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THE FAR END

London to Italy

Removals from London to Italy Italy

Italy is where the storey question stops being about effort and starts being about possibility. These are buildings from before furniture was mass-produced, with stone stairs, low door heads and turns that were cut for people carrying baskets. On an Italian move the honest answer is sometimes that a piece does not go in at all.

Everywhere else the question is how hard. In Italy the question is sometimes whether.

Six questions about the far end

What we need to know about the new address

The floor, and the piano nobile Italian floor numbering has its own habits, and the grand first floor of an old building is frequently a full two flights up.
The lift, if there is one Measured. Many historic buildings have none at all, and where one was added it is usually the smallest we meet.
The stair material and the turn Stone, marble, and a tight spiral around a central well. Whether the handrail detaches is a real question and sometimes the deciding one.
Door heads and landings Height as well as width. A low stone door head stops a wardrobe that a wide doorway would have let through.
Vehicle access and the ZTL Whether the address sits inside a restricted traffic zone, what the permit position is, and how far the carry is if the answer is no access.
A window or balcony route In Italy this is sometimes genuinely the answer rather than a last resort, and it needs establishing in advance.

The route

The crossing, then France, then the Alps — Mont Blanc, Fréjus or a pass, depending on the season and the conditions. A closed pass is a closed pass and no removals firm controls one; we say so rather than promising a timetable.

Sole use or groupage

Sole use keeps your goods alone in the vehicle. Groupage shares the run with another household and costs less at the price of more handling — worth weighing carefully here, because Italian buildings already involve more handling than most.

Who moves on this route

  • Households moving to a job in Milan, Turin or Bologna, into older stock with a courtyard, a portineria and a small lift.
  • People moving to Rome or Florence, where a centro storico address frequently means no vehicle access and a long carry on foot.
  • Families relocating to the lakes, Tuscany or Umbria, with larger properties at the end of approaches that narrow as they climb.
  • Italian nationals returning from London, often with a part-load into a family property that is already furnished.

Destination areas

Where the load is actually going

Milan and the north-west Courtyard buildings with a portineria, a small lift and a stair around it. Restricted centre loading, enforced. The most straightforward Italian city to deliver into.
Rome Historic-centre addresses where vehicle access is often impossible and the load is carried a long way on foot. The carry is measured at survey because it sets the crew size.
Florence, Siena and Tuscany Stone stairs, low doorways, buildings older than the furniture. Some pieces do not enter, and we say which at survey.
The lakes and foothills Larger properties on approaches that narrow as they climb. Where a long vehicle cannot make the last stretch we plan a transfer rather than attempt it.
Rome southwards Naples, Puglia, Calabria. The longest Italian drive, where groupage handling counts for most and access varies enormously.

Paperwork

Who holds which document

A household move to Italy needs a customs entry and evidence that the goods are a relocation rather than an import. What follows is what is normally asked for. It is not legal, tax, customs or immigration advice.

Passport or identity document YouFor the owner of the goods, matching every other name in the file.
Codice fiscale YouThe Italian tax code, asked for as a matter of routine on a household entry.
Proof of the Italian address YouA deed, a lease, or a residenza registration with the comune.
Evidence of transfer of residence YouNormally a consular or comune document. It decides how the goods are treated.
A valued inventory UsBuilt at the packing visit, item for item, in a form the entry can be filed against.

Arriving in Italy

The crew that took the measurements in London is the crew on the Italian stair. On these buildings that matters more than on any other route we run, because the plan for a particular wardrobe on a particular turn was made by the people now carrying it.

What we need in advance is unusually specific: door head heights as well as widths, the stair material, the tightness of the turn, the ZTL position, and whether a balcony route exists. Adjectives are no use here. Centimetres are.

And where the answer is that a piece will not enter, we give it in London while the thing is still in the room. Finding out in Florence, with the item on the van and the street closed at six, is the outcome the survey exists to prevent.

London to Italy

Questions about moving to Italy

Can a piece of furniture really not fit?
Yes, and in historic Italian buildings it happens. Knowing it in London is worth a great deal; finding out in Tuscany is worth nothing at all.
What happens if an Alpine pass closes?
The load is delayed. We do not control passes, tunnels or weather. What we do control is packing good enough that sitting still does no harm.
Do you deliver inside a ZTL?
Where access is possible, yes. Where it is not, the load is carried, and the carry distance is measured at survey rather than absorbed silently.
Is a window or balcony lift normal in Italy?
More normal than people expect. It is a planned method with the right equipment, not an improvisation, and it has to be arranged in advance.
Who unloads — you or an Italian firm?
Us. Our four destinations are road routes precisely so that the crew that loads is the crew that unloads.

Send us one measurement

The clear diagonal across the tightest turn on your staircase, corner to corner, with the handrail in place. That single figure answers more questions about a London move than a room-by-room inventory does.

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