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Julian Lee is weighing up his options for the weekend ahead: should he head to one of the beaches on the Mediterranean or Adriatic to make the most of the mild autumn, or perhaps go hiking in the Alps - or choose to visit one of the world class cities on his doorstep?
'Within a couple of hours I can be in Florence, Venice or Turin where there are great museums and galleries and amazing restaurants,' the tanned business guru reflects. 'And with the travel opportunities for the mountains or the beach, the possibilities are boundless.'
Millionaire CEO Mr Lee is one of a new breed of super successful Brits who have moved to Milan to take advantage of its highly appealing tax situation for wealthier incomers - and find the city and its environs extremely appealing in their own right.
Wearing a £6,500 Bulgari watch that would no doubt be a target for snatching by muggers in London - where he lived until earlier this year - Mr Lee, 54, explains how he 'jumped ship' to Italy because of Keir Starmer's government.
'Of course I would rather be in the UK,' he says. 'But everyone has their limits and the current fiscal situation in Britain just isn't working for people like me and many others.
'The attack on success, hard work and wealth is just crazy. I fear it is only going to get worse, so I jumped ship earlier this year and moved to Milan.'
He chose the renowned business, finance and fashion hub after looking at various options globally, he says.
'Portugal, Greece and Dubai were all possibilities as were Jersey and Guernsey but options there were limited, so in the end I went for Milan which I think is more sophisticated and more of an adventure.
'Milan is a sophisticated city, it's small and manageable and it offers so much culturally as well.'
In opting for Milan, the chairman of a green energy company, is very much on trend with his high status peers among whom the city has become the number one draw.
And that's because of Italy's generous tax perk for foreigners - which eight years ago swept aside complex rules in favour of a single annual tax payment capped at €200,000 (£174,000).
That adjustment initially attracted a trickle of well-heeled financiers, entrepreneurs and fund managers moving to the north Italy industrial heartland city.
But the Starmer administration's shake-out of London's super-rich has started to turn that trickle into a flood.
Catching up with The Daily Mail before a workout at his £2300-a-year gym tycoon Mr Lee went on: 'Rachel Reeves says she is going for the super wealthy, but clearly she is targeting the moderately well off people as well.
'And the reality is that people have never been so mobile as they are now, and can quite easily work from anywhere in the world so I think many more like me will be leaving Britain.
'I know several dozen people like myself who have left in the past 12 months, so with just one degree of separation, that's probably thousands of people - and it's all down to the current government that people are leaving.'
Mr Lee added: 'As soon as Labour announced they were going to put VAT on school fees I saw that this was putting dangerous ideology over economic reality and feared for what was going to happen in the future.
'And I think my suspicions have been proven correct reading the speculation around next month's budget.
'Labour just don't seem to care about wealth creators, their natural reaction is to 'tax the rich', regardless of how much or little it will raise. And to tax people like me who have worked hard all their lives to secure a future for their families.
'We are now in the position where the lemon has been squeezed close to dry, and to get a few more drops out, the lemon has to be squeezed harder and harder.'
Mr Lee, a multimillionaire, also revealed that before deciding to emigrate he had attended a reception at the Italian Embassy in London at which that country's UK ambassador told a crowd of 300 British based health net worth individuals: 'We want you in Italy!'
He added:' The tax breaks and opportunities were explained at that event and I can tell you a lot of people were very interested in taking the plunge after they heard what Italy has to offer.
'Sadly, in the last year or so London just doesn't seem to have that buzz anymore while energy is far more positive here in Milan.
'I have many British friends who have moved here who say the same thing.'
Mr Lee, whose German wife is a life coach, is one of what's believed to be hundreds of millionaires who have emigrated out of the UK in the 15 months since - with the number increasing in the run up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves forthcoming budget.
And, as he attests, many of what are known as 'HNWIs' - high net worth individuals - have chosen Milan.
For many of those setting up home in the city, one of the first English faces to welcome them is a more established ex-pat: native Londoner Natasha Slater has been in the city since before the change to tax rules started attracting more and more fellow Britons.
And many new arrivals find their first few months in Milan are made easier by the E5,000 membership private members club she runs there - helping them to settle in by quickly establishing a social life.
