Retirement in Italy can sound like a fantasy. The country's smaller towns make a realistic version possible. The seven below show Italy's more approachable side. One is a textile town in the foothills of the Alps that still runs on a 19th-century funicular. Another is a border city where two countries share a town square. Housing costs across this list sit well below the national averages most retirees assume Italy offers.
Biella, Piedmont
Biella is a northwestern city of about 43,000 residents at the base of the Italian Alps, roughly an hour from Turin and 90 minutes from Milan. Archaeological evidence of settlement goes back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, and Biella became a European textile center during the Middle Ages, building its reputation on clean mountain water that powered its mills.
