Living (and Remote Working) Under the Tuscan Wi-Fi
- Ashley Campolattaro
- Jun 11
- 9 min read
Back in Lucca: Remote Work, Italian Rhythms, and Finding Our Flow
We arrived back in Lucca in May for an extended stay, and while this isn’t a full-on vacation, it feels every bit as magical. As soon as we stepped back inside the walls, the city greeted us with its unmistakable soundtrack and scents: the sweet, clean smell of Italian detergent drifting from the neighborhood laundromat, the buttery aroma wafting from the pasticceria, and the faint trace of espresso lingering in the morning air — all little sensory reminders that we’re in Italy. While we're taking some vacation time during our stay, we're also working remotely during the week — living and working in Lucca while staying connected to the East Coast.
If you follow us on social media, you might think we’re on a full-blown vacation—but the truth is, we’ve just gotten really good at maximizing our time here. We’re up early to seize the day, often logging miles (well, kilometers) through Lucca’s charming streets or grabbing a cappuccino before most tourists have even stirred. By 2 PM Monday through Friday, we’re back home and ready to clock-in. We've managed to take several weekday road trips early in the day to nearby spots like Bagni di Lucca, Viareggio, hill towns, and wineries. On weekends, we've packed in even more with quick getaways to incredible destinations just a few hours from Lucca (there are so many—check out this post for inspiration). We’ve packed so much living into each day—work, exploration, and simple joys—and that’s something we’re hoping to carry back with us to Virginia.
When we travel, we use Trusted House Sitters to take care of our elderly cat and general care of our home. We’ve had the opportunity to meet several digital nomads who journey the world while working remotely, caring for homes and pets along the way. It’s an incredible way to blend work, travel, and meaningful connections—all while having a cozy place to call home temporarily. We’re always intrigued by their lifestyle and have found ourselves asking a million questions—how they plan their routes, what kind of work they do, and what it’s really like to live this way full-time.
Shifting Our Rhythms
My freelance marketing work is largely independent and flexible, which makes this lifestyle much more manageable. Barring occasional calls, I can tackle projects on my own schedule, often drafting content or building campaigns in the quiet morning hours, then timing email deliveries to hit inboxes during Eastern Standard Time work hours—so nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Dario’s work, on the other hand, is less flexible. His meetings are fixed, often stretching into the night here. Still, we’ve found a way to make our overlapping workdays function, carving out time where we can for breaks, meals, or a quick espresso run between calls.
At home in Virginia, we’re usually in bed by 9 p.m.—truth be told, we fall asleep on the couch at 8:30 p.m. before dragging ourselves to bed. In Lucca, the rhythm has shifted. Jetlag initially worked in our favor as we transitioned to life in Italy: up early, squeezing in as much “local” time as possible before the workday kicks off in the afternoon to align with Eastern Standard Time hours. It’s like getting two days in one — an early morning filled with walks or bike rides on the walls, local daytrips, coffee at our favorite café, or errands, followed by an afternoon and evening tucked into our respective workspaces.
Starting our workday around 2 or 3 p.m. feels surprisingly natural here, thanks to the Italian pausa (Italian siesta). Shops and restaurants close midday, so we’re not missing much—well, except for the chance to sneak in a nap. Because we’re here for an extended stay, we’re pacing ourselves. That means skipping the indulgent “wine at every meal” mentality and reminding ourselves we’re settling into a lifestyle.
As the days grow longer and summer approaches, this split schedule feels even more rewarding—there’s ample daylight for exploring and enough energy to carry us through our work. I'm curious how this rhythm might shift again when we come back to work remotely during the colder months. Will the shorter days make it harder to keep up this two-part day, or will the coziness of early darkness offer a new kind of balance?
Setting Up a Remote Office
While we already had a desk in the living room, Dario needed a more private space to work since he has a lot of calls. We ended up setting up a second workstation in the back bedroom, adding a simple folding table that now serves as his desk. It’s not fancy, but it gets the job done — and makes the room pull double duty as an office without taking over the space entirely.
To make remote work smooth, we headed straight to the local electronics shop just outside the walls. Dario proudly came back with an Italian keyboard — only to return it a day later since the keys are laid out differently and adjusting on the fly during work was too disruptive. In the end, he stuck with his laptop keyboard but got a second monitor and mouse which turned out to be a functional setup.
We upgraded our phones to an international plan, double-checked the critical Wi-Fi speed which involved the addition of a booster, and even did sound tests with our oldest son. One of our biggest worries was that Lucca’s daily sounds — the chiming of the church bells, glass recycling day, the street-cleaning machines, the neighbor’s basset hound announcing himself in our garden — might break through on calls. After all, we don't want to rub it in anyone's face that we're in Italy! But thanks to modern noise filtering, our test runs proved that the sounds of Lucca stayed on our end.
