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Italy vs Greece

Both are euro-zone Mediterranean picks running the same 90-in-180 Schengen clock, so the real split is money. Italy sets a low nomad-visa income bar and hands the self-employed a genuine 15 percent flat tax, while Greece asks for far more each month but often costs less once you land.

Italy vs Greece

Side by side

Italy Greece
Digital nomad visa Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa Digital Nomad Visa
Income requirement ~EUR 24,789/yr minimum (Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa, set at 3x the healthcare cost-sharing exemption threshold, so it moves only when that threshold does) €3,500/month net, fixed in the Immigration Code (Greece Digital Nomad Visa: a 12-month national visa, then a 2-year residence permit)
Tax residency Since the 2024 reform, resident if for at least 183 days of the year (184 in a leap year) you have your habitual residence, your domicile (now defined as where personal and family ties mainly sit) or simply your physical presence in Italy, part days included; anagrafe registration is only a rebuttable presumption. Forfettario (15%) or impatriati (~50% exemption) regimes may apply. Resident if you are in Greece more than 183 days, counted cumulatively across any 12-month period, and then from your first day of presence. Separately, and with no day count at all, you are resident if your permanent or main home, your habitual abode or your centre of vital interests is in Greece. The 50% break is a different door: it needs a Greek employer or a Greek business, and the nomad permit forbids both.
Cost of living Moderate Low
Currency EUR EUR
Healthcare Visitors carry travel insurance or a GHIC (EU reciprocity); nomad and long-stay applicants need private health cover of at least 30,000 EUR, and legal residents can enrol in the national health service (SSN). Anyone on the nomad or residence routes needs private health cover, and visitors are not covered by the Greek public system. Access to public healthcare follows from paying into the Greek system, which the nomad permit does not let you do, because it carries no right to work in Greece.
Driving Visitors can drive on a foreign licence, with an International Driving Permit recommended for non-EU holders, but residents must convert to or obtain an Italian licence. An International Driving Permit is recommended alongside your national licence, though a UK licence is generally accepted for short visits.

The bottom line

For a non-EU remote worker, Italy is the easier door: its digital nomad visa wants roughly 2,065 euros a month (some consulates closer to 28,000 a year), against Greece's roughly 3,500 euros a month after tax, and the regime forfettario can tax self-employed income at 15 percent. Greece counters on day-to-day cost, cheaper rent and food outside Athens and a simpler island lifestyle, but its headline 50 percent tax break does not reach a nomad billing foreign clients, so budget for normal Greek rates. Both tax your worldwide income from about the half-year mark, Italy at 183 days in the year and Greece past 183 days in any twelve months, both use the euro, and both changed rules recently, so confirm the current income floor with the consulate before you commit. Pick on what you value: a lower bar to entry with a usable flat tax, or a lighter cost of living and slower coastal days.

Pick Italy if you are self-employed, want the lowest visa income bar, and could genuinely use the 15 percent forfettario flat tax.

Pick Greece if you clear the higher income test comfortably and want cheaper rent, sun, and islands over the tax perks.

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