A Story of Moving to Malta: Interview with Author Christopher Mannino

Before my husband Marco and I moved to Sicily, I always had this sense that moving to the Mediterranean was for “other people.”

Retirees with guaranteed pensions. Young people in their twenties (without health issues or kids or other responsibilities). People with trust funds. Rock stars with houses (plural) and yachts.

But then, we moved to Sicily as two working-age adults (who must work to pay the bills), including one of us with a complicated-to-manage chronic illness. It wasn’t easy, and it’s definitely not for anyone looking for a simple path. But it is more doable than I realized.

Whenever I hear about other people—working adults with real lives and many responsibilities—packing up and moving abroad, I am very curious.

That’s where this interview comes in!

Last August (2025), I received a newsletter update from a middle grade writer, Christopher Mannino, who I’d met as part of an incredible explosion of online writing groups during the pandemic. The subject line was simple:

Malta Rocks!

You can believe I opened that newsletter.

It turns out, Christopher and his family (wife and two young kids) had recently moved to Malta—just a short ferry ride from Sicily.

Here was another writer, a “normal” person who had to think about things like jobs and health and parenting, who had packed up and moved to my neck of the woods post-pandemic. 

I HAD to write back and learn more. I hope you enjoy reading Christopher’s story as much as I did!

Moving to Malta as a digital nomad from the US

Chris, I know you’ve talked about this elsewhere, including your interview in Business Insider, but can you share the story of how and why you decided to move to Malta with your family?

During the pandemic, the world quite literally shut down. As you remember, just going to the grocery store became a massive undertaking. At the time, I was freelance writing for Business Insider, and ended up writing THIS PIECE, in which I interviewed a number of world schooling families. The idea was novel and exciting.

Both my wife Rachel and I had lived abroad prior to kids, and decided we really wanted to try world schooling when the time was right. In Summer, 2024 we took a sort of test-run, with a month in Ireland, learning a lot about what did and didn’t work for our family and our kids. We learned definitively that we wanted to travel, but that we would not do well moving nonstop place to place, as many do. We wanted to settle somewhere for at least a full year, ideally a few years, before trying someplace else.

Christopher Mannino after moving to Malta.

We were still slowly exploring possibilities, well before the most recent election, when a different straw broke the camel’s proverbial back. The district we lived in moved the ALICE active shooter acted-out drills to the kindergartens. Both of our kids were now being trained multiple times a year in where to hide in classrooms, and how to throw books at possible attackers. Only one country does these drills, or has the issue with school shootings. Only one country has gun violence as the leading cause of death for kids. And for us, we didn’t want to stay in the USA anymore.

We were already working fully remotely, and for ourselves. We were in a good spot to start looking abroad. At that point, we knew nothing about Malta at all. We did a web search for countries in Europe (as we have family in Europe) that allow digital nomads, have decent weather, and speak English. We wanted English for the kids, and to allay their anxieties. The list of countries that fit those parameters: Malta. We looked at the UK as well, but it was far more expensive and far more paperwork.  

So, without ever having set foot on Malta, we decided to apply for a Nomad visa. The process took some time and a lot of paperwork. I’ll get to the nitty-gritty in the next question, but as part of the process, my son and I flew to Malta for four days to secure a rental. We did. And we secured a place to live for a year, without my wife ever having been here. It was a gamble. The culture and climate are as different as possible from the USA. And despite the Italian-looking Wikipedia pages, Malta is nothing like Italy. But we figured in the worst case, we’d stay a year and then move on. I’m happy to say the whole family loves it here, and we’ll be here likely for a couple more years.

What is it like living in Malta?

What’s been surprising or unexpected—both the good and the difficult?

I love seeing the Mediterranean every day. From our roof, where we are located on a hill, I can see half the island, including the capital Valletta, and the ocean all around.

Malta is far, far more urban than anywhere we’ve ever lived before. It is a tiny country, but the part of the island we live on is essentially a city-state. There’s no division between towns, the neighborhoods are different, but all contiguous, and with so little land to build on, there’s very little green space. No one has lawns, and trees exist in the valleys and around, but they’re far fewer.

