Safest places to retire in Portugal, Italy, and Greece

Published 10 May 2025

“Safe” is personal — walking home after dinner means something different in a quiet university town than on a summer party strip. Retirely’s safety score, crime rate label, and rank still give a shared baseline across Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Below is a shortlist drawn from Cascais, Coimbra, Porto, Florence, Tuscany, Abruzzo, Nafplio, Kalamata, and Corfu so you can compare like with like.

This is not legal, tax, visa, or medical advice. Figures are Retirely city metrics as of a draft pull on 10 May 2025 — re-check on the city pages before you decide.

Figures below come only from Retirely city metrics. Living costs for a couple exclude rent; rent and purchase bands use a 95 m² equivalent. If a score is missing on a city page, we say so rather than inventing euros or ranks.

How to read safety on Retirely

Higher safety_score and better total_rank (1 = best in the 70-city set) generally mean a stronger safety signal. Crime_rate is labelled Low / Medium / High. Pair safety with living costs, healthcare, and weather so you do not shortlist a “safe” city you cannot warm to in winter or cannot afford once rent is added.

Safety snapshot

City	Safety	Couple living costs	Healthcare	Weather / winter
Cascais	61 (Medium, r31)	€622	47 (Low, r58)	64 / winter 8
Coimbra	51 (Medium, r53)	€551	91 (High, r2)	61 / winter 26
Porto	67 (Medium, r19)	€614	78 (High, r35)	60 / winter 30
Florence	57 (Medium, r39)	€824	75 (High, r48)	42 / winter 89
Tuscany	57 (Medium, r39)	€959	76 (High, r44)	42 / winter 89
Abruzzo	56 (Medium, r42)	€816	78 (High, r35)	32 / winter 219
Nafplio	60 (Medium, r36)	€679	81 (High, r22)	45 / winter 150
Kalamata	46 (High, r62)	€699	81 (High, r22)	54 / winter 60
Corfu	38 (High, r66)	€720	87 (High, r6)	52 / winter 40

Reading the shortlist

Portugal: Porto posts safety 67 (Medium crime, rank 19) with couple costs €614 and healthcare 78. Cascais scores 61 (rank 31) — calmer coastal premium, living costs €622, but healthcare score 47 (Low, rank 58) is a trade-off to verify. Coimbra safety 51 with standout healthcare 91 (High, rank 2) and the lowest couple living costs in this nine (€551).

Italy: Florence and Tuscany share safety 57 / Medium / rank 39. Florence couple costs €824 sit beside regional Tuscany €959 — read rent bands on each page before assuming “region = cheaper city.” Abruzzo safety 56 with couple costs €816 and healthcare 78.

Greece: Nafplio leads this Greek trio on safety score (60, rank 36). Kalamata shows 46 with High crime labelling and rank 62 — still often shortlisted for lifestyle, but not a safety leader. Corfu safety 38 (High crime label, rank 66) is the caution flag of the island set here; its healthcare 87 remains High.

Climate comfort among safer picks

Weather scores: Cascais 64, Coimbra 61, Porto 60, Florence/Tuscany 42, Abruzzo 32, Nafplio 45, Kalamata 54, Corfu 52. Portuguese Atlantic picks feel wetter; Abruzzo’s winter mildness figure (219) is a different climate story than Cascais (8). Match safety to the winter you will actually live.

Practical takeaways

Strong all-rounder: Coimbra (care + costs) or Porto (safety mid-high + low rent rank on its own page).
Coastal premium calm: Cascais — budget for healthcare access planning.
Greek safety lean: Nafplio over Corfu on these scores.
Italian mid safety: Florence/Tuscany/Abruzzo cluster around the mid-50s.
Never use safety rank alone — stack healthcare and a winter visit.
Re-read ranks on Retirely; they are relative to the 70-city set.

What these numbers do not replace

Retirely metrics are a shortlist tool, not a move checklist. They will not tell you whether a third-floor walk-up suits your knees, whether a specific GP speaks your language on Tuesdays, or whether a landlord accepts longer winter leases. Use the scores to drop cities that clearly miss your budget or care bar, then spend money on a scouting trip in the season you will actually live — ideally including at least one grey, windy week.

When you stack a monthly budget, keep three layers visible: (1) Retirely couple living costs, (2) rent or mortgage inside or below the published 95 m² band, and (3) a buffer for flights home, private top-up insurance, gifts, and the first year of “we did not know that bill existed.” Couples who treat layer three as optional tend to feel “surprised by Europe,” not “settled in Europe.”

If adult children are helping parents decide, print the city-page tables and mark only the fields that matter for your family — for example healthcare rank, rent ceiling, and English rating — so the conversation stays concrete instead of drifting into brochure photos.

A simple way to use this article

Circle your hard ceiling for rent and for all-in monthly spend.
Keep cities where Retirely’s living costs + a realistic rent pick sit inside that ceiling.
Among survivors, rank healthcare (when scored), then safety, then weather / English / internet in the order your household actually cares about.
Open the Retirely city pages for your final two or three places and skim community insights for lived-in notes that metrics cannot capture.
Only then book viewings — metrics first, emotions second, lease last.

Next step on Retirely

When you are ready to compare finalists, open the Retirely city pages linked above and skim the community insights on each destination — the live metrics and neighbour notes update together.

References

Retirely city pages used (metrics snapshot 10 May 2025):