After having traveled to Italy numerous times, around 2012 it dawned on us that Italy might be a good place to retire. In the early '80s, I had been inspired by meeting a retired American living in a charming house along the Mediterranean. I chatted with him from the cobbled street while he tended a small garden in shorts and sandals. It seemed pretty idyllic to me at the time. Of course, back then, retiring was decades off. Now it was right up on me.

With retirement approaching, how would I exactly go about such a life-changing process of moving to a completely different country? By 2014, we had decided to move to Italy and in particular, the region of Le Marche. We had done considerable research on regions and towns, but now we needed to get serious.