A holiday flat in Rome, Milan or Venice can soon become the single largest item on the bills. If you’re looking for another way home, house sitting gives you the chance to live in someone’s home while they are away and normally includes taking care of their pets and their home in return for your stay.
It is a simple, gentle arrangement based on mutual trust. For travelers, it can make an expensive city break into a much longer holiday with a comfortable sitting room. For homeowners, it delivers care for their animals and home without the cost of catteries or kennel fees or having to leave their house empty.
Where to find house sitting opportunities in Italy
While there are a number of established connecting platforms between homeowners and travelers,TrustedHousesitters is particularly geared to those seeking pet-sitters (currently offering sits in Lazio, Lombardy and Veneto amongst other areas). Nomador provides a platform to connect homeowners and sitters, with profiles, reviews and a place for homeowners to ask prospective sitters questions or request an introduction or application. The international version of the site MindMyHouse enables members to browse listings and set alerts.
Each platform carries slightly different arrangements, so it’s best to read the terms of membership, reviews of the site and listing norms before you consider signing up.
What does a house sitter actually do?
The work can be quite different from one job to the next. Often, caring for people’s pets takes up the bulk of a house sitter’s time. That could mean taking dogs for a walk, feeding cats or making sure any other animals are kept on the same schedule they’re used to. In other cases, people might want a house sitter to water plants, collect the mail, keep the property clean or do the odd small job around the home.
And just like the jobs themselves, houses, too, vary widely: that’s one of the best aspects of house sitting. You might spend a week in an apartment in Milan, then move down the road to a house near Venice. That home could have a garden and a dog to keep you company.
Getting the best sits in Rome, Milan and Venice
Busy cities get the most competition, so make a good impression. Fill in the blanks, have great photos, references, some history and specific types of pets you have cared for before. Get verified and reviewed.
Try to be the first person to apply by getting alerts and checking the page multiple times. Send a good message that is not generic, telling the owner why you are perfect for that particular home.
There is a clever way to do a multi-city Italian trip by hopping from point-to-point house sitting gigs. After one stay, you can use italotreno.com to ride the rails to Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. Do your homework, and one travel vacation can cover the cost of many weeks of two-bed, two-bath BnBs with the added benefit of delivering a 100% Italian vacation that few visitors will ever experience.
See more of Italy for less
For those prepared to forgo a smidgeon of freedom in return for with-it sensibility, house sitting can substantially reduce costs for a holiday in Italy. And it will alter the way you perceive a city stay. Rather than passing through hotels and holiday lets, you get a kitchen and a neighborhood, and quite possibly a pet to greet on your return. Adding in Italy’s train system, there’s the potential for a base in one urban area that includes two or three cities, in none of which you will be paying full pop for accommodation. Over the duration of a pervading Italian holiday experience, it’s a win-win.
