,” he said.
He bought a car and the couple now spend most of their days walking around town, exploring the mountains or down at the beach with their dog. Family members often visit and they take trips across Italy.
Beresford has even set up a local dog walking group, arranging hikes along the mountain trails.
Life in Abruzzo is also cheaper, he said. Back in Manchester his annual pay before tax was around £55,000. “The income from my local government pension is now around £10,000 per year and we can live comfortable on that,” he said.