Rachael Ray says she ‘prefers’ living in Italy over the US

Rachael Ray would choose Italy over the U.S. any day.

The 57-year-old chef explained why she prefers living in Tuscany, Italy, with her husband, John Cusimano, rather than New York City in a new interview.

“My husband loves being in New York. And I tell him, ‘Hey, go as often as you like, stay as long as you want. I come to New York and upstate New York when I have work, I prefer Italy,” she told Us Weekly. “It’s quiet. The dog is much happier. She hates New York City. Bella is not a New Yorker at all. So, for the dog’s sake, I spend as much time [in Italy] as I can.”

“She has a swimming pool and 66 hectares to run around on, and everything is very quiet,” Ray continued. “And the air is very fresh, and we have huge gardens and a vineyard and olive trees, and I just prefer that life.”

The Food Network star purchased her home in Tuscany in 2021, which she described as her “life’s goal” at the time. However, the exact cost of the house has not been publicly revealed.

“My husband called it a war zone,” she joked about the property in her 2021 issue of her magazine, Rachael Ray In Season, as reported by People. “Honey, don't you want to look at a…house?' he asked. But I fell in love with the fields and the views and I thought for the money we'd pay for a house, we could build something that's really, truly ours.”

She noted that her and her husband’s villa was “simply two structures” when they bought it and in need of some major repairs at the time, including a lack of plumbing and electricity.

Ray is one of many celebrities who have expressed their preference for living abroad instead of the U.S. this year. Earlier this month, George Clooney explained why his eight-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander, whom he shares with Amal Clooney, have a better life in France than in Los Angeles.

“A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know?” he said during an interview with Esquire. “They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life

He said he was concerned about bringing up his kids in Los Angeles, where his fame puts him under constant scrutiny — worries he doesn’t have in Europe.

“I was worried about raising our kids in L. A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don’t give a s*** about fame,” he added. “I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”