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Nikki Taylor, 47, relocated to Puglia after corporate burnout from London’s hectic banking world put her into hospital and on medication. She now works as a property consultant for foreign buyers.

Relocating to Puglia healed me in so many ways. I feel reborn here; I found inner peace and contentment.

Back in London it was always the same drill: waking up to know I’d be constantly battling the weather, the rat race, the morning commute on the Tube in rush hour. It was like running a marathon; every day was just so stressful.

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Here in my house in the Italian countryside, I wake up in the morning and I have coffee outside, surrounded by olive groves. There’s a different energy and a slower-paced vibe that greatly contrasts with London.

Before Italy, my career was in financial planning and investment banking, split between London and Sydney. I’m a dual British-Australian citizen. Before relocating, home was Sydney, with stretches of my career based in London.

I was always chasing the next stage of my career. The burnout had been building in London for a long time, but it finally caught up with me in Sydney. When I was about 35, I hit a wall so hard I ended up in a hospital bed for seven days with severe stomach pain, on a morphine drip. I’d been working 12-hour days.

That was the moment I realised I needed change. I asked myself what I really wanted for my future. You should never let things get so bad that your mental and physical health suffers. And so, in 2014, I quit my job and moved to Italy.

Italy had been in my heart since 2001, when I first visited Florence. I spent about a year preparing for the move, studying the language and getting my affairs in order, before I actually left. I got a job in the property sector. I had no family in London and this was pre-Brexit, so all I needed was my British passport.

My first home was Bolzano, in the north. A few years later my Italian teacher suggested Puglia. I moved to Monopoli, a coastal town in 2017 and fell for the region, before eventually settling in Martina Franca in 2019. I own a villa with a pool in the rural surroundings of the town – it cost a third of what a similar property would be in London – and live here with my partner. Living in the pristine countryside, near a town of barely 50,000 people as opposed to a big city of millions of people has hugely benefitted my mental and physical health.

I love the elegant Baroque architecture of Martina Franca and the white-washed alleys and dwellings of the old district. It’s a proper town that’s lived in, rather than a summer postcard that is empty after August. I’ve made lots of friends and am of course fluent in Italian now.

The pace here forces you to slow down. The morning coffee that’s never rushed, long lunches that drift into afternoon conversation, beauty that’s simply part of the everyday fabric rather than something you plan a holiday around. Work-life balance here isn’t a slogan, it’s structural: shops close for hours in the afternoon, Sundays are for family and nobody blinks if a meeting runs into a two-hour lunch.

I lead a very simple and affordable life here. Daily life in southern Italy runs at a fraction of London prices, and property is the clearest example: whole restored townhouses in Puglia’s smaller towns cost less than a deposit on a London flat.

I spend €50 (£42) per week for groceries, while in London it was up to £200 (and of course it’s all locally produced and wonderfully tasty). Eating out, a meal for two costs €80-€100 (£68-£85). In Puglia I lead a healthier, more active lifestyle. I walk around more without having to take the tube. When needed, I have a car but I do lots of property site visits, so I’m usually on foot.

Setting up a business in a new country with a different culture has had its ups and downs. Culturally, what surprised me most was how much slower and more relationship-driven business is in Puglia than in London, nothing moves quickly, and trust is earned in person, over time, not over email.

Professionally, I feel fulfilled because my work directly changes people’s lives: I get to watch someone walk into their Italian home for the first time, the one we found together, and that’s a completely different reward from any cash bonus I ever earned in finance. Some days I’m behind a laptop handling paperwork, other days I’m literally on-site walking through a masseria (traditional farmhouse) or an old town palazzo with a client.

Being my own boss means I have total control over my hours. Days off usually mean family time, a walk, maybe a trip to the coast or another town for the day. It’s a completely different rhythm to the corporate grind I came from. I am finally at peace, not having that burnout feeling anymore – that anxiety from always being on the go.



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