How Italy's Young People Celebrate Summer

Our Paesani

By Francesca Di Meglio

The New Normal

Once upon a time, Italy's young people had been exposed to drinking alcohol, such as wine, usually made by family members or neighbors, at home, and few would get drunk. But those days are over. I see many young people in Ischia going to bars just to get drunk, much like you'd see in the United States. In fact, many of them drive while intoxicated and cause accidents, some of them deadly. It's become a real problem that the community is just beginning to face. The summer time can be more problematic because school isn't confining them to classrooms and homework.

The starkest distinction between summer in the United States and summer in Ischia is the lack of work for young people. The summer job, although not as much of a rite of passage as it once was in America, is unheard of in Italy. First, society there prescribes to this idea that students can't hold down jobs and go to school at the same time even when they're on holiday. Second, there are fewer available jobs and employers tend to favor older people over the young, even for positions as cabana boys or cashiers.

This is why university students, many of whom are around 30 years old, have no financial existence and are still living at home like a 12 year old. It's also why many of them continue to live at home with their aged parents even after they are married and with kids. By the time they marry at 40, which is commonplace, they still haven't earned enough in savings. This is also why many families have one or zero children and are torn apart fighting about property and inheritance.

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