Italians love to live with Mamma (and Pappa)
Italian crackdown on 'big babies'
A senior government minister has suggested that Italy needs a new law to force grown-up children to leave their parents' home.Renato Brunetta was speaking after a judge ordered a father to *carry on paying a living allowance to his 32-year-old live-in daughter.
The average age of home-leavers in Italy is one of the highest in Europe.
Mr Brunetta has been tasked with reforming Italy's notoriously inefficient bureaucracy.
He seems to be on a one-man crusade to shake up Italy.
He has already declared war on the fanulloni - the skivers - who abuse their safe state jobs by sloping off for long lunch breaks and the like.
Now he has turned his fire on young adults who refuse to leave the parental home. They should be forced out at 18, he says - if needs be by law.
Bamboccioni
His comments follow a court order forcing a father, Giancarlo Casagrande, 60, from Bergamo, to help pay his 32-year-old daughter's living expenses - eight years after she had finished her university studies.
Mr Brunetta's idea has been dismissed on all sides as a step too far.
But he has highlighted an increasing trend in Italy for grown children to remain at home - even into early middle age.
A survey last month by the national statistics office found that more than seven out of 10 18-39-year olds still lived with their parents.
The recession - and the difficulty of finding a secure, full-time job - has made it harder than ever for young Italians to find a place of their own.
And, for all his enthusiasm, Mr Brunetta cannot afford to be too hard on the bamboccioni - or "big babies" - as they are known.
He was once one himself - admitting that before he left home at 30 he had not even learned how to make his own bed.
Phrasal Verbs:
carry on: to continue doing something
- We can't carry on like this. Something has to change.
- They carried on shouting even after I had told them to stop.
- Can we carry on with this conversation tomorrow? I have to go now.
This story reminds me of my cleaning lady in Rome. She worked as many hours as she could. Her husband did likewise. He was a taxi driver who often worked nights.
They had just the one son. He was in his early 30s and had been working in an important law firm since graduating from university (all paid for by mamma and pappa). He still lived at home even though he was engaged. His fiancée also had a good job.
As the wedding approached, mamma and pappa worked even more in order to pay for (along with the bride's parents) the whole wedding and the honeymoon. What's more his parents got together with her parents and decided to buy them their first house.
So a man who was earning well and had no expenses, left home only after his parents had given him and his wife a house. Incredible!
Read this recent article about the trend in the UK.
What about the situation in Spain? Do you know of any similar stories?
They had just the one son. He was in his early 30s and had been working in an important law firm since graduating from university (all paid for by mamma and pappa). He still lived at home even though he was engaged. His fiancée also had a good job.
As the wedding approached, mamma and pappa worked even more in order to pay for (along with the bride's parents) the whole wedding and the honeymoon. What's more his parents got together with her parents and decided to buy them their first house.
So a man who was earning well and had no expenses, left home only after his parents had given him and his wife a house. Incredible!
Read this recent article about the trend in the UK.
What about the situation in Spain? Do you know of any similar stories?
Comments
I´ve read it, and I think that there is a similar situation in Spain, wearen´t so different in comparison with Italian. I suppose that the reason is the high price of the houses and we are very confortable at home without doing anything and savin money...But we are loosin the adventures of life followin this way, we have to live risks because it makes life more interesting ;)
I´m not sure at all if I did well some seconds befor, so I´m gonna try again, I´m so sorry if you recive two emails.
Lola
You've managed to do it fine.
We aren´t so DIFFERENT FROM THE ItalianS. I suppose that the reason is the high HOUSE PRICES and we are very COMFORTABLE at home without doing anything and SAVING money...But we are LOSING the adventures of life FOLLOWING this way, we have to TAKE RISKS because it makes life more interesting.
Don't drop the "g" from the verbs that end in "ing"!
I don't think the situation here is as as extreme as in Italy, but I agree that young people should be a bit braver and leave the nest sooner than they do.
I left home when I had just turned 22. I thought that I was late in leaving home. I would have left sooner, had I gone to university in a different town.
I've read it too, and I agree with Lola. Sometimes I think the best space to stay is parent's house. I think so, like daughter and like mother.
Have a nice weekend.
I like staying with my parents when I return to Inverness. It's nice to be looked after just as I was as a child.
But it wouldn't be healthy for neither them nor me if I were to live with them on a permanent basis.
I've read it too, and I agree with Lola. Sometimes I think the best PLACE to stay is THE PARENTS' HOME I SAY THIS AS A daughter and AS A mother.
Have a relaxing weekend! :-)