Moving to Italy from Canada, Door to Door from Toronto

How a move from Toronto to Italy works

It starts with a survey — in person for a house, by video for a condo — so the quote is based on your actual volume rather than a bedroom count. On packing day our crew wraps and packs everything for ocean transit (export-grade cartons, paper, blankets and custom crates for art, mirrors and the TV) and builds the inventory that customs and your insurer will rely on — for Italy, a valued list in Italian. The shipment comes to our North York warehouse, where it is loaded into a dedicated 20′ or 40′ container, or consolidated with other Italy-bound shipments if you are moving a smaller volume.

The container is drayed to the CPKC Vaughan or CN Brampton rail terminal on our own truck, railed to Montreal or Halifax, and sails to Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno or Naples — most services route through a Mediterranean or North European hub. Our Italian partner, an IAM member agent, files the customs entry with your relief documents, collects the container, and delivers to your new home with unpacking and debris removal included in the door-to-door service. Historic-centre addresses with ZTL traffic restrictions, no elevator and narrow stairs are normal for the agent; they are priced at the survey, not on delivery day.

1. Free survey (home or video) and fixed door-to-door quote
2. Assemble the customs file — visa or permesso, codice fiscale, residence registration, proof of a year outside the EU
3. Packing, crating and the Italian inventory at your home in the GTA
4. Loading into a dedicated container or Italy groupage at our warehouse
5. Rail to Montreal / Halifax and ocean sailing to Italy
6. Customs clearance by our Italian agent under transfer-of-residence relief
7. Delivery to your door with unpacking and packing-material removal

Transfer-of-residence relief: how to avoid duty and IVA on your household goods

Italy applies the EU's transfer-of-residence relief: household goods you have owned and used for at least six months are free of import duty and IVA if you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months, you bring them in within 12 months of establishing residence in Italy, and you do not sell or lend them within 12 months of import. The relief covers furniture, household items, clothing, personal effects and, under separate conditions, a private vehicle. It does not cover alcohol, tobacco, commercial goods or items bought for the move.

The Italian file is built around residence. Customs wants your passport and visa or permesso di soggiorno (or the receipt of your application), your codice fiscale, the certificate of residence from the comune where you have registered — or a formal declaration that you are transferring your residence there — evidence that you lived in Canada for the past year, and a valued inventory in Italian with a signed declaration that the goods are yours, used, and not for sale. Italian-Canadians returning after years abroad use their AIRE registration as proof of residence outside Italy. Because registration at the comune happens after you arrive, the container is timed to land after you do, and our agent checks the file before it sails.

What it costs to ship household goods to Italy

Cost is driven by volume, so the survey matters. A one-bedroom apartment in the GTA is usually 12–20 cubic metres and ships as groupage (LCL) or a lightly loaded 20′ container. A three-bedroom house is typically 30–40 cubic metres and fills a 20′ container; larger homes ship in a 40′ or 40′ high-cube. Beyond volume, price is affected by access — a third-floor walk-up in Rome's centro storico with a ZTL permit to arrange is a different delivery from a villa outside Bologna — by the amount of professional packing and crating, and by storage at either end. Sicily and Sardinia add a ferry leg.

Our quotes are door to door and itemize what is included: packing and materials, loading, drayage and rail, ocean freight and port charges, Italian customs clearance, delivery, unpacking and debris removal. The only items outside the quote are duty and IVA if the relief is refused, inspection fees if customs selects the container, and storage beyond the free period at destination.

Timelines from the GTA to Italy

Ocean transit from Montreal or Halifax to Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno or Naples is 16–26 days, most services routing through a hub such as Algeciras, Valencia or Antwerp. Around it: two to five days from packing to sailing depending on the rail cut-off, and one to three weeks at destination for customs clearance, container collection and delivery scheduling — Italian customs is careful and August is slow. A dedicated container typically arrives at your Italian door six to ten weeks after packing day; groupage shipments wait for the consolidation to fill and add two to four weeks. If your home is not ready, our agent holds the shipment in storage and delivers when you are.

What to leave behind, and what to think twice about

Italy runs on 230 volts, so Canadian 110-volt appliances need transformers or replacement. Mattresses and bulky, low-value furniture rarely justify the freight, and Canadian-sized furniture can defeat an Italian staircase. Cars can in principle be imported under the relief with six months' ownership, but Italian registration requires European conformity paperwork that Canadian-market vehicles usually lack, and the process is long; we generally advise selling in Canada. Firearms need authorization before they ship, and food, plants and soil stay behind.

• Prohibited or restricted: firearms without authorization, most food, plants and soil, endangered-species products
• Restricted: alcohol and tobacco (duty payable), medicines beyond personal quantities
• Usually not worth it: 110 V appliances, mattresses, bulky low-value furniture
• Vehicles: relief possible at 6+ months' ownership, but registration is difficult for Canadian-market cars — ask us first

Why families moving to Italy choose Metropolitan Logistics

We are an IAM Core Member with IAMTrusted status and the Receivable Protection Program behind our agent relationships — which means the partner unpacking your home in Florence is vetted and financially accountable. The shipment is loaded in our Toronto warehouse by our own crews, not handed to a consolidator you never meet, and you can see it there before it sails. And because we ship commercial containers to Europe every week, the drayage, rail and ocean legs are the same lanes and carriers we book for exporters — which keeps the cost honest.