Escape from Italy, why more and more compatriots are choosing Spain
The Iberian country is chosen by an increasing number of Italians because of the job opportunities, welfare and civil rights
by Silvia Martelli (Il Sole 24 Ore), Annalisa Godi and José Ramón Pérez Patricio (El Confidencial, Spain)
4' min read
4' min read
According to estimates from the Migrantes foundation's 'Italians in the World' report, there are almost 256 thousand Italian residents in Spain. However, data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) photograph an even more substantial reality: more than 325 thousand people with Italian passports live permanently in the Iberian country, an exponential growth if we consider that, just 25 years ago, there were about 24 thousand.
There is no shortage of opportunities to get to know and live in Spain: with the Erasmus programme, around 8,000 Italian students leave for the main country on the Iberian peninsula every year, around one third of the total number of those who take part in the European call. But today it is not just a temporary experience. More and more people choose to move to Spain to live and work, part of a migratory phenomenon that some define as a 'silent migration', capable of progressively modifying the social and economic fabric of Spanish cities. In 2024, according to Istat, 18,894 Italians chose to move to Spain, making it the second country of destination after Germany.
Spain is going through an intense growth phase: in 2023 GDP grew by 2.7 per cent, in 2024 by 3.2 per cent, and for 2025 it is estimated at between 2.5 and 2.7 per cent. The country has sustained its growth thanks to exports of goods and services, particularly financial and consulting services, but also information technology and communications. Also crucial is the development of renewable energy and, more recently, favourable legislation for the birth and development of innovative start-ups. Helping to encourage the arrival of foreign workers is the so-called 'Beckham Law', which for six years provides for reduced taxation (24%) on income received from Spanish sources.
Among the many Italians who have chosen Spain is Marcello Brandi, who arrived in Barcelona in 2023 with his wife and three-year-old daughter. A graduate in Business Administration and Management from Milan's Bocconi University, he works remotely for Trimble Inc., an American multinational based in Germany. For Brandi, the move represented a radical life change: 'In Barcelona, they believe in the future,' he says. 'When we left, my daughter was very young, now she is learning three languages: Italian, Spanish and Catalan'.
The very presence of co-official languages in some regions is a further element of integration. 'Knowing Catalan is helping me to really get into the community,' Brandi explains. And it is no coincidence: about a quarter of Italians living in Spain live in Catalonia.
