Paul and Kim Donaldson sold their home in Cornwall and bought a two-bedroom apartment in Italy’s Abruzzo region
A retired British couple who left the UK before Brexit and bought a home in a historic Italian palazzo say they are relieved to have escaped the bureaucratic nightmare unleashed by the UK leaving the EU.
Paul Donaldson, 59, and his wife Kim, 62, sold their house in Cornwall in 2020, fours years after the Brexit vote, and moved to Italy’s central Abruzzo region.
“I have always felt that I was British, but also European – a part of a larger community. My mother was born in Croatia and raised in Italy, my wife’s mother was German and she has French and Portuguese blood on her father’s side,” Mr Donaldson, a former guitar teacher and musician, told The i Paper.
For them, it was vital that they secure residency in the EU before the Brexit deadline to avoid the resulting bureaucracy and the far more stringent residency rules for non-EU citizens.
Since the UK left the EU in January 2020, British citizens have been limited to spending 90 days in every 180 days in the bloc. In October, the EU began rolling out its new EES digital border management system, which includes biometric checks and tighter airport controls.
“Brexit was such a terrible decision in my opinion. The manipulation of the public by the media was, and continues to be, criminal,” Mr Donaldson added.
The couple had already considered buying a holiday home in Italy years before, with a view to moving there when they retired, so in 2015 they embarked on a cross-regional property tour.
“I have family in Trieste and Foligno, but we didn’t want to retire to a big city. We set a budget of about £80,000. I found an advert for a house for sale in Penne; we decided to visit and also see a few places in Umbria and other towns in Abruzzo,” Mr Donaldson said.
The Donaldsons realised quickly that they wanted a property in a small, busy town where everything was in walking distance. They also realised that there was nothing affordable in Umbria.
They came across the rural town of Penne in Abruzzo and felt it was an “authentic” place with a feeling of community.
So in 2016 they bought their dream home in the town’s old district, a two-bedroom apartment of 90 square metres in a 17th-century palazzo, with lower and upper panoramic terraces. The historic dwelling did not require any renovation and was fully furnished, ready to move into.
Mr Donaldson said he knew he did not want to live in the countryside anymore. Back in Cornwall, their 120-square-metre cottage was 200 years old and had a lot of land. However, this was, in his view, a “pain”.
“The apartment cost £80,000, we bought it from an English woman and paid in sterling, which was lucky. The purchase went through on 29 June, six days after the Brexit referendum. If we had been buying in euros, we would have had to find another £17,000.”
Having gained Italian citizenship in 2019, the Donaldsons say they are glad to have escaped from the “bureaucratic nightmare” of the 90-day rule and additional travel administration that followed the Brexit referendum.
The couple is now leading a “pretty idyllic” life in Italy, and still manage to travel around Italy and further afield, with recent trips to Tuscany and Krakow.
Mr Donaldson plays jazz-funk gigs solo or with his band in Italian piazzas, bars and at fairs. Mrs Donaldson, a former booking agent, organises all his events.
In Penne, which is situated between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains, the couple try to take advantage of the access to nature. In May and September they go to the beach, which they avoid in the height of summer, opting instead for their large terrace to escape the crowds. In autumn and winter they enjoy hiking in the mountains and snowshoeing.
Perhaps surprisingly, one thing they do miss about Britain is the weather, as well as the people they know back at home.
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“It’s not perfect. The summers have become murderously hot and we do miss friends and family back home, but we have an airport on our doorstep with regular flights to the UK, so it’s easy to scratch that itch”, Mr Donaldson said.
He added: “We both feel so lucky that we live here. We are still British, but we are also Europeans.”
