I've never read anything other than use your country's own bonds. As inflation changes in your country, so does your buying power, and hence the price of bonds, so it should all hang together.
Well this is clearly not the case in Europe, because we have a common currency. If I'm worried about inflation it does not matter if I buy German or Italian bonds. I personally just use an index fund that is spread out over the euro-countries. Can't figure out why I would want to do anything else.
In the Eurozone, not Europe ;)
Thing is, if you are going to retire in country X, you want that country's bonds. Because that country's bonds will reflect inflation best in that country, and that is why you are buying bonds - right?
If you live in Italy but buy cap weighted Eurozone bond funds, the returns will mirror the progression of the Eurozone, not that of Italy.
Whatever works for you, of course.
I don't think this is correct. The rates of bonds mirror the general inflation in the eurozone (i.e. the change of value of the currency), and the risk of default of the country. It is correct that the prices and wages can change at different rates in different countries which leads to different cost of living. However, I don't think the projected rise in cost of living (not accounted for by the inflation of the currency) is in any way mirrored in the bond rates, and here is why:
Assume you have two countries A and B with the same currency and the same risk of default. If it is expected that the prices are going to rise more in A than B, this can not be reflected in higher paid interest for holding the bonds of country A. They use the same currency, so if the interest rates would differ in favor of A, everyone in both country A and B would by the bond of country A instead of the one issued by B, because they get higher interest with the same risk of default. So anyone retiring in country B should clearly not buy bonds issued by B. Actually not a single sane person should by bonds issued by B.
The inflation target is set by the ECB and the national governments does not have anything to do with it as they have no independent monetary policy. Would it make sense to pay different interest rates on bonds issued by different states in the USA because of different inflation rates, when they are all issued in the same currency?