There was one heart-stopping moment when a client call suddenly dropped — I panicked, thinking our connection had failed — only to discover it was his battery that had died. Remote work life lesson: don’t assume it’s always your tech! That said, we’ve had a few close calls. Just last week, they were digging in our piazza to do some utility work. The internet went down for a while, and we held our breath, refreshing our routers and crossing our fingers. Thankfully, it kicked back in just in time to start our workday. A good reminder that while this lifestyle is dreamy, it still comes with the occasional dose of real-world unpredictability.
Hitting the Wall and Hitting the Hay
The hardest part, we’ve found, is the transition at the end of the workday. After wrapping up late-evening meetings, we’re tired—but not quite ready to head straight to bed. Sometimes, we hit a wall and feel completely drained as the night gets late. Other times, we have energy to spare and need a bit more of a transition before we can wind down. We’ve noticed that how busy the first half of our day is definitely contributes to this—along with how much coffee we’ve had! We’ve learned that a gentle reset helps. A cup of chamomile tea or a short walk through town gives us just enough of a breather to shift gears.
Tips for Working Remotely Across Time Zones
If you’re thinking about setting up remote work abroad whether temporarily or a more long-term plan, here are a few things we’ve learned so far:
Align your hours intentionally. You don’t have to share your exact location, but transparency builds trust. Communicate your work hours clearly with your team and clients. For us, that means working U.S. Eastern Time—even from across the ocean—so the experience on their end feels seamless.
Set up a separate workspace. Even if it’s just a corner of a bedroom, mentally separating “work” from “living” helps. Bonus points if you can close a door at the end of the day.
Test your tech early. Check Wi-Fi speed, cell plans, and sound quality — and give yourself time to troubleshoot. Thick walls are charming, but not always Wi-Fi friendly. We ended up needing a signal booster to reach the room at the far end of the house (aka Dario’s pop-up office).
Create a "work start" ritual. When your workday starts in the afternoon or evening, it helps to build in a transition — For us, this usually means COFFEE!
Plan your day around the time difference. We use our mornings for local life — errands, walks, house projects, quick day trips, or just soaking it all in — before shifting into work mode. With a 6-hour difference, our dinner break here usually aligns with lunchtime on the East Coast, which is perfect for squeezing in a quick meal.
Use time zone differences to your advantage. We often chip away at focused work in the quiet hours before the U.S. wakes up. Fewer distractions, more progress. We schedule emails to send during U.S. business hours so they land at the top of inboxes — not buried.
Pace yourself. When you’re abroad, it’s tempting to treat every day like a vacation. But if you’re staying a while, you’ll need a rhythm that balances work, play, and rest.
Build in a wind-down routine.When your workday wraps up after 11 p.m., it's important to ease out of “work brain.” A short walk, a cup of tea, or reading something light can help you reset before bed. Dario consulted with a colleague who has been working remotely with a seven hour difference. He said his wife and young kids would be in bed when his workday wrapped up, which made it especially challenging to transition.
Set boundaries.That seemingly harmless 6 p.m. email from a colleague can show up in your inbox at midnight. Be intentional about when you check messages — and give yourself permission to respond in the morning.
Mind your mindset. It’s easy to feel guilty about nontraditional hours or beautiful surroundings, but remote work is still work. If you're showing up and delivering, don’t apologize for when or where you do it. Watch for burnout. Even with a dream setup, juggling late work hours, travel logistics, and time zones can take a toll. Check in with yourself regularly.
Living, Not Vacationing
Being in Lucca for an extended stay isn’t about squeezing in every sight or treating every meal like it’s our last. It’s about finding a daily rhythm that lets us fully experience local life and stay connected to our work. It’s not always beach days and cappuccinos on the piazza before the day begins—there have been house projects, waiting for deliveries, and the usual life interruptions that sometimes slow us down. But even with that, there’s something special about stepping out each morning into the gentle rhythm of Italian life, then settling into our workday.
The Best of Both Worlds
The advent of remote work is a mixed blessing: on one hand, it offers unprecedented freedom—the ability to live where you want, structure your days with more flexibility, and blend work with personal life in ways once unimaginable. On the other hand, it blurs the boundaries between home and office, making it harder to fully “clock out” and often tethering you to late-night emails, constant notifications, and the pressure to always be available. Ultimately, remote work challenges us to find new ways to balance freedom with focus, and presence with productivity.
While remote work opens the door to working from stunning spots like this, it also demands discipline, intention, and the ability to carve out true downtime in a world where your office travels with you wherever you go. Embracing this lifestyle means continually redefining what work-life balance looks like—and learning to be present, no matter where you are.
I actually started this blog when we first arrived in Lucca at the beginning of May, full of plans to document every step of our journey. But, I’ve been too busy to finish it until now. It’s a reminder that even when you set out with the best intentions, real life has a way of filling up the days—and that’s part of the story too.
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