| 23/10/2016 | |
| Telegraph |
Italy is notoriously a nation of “mammoni” or “mummy’s boys”. And in a time of economic upheaval, young Italians are reinforcing their legendary attachments to their mothers by remaining at home in ever greater numbers.
More than 67 per cent of Italians aged between 18 and 34 were living at home with their parents in 2015, up from 65.4 per cent the previous year, according to figures from Eurostat.
The number of young Italians at home, who are also dubbed “bamboccioni” or “big babies”, is well above the European average of 47.9 per cent.
The figure is even higher among young men, with nearly three in four unwilling to leave home despite 40 per cent of them having a full-time job.
“It is true that the family is being identified more as the place of security par excellence,” Vittorino Andreoli, a leading Italian psychiatrist and author, told Italian daily Corriere Della Sera.
“Remember that the family is the only place where there is affection, it may be conflicted, but it’s there.”
Italians have a reputation for remaining attached to their mothers’ apron strings – enjoying home cooked pasta, washing and ironing – well into their 30s and even 40s, or until they marry.
The number of young Italians living at home is only topped by Slovakia and Malta, while in the UK, some 34.3 percent of young people were living with their parents.
“There are those who stay for comfort for sure, but the majority do it because of shortcomings in Italian welfare and difficulties in the job market – both finding a job and the instability of economic conditions,” said Alessandro Rosina, a professor of demography at Milan’s Catholic University.
