Moroccan-Australian family leaves Melbourne for Italy, buys €205,000 home outright
Said, a Moroccan born in Italy, and his wife Donna have left Melbourne with their young son to settle in Modena. The couple has just bought a 140 m² apartment there outright for 205,000 euros, after giving up on becoming homeowners in Australia.
The cost of living in Australia eventually convinced Donna Mamouni and her husband Said to move to another country. Between rent, childcare costs, food and electricity bills, the couple was struggling to improve its financial situation. They chose to settle in northern Italy, where Said was born, Yahoo News Australia reports in an account published on November 8.
“We were both really struggling to get ahead financially in Australia,” says Donna, who no longer wanted to pursue a corporate career at the cost of constant work pressure. The prospect of renting for the rest of their lives or taking on a mortgage that would be difficult to repay pushed them to look for another solution.
In Modena, they found a 140 m² apartment for 205,000 euros, or about 326,000 Australian dollars. By comparison, the median price of an apartment in Melbourne reached 609,000 Australian dollars in October 2026. Donna says moving was an obvious choice, particularly with Said’s family helping to care for their son, Izil.
How did they buy without a mortgage?
The couple had savings they had built up in Australia. Donna bought her first home with a mortgage in 2013, then sold it in 2023. She later put the proceeds into a term deposit to earn interest. That money allowed them to pay for their new home in Italy in full.
The apartment is on the fifth and top floor of a building with an elevator. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three balconies, along with renovated windows and insulation. The train station, an Aldi supermarket, a pharmacy, parks and Modena’s historic center are all within walking distance. According to Donna, older homes in need of renovation in the neighborhood generally sell for between 170,000 and 180,000 euros.
Settling in has brought a few surprises, however. The new owners have already spent about 1,000 euros replacing the floors and knocking down a partition to create a large open-plan living space. Above all, they discovered that the previous occupants had taken their kitchen with them—a practice Donna says is common in Italy.
A new life in Italy, with plans in Morocco
Their son Izil, who was born in Australia, has three nationalities: Australian, Italian and Moroccan. His parents want him to grow up immersed in all three cultures and learn three languages. Being close to Said’s family is also a major advantage for the couple, who met in late 2023.
Donna is now learning Italian and hopes to apply for Italian citizenship in eighteen months, provided she passes a B1-level language exam. Said, meanwhile, is preparing to start his own gardening and landscaping business.
The couple is also considering spending its summers in Morocco. After buying their apartment in Modena, Donna and Said hope eventually to invest in real estate in Morocco.
