Lifestyle Migration: Italy in the Southern European Context

Southern Europe has become a crossroads of international migration in recent years. This paper focuses on one of these recent migratory flows, that is, the lifestyle migration, or the mobility of people who freely choose to live in a Southern European country as an essential part of their project of life. The sociological literature has shown that this phenomenon can influence many other relevant social processes, from the definition and re-definition of personal and social identity at the micro level, to local and regional development at the macro level. After a brief discussion on the concept of lifestyle migration, we present some preliminary results of a research project on lifestyle migration in Italy, compared with some other Southern European countries. Based on 2015 data from Istat, the analysis will provide a general overview on the presence and territorial distribution of lifestyle migrants in Italy.