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What is a long time? I lived and worked in the Central part in Emilia Romanga, an affluent albeit largely communist part of Italy, and I saw it amongst farming
by Melting_Harps 7y ago
What is a long time? I lived and worked in the Central part in Emilia Romanga, an affluent albeit largely communist part of Italy, and I saw it amongst farming families, although most had since abandoned Catholicism. Many of the older children had left for Germany, Switzerland, Austria or Holland for work to send money back home.
But, and this was just my personal experience since I was in the EU during the financial crisis; Italy, much like Spain and the other so called PIIGS, is a country plagued with underemployment and little to no social mobility for those under the age of mid 30s for the most part.
And while I cannot attest to the number of their siblings or their religious beliefs, to say Italy itself is not is rather difficult to believe given my first hand experiences.
I remember walking down the piazzas during the day to set up shop in the central parts of town, and the amount of large groups of 20 year olds (I was in my 20s back then too) were there day and night drinking in public was astonishing.
- Tade0 7y agoI lived (part time) in Bologna 2015-2019 and my Italian friends there, who were mostly in their 30s, by and large were childless. I'm from Poland, where the fertility rate is also very low, but parents in their 20s are still not that uncommon in this country.
- asjw 7y agoNot false, but incorrect. Emilia Romagna hasn't been communist since at least 2 decades. Emilia Romagna is largely an industrial compound with better average welfare state than the rest of Italy. At best I would say Italian-socialist with some communist folklore
- toyg 7y agoDemographic trends in Italy bottomed out the year I was born (1979), and were then absolutely stuck until 2001, with no growth whatsoever. Without migration, the population would have long shrunk pretty dramatically. So your image of "large italian families" has not been mainstream for at least 40/50 years - two generations, like many (most?) other European countries. > the amount of large groups of 20 year olds (I was in my 20s back then too) were there day and night drinking in public was astonishing. 1) All the cities in Italy have large student populations because of well-respected universities. Bologna has one of the oldest universities in Europe, which is now massive. Chances are 95% of the kids you saw were students. 2) People in Italy like to hang out. Even if you have a job, anytime after 6pm is fair game for an aperitivo and whatever comes next, particularly when you are 20. Also, in smaller cities and towns, shops close at lunchtime and people go out to eat together, coming back around 2 or 3pm.
- wrinklytidbits 7y agoAn aside: why PIIGS? Couldn't they go by GIPSI instead?
- samatman 7y agoThis question answers itself, wouldn't you say? Edit: guess not, suppose I should spell it out: "Gypsy" is widely viewed as a slur, and thus is not appropriate as a cutesy spelling of a group of countries.