Italy – a perennial favourite of the rich and famous – is attracting a new wave of ultra-wealthy arrivals looking to take advantage of its investor kind environment, thriving real estate market and low tax regime.

As many other countries clamp down on the super-rich, Italy has been bucking the trend; its accommodative flat-tax regime has enticed hordes of big spenders drawn to luxury living and Milan’s increasingly bustling business scene.

And despite doubling the one-off charge paid by high-net-worth individuals on their foreign income to 200,000 euros ($233,000) in 2024,this has done little to detract demand for la dolce vita.

“They operate at the wealth level, which is still way above 200,000 per year flat taxation,” Matteo Pella, senior broker in Berkshire Hathaway HomeService’s real estate firm, told CNBC.

“It’s like saying: Oh, you’re paying for your coffee now.Today it’s two euros,tomorrow it’s going to be four euros. You’re not going to give up on your coffee.”

Italy has become a top relocation destination for the wealthy in europe this year, according to Henley & Partners, which markets citizenship and residency-by-investment schemes.

Though the millionaire migration figures have blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>raised some questions and global wealth flows are notoriously difficult to track, a number of high-profile figures have made the move to Italy over recent months. These include Egypt’s richest man and co-owner of Aston Villa Football Club Nassef Sawiris, and the vice-chair of Goldman Sachs, Richard Gnodde.

The total number of new high-net-worth arrivals in Italy so far this year could be as high as 3,600, according to Henley & Partners estimates.

Milan’s Millionaire Boom

Italy’s flat-tax regime was introduced in 2017 as part of a wider push by the then center-left government to attract foreign investors while encouraging homegrown talent to return to the country following the euro zone debt crisis.

That, in turn, has sparked a new wave of businesses looking to cater to the fresh wealth influx, especially in the country’s financial and fashion hub, Milan. Among those are newly opened members club The Wilde and, prior to that, Casa Cipriani.

Shoppers walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping gallery.
Shoppers walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping gallery.Picture Alliance | Getty Images

“We really thought it was a good time to come back to Italy,” Anna Cipriani, director of membership at Casa Cipriani Milano, told CNBC of the group’s 2022 opening.

“Milan has evolved a lot over the years,” she said. “Before,it used to be known more for its industrial character and,of course,the fashion houses,while over the last few years it became more and more attractive also for creatives,for investors and for [an] international crowd.”

Italy’s wealthy arrivals, meanwhile, have led to a surge in real estate prices across some of the country’s most desirable locations, from Tuscany and the Italian Riviera to cities such as Rome, Venice and Florence. Milan, and the surrounding lakes region, though, have emerged as a firm favorite.

“We are at all-time high prices at the moment,” said Pella, who is based in BHHS’ Lake Como office.

“In five years, we had an increase [of] double-digit percentages. For the upcoming years, we’re probably going to look at a steady 3% to 4% type of increase here in Lake Como.”