Personal life

After leaving the family home in Tavullia, he moved to Milan, before taking up residency in London, England during his period with Honda. During this time he acquired a villa in Ibiza which he still owns, and following the tax case has now returned to his main residence to live close to his family in Italy.

 Reputed earnings

According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is one of the highest earning sports personalities in the world, having earned an estimated $34 million in 2007. In 2009 Forbes ranked Rossi as number nine among the world's highest-paid athletes having earned an estimated $35 million in the past year.

 Tax avoidance case

In 2007, the Italian tax authorities declared Rossi was being investigated for suspected tax evasion. Having previously unsuccessfully investigated Rossi for tax evasion in 2002, the authorities announced they were investigating Rossi for undeclared revenues of 112 million euros ($160 million) between 2000 to 2004. The officials said, against the European Taxes Agreements among European countries, Rossi's London residency has enabled him to take advantage of favourable tax conditions, such as only declaring earnings made in Britain and avoiding taxes on his lucrative merchandising and sponsorship contracts, commenting that Rossi had: "residency in London but is not domiciled there." It noted that in 2002, Rossi's Italian tax form declared earnings of 500 euros, while sponsorship contracts were all reported to be made out to foreign companies, but with his affairs controlled mainly from Italy. In February 2008, Rossi announced that he had reached a settlement with the Italian tax authorities: he paid 35 million Euros to close the tax case.

 Other hobbies

Rossi tries to keep his personal life out of the public eye as much as possible, though he makes no secret of his fondness for Italian football club Inter Milan. After winning his ninth World title in October 2009, Inter congratulated Rossi on their official website.

 Household Pets

Rossi's pet dog was a British bulldog named Guido, which he had from 2000 until 2008. As Rossi travels greatly, Guido lived with Rossi's mother in Tavullia. Guido featured in various pieces of Rossi clothing and merchandise, wearing a prisoner suit during the pre season tests, and when Rossi was lagging 32 points behind in the 2006 championship, Guido was dressed with an Inuit suit. Guido died after the 2008 Australian GP and to pay tribute to him, the new World Champion designed a special sticker made up of Guido sporting a pair of angel wings and floating on celestial clouds. Guido's death garnered so much attention that it was mentioned in Gazzetta dello Sport.
Rossi now has two new dogs (one male and one female), named Cesare and Cecilia. During the Misano GP in 2009, right after Rossi's mistake during Indianapolis, the two dogs were wearing donkey ears on Valentino's helmet.