Sitting in La Gioia, an upmarket restaurant in the trendy Brera district of Milan, popular with HNWIs from the UK, Ms Slater told the Daily Mail why Brits were choosing to live in the Italian financial and fashion capital.
Ms Slater said: 'They are all saying the same thing – it's all down to the current Labour government and the tax regime….For them it's the last straw and they want to get out while they can.
'We have helped CEOs of big companies, entrepreneurs and people have sold family businesses or made money from investments and relocated to Milan - and they all say they just want to enjoy their life and enjoy the fruits of their success.
'People are happy to pay their way and accept that but when it's relentless and you are being punished for making money or having money, then people are saying enough is enough - particularly with inheritance tax being a big issue.'
Ms Slater who describes herself as a 'dynamic entrepreneur and cultural visionary' has made her Robin Club one of the most successful clubs in Milan - and among those she has helped after relocation is Goldman Sachs vice chairman Richard Gnodde who moved from London earlier this year.
She said: 'Members tell me quite openly they have moved to Milan for tax reasons and they all say Britain and London isn't what it used to be, especially in the last couple of years.
'People have lost faith in the UK government and they are fed up with the fiscal situation but also other things like crime which just seems to be rising all the time – I'm from London but whenever I go back, I don't feel safe taking my phone out to look at it.'
As Ms Slater suggests, it's easy to see the appeal of Milan.
Strolling down the Via Montenapoleone, Milan's chic shopping district, the designer brands trip off the tongue like fashion roll call of legends, Gucci, Prada, Armani and of course Meghan Markle's favourite, Balenciaga.
The pedestrians jostle on the narrow pavements laden with shopping bags and many stop to gawp and the parade of high end cars - Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis, that crawl along the streets of what is known as the Golden Triangle.
Evenings are spent sipping Aperol spritz - a snip at 20 Euro - in trendy bars such as Camparino on the corner of the Piazza Duomo and the cavernous cathedral like the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele I shopping arcade.
While the trendy crowd also head to Bar Basso - an historic bar famous for inventing the Negroni Sbagliato - which, for the non-cognoscenti, is Campari, sweet Vermouth and prosecco instead of the gin used in the traditional Negroni.
To get a flavour of this burgeoning community of HNWI Brits in Milan, The Daily Mail attended an exclusive networking event at Terrazza 21, a stunning terrace bar overlooking Milan's fabulous Duomo cathedral square one evening last week.
The 40-Euro-a-head event hosted by InterNations – which included one drink and endless supplies of mouth-watering canapes – was packed and among the elite crowd the talk of the those from the UK was the same:' It's not worth living in the UK if you are rich.'
Sipping a Campari spritz and taking in the impressive view of Milan from that terrace, was expat Nicky [who couldn't give her second name for reasons of professional discretion].
'Why on earth would you not want to live here?,' she said, gesturing at the cityscape. 'Britain is not the place it used to be, especially for wealthy businesspeople.'
Nicky went on:' We have kept the flat we own in London and are renting here in Milan but have bought a place in the Dolomites which we will use at weekends and in the holidays.
'A lot of the millionaire wealth creators leaving London are heading to Milan because it's such a cosmopolitan city, the way of life is great, the weather is good you can be in the mountains in an hour and at the beach in two.
'Compared to the UK the cost of living is a lot less, the apartment we are renting is half what the price of what my brother is paying in London and it's twice the size – I think Labour have really dropped the ball here with their tax regime on the wealthy.
'Don't get me wrong, we don't mind paying our way but there is a limit and I think people who have money are fed up with paying for people who just don't want to work and better themselves.'
Another woman who similarly asked to be identified by her first name, was Antonia.
She said: 'I love Britain and it broke my heart to leave London but we had no choice, it was just too much firstly with mayor Sadiq Khan and now Keir Starmer's Labour government.
'The irony is I voted Labour as well, but we just didn't expect to be hit by all these taxes – they seem to be intent on hammering people who are making money and who are ultimately helping the economy.
'We have met so many British people since we moved to Milan who all say the same thing, it's just not worth living in London if you are wealthy and we were heartbroken to leave our flat (in Kensington) - but there was no alternative.
'It's all down to the non-dom status being abolished, that's what hit us and it will leave too many millionaires and super wealthy people leaving Britain and then it will end up costing the UK economy…
'Britain's loss will be Italy's gain.
