[cliveowen]

I'm an Italian living in Rome and I can confirm everything you've said.

> Never tried it but starting a business is probably a lot of > paper work.

It's not only a bureaucratic nightmare, it's also a losing proposition: we have probably the highest tax rate among the developed contries.

> working there may be a challenge

It's way more than a challenge, our economy went down the drain since 2008 and there's no sign of recovery. It's so bad that more than 250k Italians have moved to London since 2011 and it's gonna get worse. All in all, I wouldn't recommend an American to move here.

[dlayf]

Wow, crazy to hear that its still like that. As an American, we take for granted that our economy tends to recover quickly.

Having all of your smart citizens move away has to be terrible for a country. What industries are hit the hardest?