Berkley Center

Soon after arriving in Florence I met a 22-year-old Italian college student named Marco who still lives with his parents. He told me that he plans on moving into his own apartment after graduation but, to the chagrin of his American girlfriend, may end up living with his mother and father for several more years. While any American male who lives with his parents well into his twenties would likely be stereotyped as a geek or mama’'s boy, in Italy this is not the case. Marco is actually the norm and not the exception in his country. In fact approximately 75 percent of Italians under the age of 30 still live with their parents, the majority of them being men who are referred to as “Mammoni,” which means “"big mama’s' boys.”"

Certainly cultural factors must contribute to the high percentage of young Italians living at home. Italian mothers are, after all, known for doting on their children. And some have even attempted to argue that young Italians, for whatever reason, are particularly lazy and therefore need their mothers to do their laundry and prepare their meals. And while I won'’t try to make such generalizations I can'’t blame young Italians for wanting to stay home. I hate cooking and cleaning, too! But in reality, the excessive doting of some Italian mothers and the laziness of their children cannot account for the high percentage of Italians who live with their parents well into their twenties.

Rather, several economic factors are responsible for this trend. In short, young Italians are having trouble gaining employment and making enough money to live comfortably on their own. The job market has recently been particularly unfriendly to young Italians. The average first job salary has dropped significantly in the past 20 years when compared to the overall average Italian salary. Further, the current economic recession has caused a significant rise in Italy’'s unemployment rate creating even fewer opportunities for young people. However, it is not just recent economic trends that make the job market a difficult environment for young Italians. Many laws regarding employer practices also contribute. For example, in Italy it is nearly impossible to fire an employee. Reminiscent of the American Supreme Court, most Italian jobs are for life. This employment structure combined with the fact that Italy has one of the oldest populations of any Western country makes for very few opportunities for young people to enter the work force. Further, these laws allow for very little mobility within the professional world. Young Italians therefore recognize that once they accept a position it is unlikely that they will be able to easily switch career paths, making them quite hesitant to accept a job in any field outside their direct area of interest. Finally, many Italian industries have erected complex barriers to entry including difficult and infrequently administered certification exams, which must be passed before becoming employed.

With such limited opportunities for making a decent living and an extremely limited and expensive housing market, it is not surprising that so many young Italians still rely on their parents. This trend of reliance is having a significant impact on Italian demographic statistics and family structures. Italians are now getting married later and later in life and are having very few children. With a fertility rate of approximately 1.34 births per woman, Italy is only managing to replace its population because of recent influxes in immigration. The Italian government recognizes these trends as a problem and is encouraging young people to move out on their own by subsidizing the cost of living for college students who study at least 65 miles from their parents’' home. Even if they wanted to move out of their parents' homes (and many do), young Italians often have no choice in the matter because of these difficult economic factors. So perhaps the next time Marco’'s girlfriend complains about his living situation he will respond, "It'’s not me, it’s the economy.”"