A Gen Zer ditched NYC for Milan. She loves that Italian bosses don't care how much vacation you take — and that a glass of wine costs $4
Courtesy of Madalyn Monto
- Madalyn Monto, 25, left the hustle of NYC and moved to Milan in October 2023.
- Monto, who works in marketing, said New York's "work hard, play hard" lifestyle didn't fulfill her.
- She was shocked at how much vacation Italians get and how much value is placed on work-life balance.
Madalyn Monto grew up outside New York City and knew she'd live there one day.
After college in San Diego, she did just that — getting a job in marketing. But she wasn't prepared for how rigorous her work schedule would be. And, like a growing number of Gen-Zers and millennials, the absence of a work-life balance didn't sit right with her. She and her boyfriend ended up moving to Italy in October 2023, drawn by the slower pace, healthier approach to work, and cheaper prices.
"I had always imagined New York was like, 'Work hard, Play hard,'" Monto, now 25, said. "I know people there tend to be workaholics, but I thought there had to be a limit somewhere."
There was no limit, not in her experience. Joining the workforce after COVID-19 meant that Monto was working a hybrid schedule, which included working from home.
"I could access my computer all hours of the day, and I also could be accessed all hours of the day," she said.
Courtesy of Madalyn Monto
Eventually, Monto and her boyfriend Alessandro, who is from Italy and works in strategy consulting, decided to pick up their lives and move to Milan. It wasn't a decision they made lightly.
"It was a long discussion we had, weighing the pros and cons of each location," she said. "The decision came from the difference in quality of life and cost of living."
According to Numbeo, a website that uses crowd-sourced data to compare the cost of living across different cities, the average monthly salary in Milan is around $1,837. Meanwhile, in New York, the average monthly salary is $6,324.
However, rent, restaurant, and grocery prices are much lower in Milan than in New York, meaning you need far less money to achieve the same quality of life.
Italy values work-life balance more than the US
Monto, who was able to stay in Italy thanks in part to a program that caters to international partners of Italian citizens, quickly noticed a stark difference between how Italians and Americans approach work and life outside it.
People in the US generally have a "competitive" mentality, like they have to "prove themselves in the workplace to feel secure in their job," she said.
Meanwhile, in Italy, most people have the "expectation of still living their life outside of work," she said.
The difference in values became clear to Monto after getting her work authorization approved and interviewing for jobs.
In one recent interview, she was asked about potential start dates.
Because she had a few upcoming trips, including one to France for her part-time master's in the business of global luxury and a vacation back to the US to see family, Monto was nervous to answer.
"I was really hesitant to the point where I was like, 'I don't have to go if you don't want me to go. I'll just tell them I couldn't make it," she said, adding that the interviewers "were like, 'No, no, go — we don't care. That's not important. You're going to go on these trips. You're going to enjoy them, you're going to go on the school ones, you're going to go on the vacation ones.'"
@whatmaddiedoes There’s just no way this is how life can be outside of corporate america. Obviously I’m sure that not every job in italy is like this but i have never heard of a job in the USA that doesn’t see vacations as a red flag and a reason to avoid a candidate #lifeinitaly #movingabroad #americansinitaly #americanabroad #corporateamerica #unemployed #funemployed
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Monto said they told her they were only asking to see if she had plans to go away for a month. But even then, she said it felt more like a formality than anything that would have affected her application.
She shared her experience in a February 20 TikTok that has over 2.8 million views.
There's more vacation time, or PTO, in Italy
Monto said the way the interviewers didn't seem to care about her taking time off so soon after a prospective start date left her shocked. She compared it to the US, where there's no minimum number of PTO days.
On the other hand, full-time employees in Italy are given a minimum of four weeks of PTO, not including public holidays, Monto said.
And it's not just the amount of time off that has been a pleasant surprise.
Monto said her boyfriend often has enough time during his lunch break to come home and share a meal with her every day. Back in the US, she added, they often ate lunch at their desks while working.
"It was just kind of, 'How fast can I eat my food?'" she said.
Milan may be fast-paced by Italian standards, but it's much slower than NYC
According to Monto, Milan is considered Italy's "hectic" city. But it's nothing compared to what she experienced in NYC.
Living in the business district of Milan, Monto said that on a regular workday, her local coffee shop is filled with people in suits well into the later hours of the morning.
She'll spot people on breaks, "drinking wine while they're having lunch on a Tuesday at two in the afternoon."
The general approach to work in Milan is "very relaxed in comparison" to NYC, Monto said.
Monto said the differences also extend to other aspects of life like dining out, where she's noticed diners are never rushed out the door after eating.
Courtesy of Madalyn Monto
"If I'm going to dinner at a restaurant in New York, they'll tell me, 'You have 90 minutes at this table, and then we need it for somebody else,'" she said.
Meanwhile, in Milan, she added, servers "don't give you the bill at a restaurant if you don't ask for it — because they want you to stay there and enjoy it yourself for as long as you want to."
It's been an easier adjustment than she imagined.
The only downside is that Italians tend to be less "warm" than Americans in Monto's experience. As much as New Yorkers get a bad rap, they can be more open to helping strangers than Italians, she said.
"I love Italian people. I have Italian friends. I have an Italian boyfriend. But they're not as nice as New Yorkers are," she said. "If you ask a New Yorker for help, they're going to give you help. If you ask an Italian for help, they might give you a weird look and carry on."
More Gen Zers value a healthy work-life balance
Still, Monto said the positives of moving to Italy outweigh the negatives — and it doesn't hurt that life is generally a lot cheaper.
"I was working a good job in New York and made a decent salary, but I wasn't doing as much just because I was always exhausted or everything was so expensive," she said. "Even for a happy hour, it would cost me a minimum of 25 bucks to get a drink, a snack, and a tip versus here, if I want to go out somewhere, I can go and get a glass of wine for 4 euros." (That's about $4.30.)
Gary Yeowell/Getty
It's safe to say that Monto and her boyfriend aren't planning to return to the States anytime soon.
"Right now, it's so nice to be able to enjoy our lives more," she said.
Monto is far from the only Gen-Zer interested in a life less focused on work, which she could see from the reactions to her viral TikTok about her interview experience in Italy.
Users left comments like, "Any advice on how to move to Italy?" and "I'm starting to think the US wants us all to leave."
"It seemed like my generation and, honestly, maybe even some of the millennials, are more awakened to the idea that not everything has to revolve around work," Monto said. "You should be able to have more of a life balance outside of it."
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