I left my high-flying life in Boston to move to Italy – here’s what I learned

A successful marketing professional from Milan, Italy, describes how she fled Boston twenty years ago and still hasn’t looked back.

Leslie Strazzullo, 55, moved from a suburb of Beantown in 2004 and has since made a name for herself in the fashion capital of the world as a marketing executive.

Her family roots lie in Italy and she seized the opportunity to participate in an exchange program with Bocconi University’s business school while pursuing her MBA.

She also interned at Pirelli, an Italian manufacturer of tires and telecom equipment. When she graduated, the company offered her a full-time position as head of marketing and communications for the telecom division.

In a piece written for CNBC Financial Advice Column Make Itshe told how she has been living in Milan ever since.

“Twenty years ago, when I was 35, I left my life in the Boston area to take a job in glamorous Milan,” Strazzullo wrote in the op-ed published Sunday.

‘Before moving, I received my MBA from the University of South Carolina. During my studies, I did an exchange program with Bocconi University’s business school and interned at Pirelli.

“I loved it,” she said.

She said she was offered the position of marketing communications manager at PGT Photonics SPA, which at the time was part of Pirelli Company.

Although she only knew “a few people” as an intern, Strazzullo jumped at the chance, she writes – with the streets of Milan still fresh in her memory.

“I wasn’t nervous, just excited about this new opportunity,” recalls the current marketing communications manager at Abb, a leading Swiss supplier of robotics and machine automation.

‘Since then I have lived in Milan.’

During that period, Strazzullo held various positions at three different companies, not counting Pirelli.

One of them was fan maker Honeywell, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 4,500 miles away.

She worked there for more than 12 years, sometimes from home and sometimes at the company office on Via Alessandro Volta.

She gained experience as a marketing communications manager and customer marketing manager, eventually taking an 11-month break after the death of her life partner in 2023, before taking up her current role at Abb, where she has worked since March.

The previous 20 years, she said, had been a time of dealing with universal stressors like layoffs, buying a home and surviving in business.

So she shared some expert tips.

The first, she said, was, “go with the flow.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to make and reschedule appointments at the town hall to get a tax number, for example, or an ID card to apply for a work permit,” she explained.

“The wait times are long, the government workers can be grumpy, and the system can be frustrating and complex on a good day, even if a company sponsors you, like mine did.”

She told us not to worry about ‘unimportant things’ like traffic and being late during rush hour.

‘My best advice, if you’re trying to make a life here, is to go with the flow and accept these administrative and bureaucratic quirks. It’s just the way it is.’

Her second tip was also simple: “be determined.”

To illustrate the concept, she described what she described as “a setback” – a setback that occurred five years after she began her journey to Italy.

Pirrelli had sold its telecom division and Strazzullo was one of the workers laid off.

“I had a permesso di soggiorno (residence and work permit), which gave me a year to find another job,” she recalls.

‘I had the clock open to find something new. Still, I was not discouraged.

“Finding a job as a foreigner came down to strategic networking and sometimes determination,” she continued.

She found that, like the US, “it’s a job market that’s very much about ‘who you know.’”

“I reached out to former colleagues, headhunters and other business school alumni,” she said.

‘When my permit was only valid for a few months, I received an offer to work for an American multinational with offices in Italy.

“I was so glad that I stuck it out and had faith in myself and my life in Italy.”

The third piece of guidance Strazzullo gave was to learn to “work differently,” by adapting to your environment rather than stubbornly sticking to your old habits.

“One of the best things I ever did was give up the phrase, ‘That’s just the way we do things,’” she wrote somewhere in her piece.

‘I had to embrace change to thrive in Italy, whether it was the discomfort I felt using a new language… or navigating the corporate world.

“It took me about two years to really feel comfortable with Italian,” she admitted.

‘Ultimately, I learned valuable things about my colleagues and the company over a relaxing meal or cup of coffee.

“I’ve absorbed a lot more than I would if I were sitting with my head on my desk.”

Her fourth and final tip was about how to budget for the life you want. She admitted, “I’m in a good place now, but I’ve had to make some adjustments with my finances.

“Some expenses surprised me at first, beyond the usual rent and utilities,” she recalls.

For example, I didn’t have a car when I first came here. I remember it cost me almost 700 euros to get my driver’s license.

“Americans are taxed based on citizenship, not residency. Americans abroad must therefore file taxes,” she continued.

‘I’m making sure I hire an accountant now to help me with my tax return.

“Thanks to the agreements between the US and Italy, I do not pay double taxes,” she stressed.

“I pay more tax on my income in Italy (43 percent versus 37 percent) than I would in the United States, so I am generally eligible for a tax credit.”

A final “benefit” she has seen since moving to Italy is the “public healthcare system.” She has been given access to it, and some of her previous employers also offered her “supplementary private health insurance.”

“Money that I would otherwise spend on health care, I can use for other needs and leisure activities,” as she put it.

“Ultimately, I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone 20 years ago,” she concluded.

Since then I have had the opportunity to travel extensively and meet many wonderful people.

‘Today I feel fulfilled by the life and career I have built here.’