Now, you may well expect to hear about large close-knit extended families who all live in each other’s pockets under the same roof with many, many children. But the reality is very different. Italy today has the lowest birth rate in the world, and children are very scarce. This leaves Italian pensioners with few grandchildren to spoil. And with more retired people per capita than any other country in Europe, that’s a lot of lonely old people.
Producer: Louise Williams
Broadcast: March 13, 1997