My wife studied in Paris and Milan

It was quite a while ago, so I'm not sure how things are now, but
In Paris, she had a dormitory, so it cost a bit less.
However, when she was in Milan, there were no dormitories, so the massive rent was a huge burden.
I thought Paris had the highest cost of living, but Milan was just as expensive. In Paris, you can find affordable options if you look around, but in Milan, most of the city was expensive, so even after searching, it was still pricey.
On the bright side, she said Milan was more convenient because English was somewhat understood, whereas she struggled a lot in France because English wasn't widely spoken.
Among the European countries she visited, Germany had the lowest cost of living.
I thought Italy was cheap in terms of cost of living in Europe, but it seems that's not the case—though I don't know how it is these days.