The nickname for Malta is the “rock” and that’s accurate. It’s sort of a sea of concrete, loaded with adjoining buildings. Yet, it’s also the second most congested country car-wise on Earth. We can walk to all our needs—the grocer, baker, farm, doctor (and the pediatrician does house calls—so nice!), pharmacist, etc. For the first eight months here, we lived car-free, using buses when needed. However, it did get too expensive, especially trying to wait for the buses that never really follow the schedule, and with kids… well, we did get a car.

Driving here is among the toughest I’ve ever done. More than half the drivers are taxis and are beyond aggressive. Driving on the other side of the road/car is something I’d done in Ireland, but still takes practice, and the roads are tiny, far too narrow for more than a car at a time, and often in disrepair. Plus, every street is lined with parking, which is very hard to find. It takes 40 minutes to drive from end to end of the island with no traffic—but traffic in some areas is a near-constant.

Sunset view from Christopher's rooftop in Malta.

It’s also funny how the locals view distance. In the USA, anything under an hour is “close.” Most people here view anything more than a ten-minute drive as “far.” There is also a LOT of construction everywhere—we’ve had jackhammers and cranes on the street we live on and nearby a lot.

The island’s climate is ideal in fall and spring, and pleasant in winter, despite some rainy days. The summer is awfully hot. It’s essentially a desert rock in summer. And for a country with a population of 580,000, the summer brings tourist overload. 4 million tourists come through annually, via cruises and planes. And almost all come during a three-month period in the summer. Many are lovely people, but sadly the island’s gotten a bit of a party reputation—a “what happens in Malta stays in Malta” rep—and there’s a lot of really poor tourist behavior, including in the town we live in. Summer is also festa season, so there are fireworks nearly nonstop all summer, even during the day.

The people here are genuinely warm. We’ve made a lot of friends. And the community is very international. There are many people from all over the world who now live in Malta. Since everything’s close, we can order delivery of any cuisine all to our door. We don’t have Amazon here—that’s one delivery service I miss a bit and hadn’t expected not to have.The biggest overall lifestyle difference is the focus on work-life balance and calm. No one asks what you do for work or frankly cares. I love that we can stroll to the café and just chill and people watch. Or drive to a hotel lounge and work on the laptops while beside the sea. It is very, very relaxed here, and very safe. I used to feel nervous about the kids’ safety in the USA. I don’t here.

Plus, because it’s a city-state, there is ALWAYS something to do. So many nonstop cultural events, or historic places to visit. The second-oldest human-made freestanding structures on Earth are the Neolithic temples here in Malta. Valletta and Mdina are medieval fortress-cities. We’ve been to the Hypogeum—one of the best-preserved Stone Age burial sites in the world. My wife and I attended a full costumed Bridgerton-style masquerade in Valletta, and took the kids to Carnivale a week later. There are festivals and events, and shows, and more. And a great kids museum and aquarium as well. Really, so much to do.   

Did you have any challenges moving to Malta?

What were some of the biggest challenges in moving to Malta as working parents?

The first question on where we could move was: where can we get a visa and work. The second question is what will happen with the kids. A lot of world-schooling and travelling families work only part time, or not at all—focusing on homeschooling on the road as they go. My wife and I both work full-time, and neither of us is planning to leave work now to raise the kids (I was an at-home dad for 7 years, but they’re older now). We both work remotely.

So, for us, the question became where can we work that allows digital nomads, and where can we put the kids in school? For instance, my parents live in Ireland. They could move there as retirees. My wife and I can visit, or even work for ourselves while in Ireland for a couple months (up to 90 days) but cannot, as digital nomads, reside there or send the kids to school. We needed a digital nomad-friendly country. So, Malta was a good answer.

Street scene in Malta!

The process was a lot of paperwork and online forms, but it was pretty straightforward. Once you have your application in and prove you make your own money and pass a background check, plus explain why you want to go there, you get initial approval. This then starts a 30-day clock. In that time, you have to secure (in person) a housing agreement and a year of healthcare. It was time for my son and I to fly to Malta.

Malta was very different than we’d imagined. We had a whirlwind four days, visiting prospective houses with a realtor. The island is small, but overcrowded, and with most properties reserved for short lets and tourism (the country’s biggest industry), the choice of longer rentals in our price range was actually slim. We lucked out by finding a great property near the international school we’d send the kids, and we signed the lease.