'Hedge fund managers, investment bankers, CEO's if they haven't left London already then they will be in the near future.
'There is even talk of the Chancellor putting National Insurance on rental income in the next budget which would mean it works out better to leave our flat in London empty rather than letting it.'
Many Brits moving to Milan head for the upmarket Brera and Concilazione districts – which both Nicola and Antonia describe as 'the south Kensington villagey part' – although prices in both areas have begun to creep up.
In the summer a survey by Immobilare.it – Italy's equivalent of Rightmove – revealed house prices in Milan have risen nearly 60 per cent over the past decade to €5,540 per square metre.
Rents in Milan have also surged, increasing 50 per cent in the same period from €15 to €22.50 per square metre.
Many of the expats at the event also pointed the finger at Reeves' crackdown on non-doms – people who live in the UK but have their permanent tax address registered abroad – and this has set millionaires fleeing.
Earlier this week Ms Reeves ominously warned she had earmarked high earners for tax in the upcoming Budget but denied it would lead to an exodus of better-off Britons although the figures would seem to suggest otherwise.
Research from the Adam Smith Institute highlights that 20 per cent of the UK's millionaires are expected to leave the country by 2028 – with 10,800 leaving the first year Labour were in power or one every 45 minutes.
The study also concluded that abolishing the non-dom status would cost the UK economy £600 million a year in lost GDP by 2030 and £1.3 bn by 2035 – wiping out 23,000 jobs as a result of lost investment and consumption.
Financial experts Bloomberg said:' The departures underscore the growing unease among many of Britian's richest residents over changes to taxation ranging from private equity investments to inheritances and capital gains.'
Andrew Amolis of New World Wealth told the Daily Mail: 'Capital gains tax and inheritance tax rates in the UK are amongst the highest in the world, which deters wealthy business owners and retirees from living there.
'The recent tax rises from the October 2024 budget exacerbated this issue as they pulled non-doms, farms and small business into the UK estate duty net.'
Italy has now become one of the most popular destinations for UK millionaires along with Dubai, Singapore and the United States.
The Italian system taxes only foreign-sourced income and beneficiaries must have not been tax resident in Italy for at least nine of the previous ten years.
They also have to live in Italy for at least six months of the year and that's it - as Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses might have said, 'no [additional] income tax, no wealth tax, no inheritance tax'.
According to figures from Henley & Partners, a firm which advises high net worth individuals (HNWI) in relocation abroad, UK nationals enquiring about the Italian tax incentives grew by 54% in 2024 and is on track to meet the same level this year.
Stuart Wakeling, of Henley & Partners, which specialises and advises on relocating wealthy individuals explained the attraction of Milan – which is now the 11th wealthiest city in the world.
A provisional wealth flow table from the firm predicts that more than 3,600 millionaires will move to Milan by the end of the year with a combined wealth of 20 billion US dollars.
Echoing the earlier figures from the Adam Smith Institute, Henley & Partners predicted 16,500 millionaires would leave the UK taking with them an estimated wealth of more than 90 billion dollars.
Mr Wakeling told the Daily Mail: 'Italy presents a popular option given the flat rate of tax, climate and positioning both geographically and politically.
'The main reason that clients give us when saying they are leaving Britain is that it's driven by tax.
'We have a number of individuals who have chosen the UAE because of its 0% tax regime but if you are a high earner the flat tax incentive is also another key draw.
'But there are other factors as well for people to leave the UK, including the climate, rising crime especially in London and other big cities like Manchester and Birmingham.
'Also, a lot of people say that the opportunity to do business is far greater than in other countries whereas it's being stifled in Britain.'
He added: 'There seems to be a disassociation with the UK from high-net-worth individuals and it is said to see.
'Some state that (last) April was just the start of the perceived attack on the wealthy, which obviously causes people in those realms to evaluate their opinions.'
Back to Mr Lee for the final word on Milan's appeal.
'I've started to follow Inter Milan as I gather they are the football club for the cool kids, not AC Milan,' he says.
'The culture of the aperitivo [early evening drink] is great - a Campari spritz on a terrace after work and a huge tray of canapes.
'The opera at La Scala is world class and there are comedy acts coming here too.
'I'm exploring fabulous new restaurants and I'm also taking cooking lessons.'