Italy Just Dropped a 200-Page Report on Digital Nomads. We Read It So You Don’t Have To.
The Nomag Pulse #32
A massive, thoughtful, beautifully complex deep dive into digital nomadism, remote work and rural regeneration — though not always in the way you’d expect.
Every now and then, Italy produces something unexpected.
A perfect ricotta. A mayor with a TikTok account. And — once every few years — a 200+ page report on digital nomadism.
Yes, the 4th Report on Digital Nomadism in Italy, published by Associazione Italiana Nomadi Digitali, is out. We had a look at the preview, but you will soon able to download it from here.
And because we love you, dear Nomag readers, we read it. All of it. Including the footnotes. Including the charts. Including the part where rural coliving becomes the new spiritual path to national regeneration.
And you know what?
It’s good.
Really good.
But also… very Italian in its ambition to make one phenomenon explain everything.
Let’s break it down.
The report is huge. And genuinely impressive.
Credit where it’s due: Alberto Mattei and the entire team put together something that feels more like a white paper + think tank manifesto + anthropology seminar than a simple report.
There’s data, analysis, comparisons, global case studies, policy proposals, and contributions from half of Italy’s smartest rural-innovation people.
It’s rigorous. It’s ambitious.
And it’s exactly the kind of work more countries should do.
Massive respect.
But here’s the first twist: it’s not really about digital nomads.
At least… not the way the world uses the term.
If you’re thinking about nomads as:
people who travel internationally,
stay 1–3 months per location,
work remotely,
mix community, climate and cost-of-living arbitrage,
this report is not exactly describing them.
Instead, it focuses heavily on:
slowmads (longer stays, deeper ties),
remote workers coming from Italian cities,
professionals relocating to rural areas,
coliving residents,
temporary inhabitants of small towns.
Beautiful discussions.
But different phenomena.
This is where our Nomag brain kicked in.
Nomadism, remote work and rural regeneration are three overlapping but distinct movements.
The report often folds them together as if they are one single wave.
Are they related? Absolutely.
Are they strategically aligned? Often.
Are they the same thing?
Not really.
What it gets very right
A. The shift to smaller towns is real
The data mirrors what we see every week across Europe:
Nomads and remote workers are increasingly choosing small towns, nature, slower rhythms, and community-based living.
Italy, of course, is a dream scenario — if you fix the bureaucracy.
B. Coliving is the real infrastructure of the future
The report dives deep into rural coliving, and honestly, this is one of its strongest parts.
Shared spaces as engines of regeneration?
Absolutely.
We see it firsthand with our partners — especially , whose projects are literally designed around this logic.
C. The cultural and social impact matters more than the numbers
Nomads don’t just “visit” — they live, contribute, spend, collaborate and create unexpected synergies.
This is the part where the report shines the most: a modern, grounded storytelling about belonging, identity and temporary citizenship.
What left us a bit… unconvinced
Here’s the thing: if you read the report cover to cover, you’ll notice a recurring theme:
Digital nomadism → remote work → rural repopulation → national regeneration
(all in one single chain reaction)
It’s a beautiful narrative.
We want to believe it.
But in real life?
These three ecosystems overlap — yes — but move differently, grow differently, and attract different kinds of people.
Not every nomad wants to regenerate a village.
Not every remote worker wants to live in a tiny town.
Not every rural regeneration project can attract international talent.
Sometimes the magic happens.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
And that’s okay.
What Italy (and any country) needs is dedicated strategies, not a single “one-size-fits-all” nomad formula.
So… what does the report actually say about living as a nomad in Italy?
Here are the essentials:
Italy is stunning. (We knew that.)
Italy is bureaucratic. (We really knew that.)
The digital nomad visa is… let’s say… not a success story yet.
Rural areas want talent — and increasingly, talent wants rural areas.
But structural support is missing: contracts, tax clarity, housing models, digital services.
And most importantly: communities matter more than incentives.
In other words:
Italy has all the ingredients, just not the recipe. Yet.
Final thoughts (and a tiny apology)
We genuinely loved the depth and the intention of this report.
It’s one of the most complex and thoughtful documents ever produced in Italy on this topic.
And yes — we will keep referring to it.
But we do need to apologise to half of our audience:
The entire report is in Italian.
Not English.
Not bilingual.
Not even with an executive summary for the global nomad community.
What a shame.
Italy gave the world the Renaissance — but still struggles to export PDFs.
Stay tuned
Over the next days we’ll share:
thematic breakdowns,
comparisons with Spain and Portugal,
what this means for Italy’s small towns,
and how remote work ecosystems are evolving globally.
For now:
Huge congratulations to the authors.
And buon lavoro to all the mayors about to Google “What is a slowmad?”
Very interesting, and thanks for sharing. I learned the term "Slowmad." I guess I am one now, since I take the backroads instead of the main highways, and I try to stop to taste the local food and talk to people. One big question for me is, what are the demographics of digital nomads in terms of age, gender, and other characteristics. I am 67, old enough to be a "vanpa." Any more?
Great article.