Kent → Italy
Removals from Kent to Italy
Kent sends fewer households to Italy than to France or Spain, and the ones it sends tend to carry more: old furniture, pictures, and the contents of a house that has been collected rather than bought.
What Kent loads look like on this route
This county has salerooms, reclamation yards and a lot of old houses, which means an Italian move out of Kent often includes pieces that need thinking about — a longcase clock, framed pictures, marble, a chest that has not moved in fifty years.
Those travel crated rather than blanket-wrapped: purpose-built cases for art, stone carried on edge with bracing, and clocks with the movement removed and packed separately. Flag them at survey and they get priced properly; discover them on the day and they get handled worse.
Over the Alps, or round them
The first leg is the county's home route — out through the crossing and into France. After that Italy offers a genuine choice.
For the north — Turin, Milan, the lakes — down through France past Dijon and Lyon and over the Alps, through Mont Blanc into the Aosta valley or Fréjus into Turin. Toll tunnels with vehicle restrictions, and both can close in bad weather.
For Tuscany, Rome and the south, the passes are often best avoided altogether: down the French Mediterranean coast past Aix and Nice, across at Ventimiglia onto the Italian Riviera, then the A10 to Genoa and the A1 south.
The ZTL, checked before loading
Almost every Italian city of any age has a restricted-traffic zone over its historic centre, enforced by camera, with automatic fines for unauthorised vehicles — occasionally several for one visit.
If the delivery address sits inside one, and in Florence, Siena, Bologna or central Rome it very likely does, the job needs either a comune permit applied for in advance or a transfer to a permitted vehicle. We check the exact address against the zone before anything is loaded in Kent.
Codice fiscale first
Apply through the consulate before you go: nothing else in the Italian process works without it. Then proof of the Italian address, the iscrizione anagrafica at the comune, and the inventory itemised and valued in Italian and signed by you.
The honest advice is to allow noticeably more lead time than you think you need, and to begin the documents before you begin the boxes.
Restorations
A large share of Kent-to-Tuscany moves attach to a house still being worked on, and restorations overrun everywhere. Holding the load in store here until the property is genuinely finished is almost always better than delivering furniture into a building site and hoping.
France covers the first part of the drive in more detail, and collections explains how we get auction pieces onto the load in the first place.
Worth knowing
Kent to Italy, before you commit
Alps or coast?
Decided by destination. Mont Blanc or Fréjus for Turin, Milan and the lakes — both toll tunnels with vehicle restrictions and both capable of closing in bad weather. For Florence, Rome and further south the vehicle often runs down the French coast and crosses at Ventimiglia instead: longer on the map, more reliable in practice.
What is a ZTL and why does it matter to a removal?
A zona a traffico limitato — the camera-enforced restricted zone over the historic centre of nearly every Italian city. Unauthorised vehicles are fined automatically. Delivering inside one needs a permit arranged in advance with the comune or a transfer to a permitted smaller vehicle, and neither can be organised on the morning.
What does Italian customs want?
A codice fiscale first — the Italian tax code, which everything else hangs off. Then proof of the Italian address, evidence of residency through the iscrizione anagrafica at the comune, and an itemised, valued inventory in Italian signed by you.
We have antiques. Is that a complication?
It is a consideration rather than a complication. Italy regulates cultural property: pieces above a certain age and value need an export licence to leave Italy later, which matters if you might move on. Bringing them in is straightforward with proper crating and careful valuation.
The Italian house is being restored. Ship now or wait?
Wait, almost always. Furniture delivered into an active restoration gets ruined — dust, unfinished floors, trades in and out, no lockable door. Hold the load in store in Kent until there are finished floors and a door that locks.
Do you deliver to the lakes?
Como, Maggiore and Garda regularly. The access problems there are lakeside rather than urban: narrow shore roads, steep private drives, and properties reached on foot from a parking area. Photographs at survey save a great deal of trouble.
Is Italy harder than France or Spain?
Administratively, generally yes. More moving parts, more say for the comune, and documents checked more closely. None of it is difficult; it simply punishes improvisation and rewards starting early.
Send the exact address, and a list of the old pieces.
The address tells us whether there is a restricted zone. The list tells us what needs crating rather than wrapping. Both change the plan.