For many in the know, the key to a happy life is to never stop planning your next trip to Italy. Banish the idea you must be wealthy to make your Italian dreams come true. First and foremost, travel to Italy in the low season. When you travel to the boot between November and April, you maximize overall savings, and your trip will cost up to 40% less than it would in high season, May through October.

Another advantage? In larger cities where the summer months tend to be a log jam of tourists crammed into tiny medieval streets, local residents’ nerves may, understandably, become frayed. Locals prove far friendlier in the cooler months when the vast majority of crowds have dwindled.