Then, we spent two months selling and basically getting rid of nearly everything we owned. We hired a professional “declutter expert” who came multiple times and loaded a giant trailer truck of stuff to give away. We sold our house, our car, and all our furniture. We did arrange to ship some stuff to Malta—booking a small space on a boat—but that didn’t arrive in Malta for another six months, well after we’d moved. The actual move involved us each bringing an extra massive suitcase on the plane, carrying all we could.  

I was a bit nervous in the actual move, because my wife and daughter had never even been to Malta, but they love it here now. I think making friends for the kids was hard, but they’ve made some now and are going to a bigger school in the fall, to hopefully make a lot more.

What has the residency and paperwork process been like in Malta?

Italy, where I live, is famed for its bureaucracy. I’ve now experienced it firsthand, including getting my “permesso” (Green Card equivalent), my Italian citizenship, and my Italian driver’s license. I also started and run my own consulting business here.

I’m so curious: What is the paperwork and bureaucracy like in Malta?

In a word: slow. Everything is beyond slow. We are trying to switch visas, and it has been a five-month process, with many in-person meetings. It is tied to our business (there’s a business visa we’re perfect candidates for), and it hopefully pans out… but yes… slow.

I also took driving lessons here to get a Maltese driving license, but failed my first test. Why? The instructor told me to take the right lane. I did. He then fell silent, so I stayed. Auto fail. It was a trick to see if I’d go back to the left lane. Given how terribly people drive here, I suppose it makes sense to keep the test hard- but tricking people feels a bit odd to me.

Life as a writer in Malta

You’re also a writer! Has living in Malta changed your writing or your writing practice in any way? If so, can you share about how?

I’m not sure Malta’s specifically changed my writing. I do find myself more free to think about my books and my writing than I used to be (part of that increased work-life balance), and I’m thrilled to keep writing here.

If anything, I think the dramatic landscapes, especially stunning places like Fungus Rock in Gozo and the southern coast by the Blue Grotto, as well as the medieval cities (Mdina was the filming site for King’s Landing in Game of Thrones, for instance) really have helped fuel the continued inspiration.

What's ahead for your life in Malta?

We’re in Malta for at least a year, and more likely the next two years or so. After that… we’re not sure. It really depends on the kids and our business success at the time.

We’ve shared about our love of travel, and this past week really highlighted the newest phase of our digital nomad journey. Rachel attended the major UN-backed AI for Good summit in Geneva. This was a big event for us. But for me, I took over the childcare. It became a workcation, blending an important conference with the chance to show the kids around some Swiss cities, including Geneva and Lausanne, for a week. And it was wonderful, both for the kids, and for the business. This is what we’d like to do more of moving forward.

If the kids are interested in moving bases, we’ll be headed to another country that welcomes digital nomads. In Europe, that’s places like Portugal or Spain. Globally, that includes nations like Costa Rica, Thailand, and Indonesia, and more places are starting to offer digital nomad visas. I hope to see as much of the world as possible.

In writing, there’s so much coming up. I am thrilled with Making it Up, my parenting book that launched a few months ago.

And now, I’m releasing three middle grade fantasies this fall.

• Starkeeper (Sept 1) is the story of an aspiring poet who drops the stars after being tricked by the Man in the Moon. He and his friend (and snarky cat) have to help forge new ones. It is a whimsical, imaginative journey.

  
  

• The Autumn Turners (October 1) is about two estranged twins who live in the four cities where seasons are manufactured. They uncover a plot to stop the seasons, and together ink the leaves to Autumn and sweep the shadows aside (literally).

  
  

• Finally, The Story Spinner (Nov 2) is the third book set on this world (The Builder’s World) and concerns a young storyteller who lives where the ocean drains away and stories are spread. But the Man in the Moon’s son is spreading Dulls through glowing screens, and only this girl can restart the Spark of stories.

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You can buy The Builder's World series here.

Beyond these projects, I’m searching for a new agent and am drafting again. I’m currently working on two romantasy novels.

What advice would you give someone who’s dreaming of moving to Malta from the US but feeling stuck? 

It really takes a leap to just sort of commit to doing it. If you have a way to support yourself and you can move, do it. We’ve never been healthier—from the better healthcare to the preservative-free and far better food, to the nonstop sunshine and turquoise sea. But ultimately, you have to just sort of take that leap.