‘The village will die’ – Italy looks for answers to decline in number of babies

Giacomo de Luca, which surrounds the narrow main street of the Northern Italian town, points to closed businesses: two supermarkets, a barber shop, restaurants – all of them are drawn on their doors and faded signs.

The beautiful Fregona town at the bottom of the mountains is that the Italians have less children and migrated to larger places or moved abroad.

Now the local primary school is at risk and the mayor is worried.

De Luca, “The New Year cannot continue because there are only four children. They want to close.” The minimum class size for financing is 10 children.

“The decline in births and population was very sharp.”

The mayor calculates that the Fregona population, which is one -hour driving in the north of Venice, has decreased almost one -fifth in the last decade.

Until June this year, there were only four new births, and most of the remaining 2,700 or more inhabitants are the elderly, from men who drink Prosecco in the morning to women who filled their bags and tomatoes in the weekly market.

For de Luca, it would be a tidal period to close the school reception class: if children leave Fregona to read, they will never look back.

That’s why he travels around, even visits a nearby pizza factory, tries to convince his parents to send their children to the town and help keep school open.

Mayor, the BBC, which has a sense of urgency, “I offer them to buy them with a minibus, we offered to stay in school up to six people in the evening, all paid by the council.” He said.

“I’m worried. Slowly, if things go on like this, the village will die.”

Italy’s demographic crisis extends far beyond Fregona and deepens.

In the last decade, the population of the country has started approximately 1.9 million contracts and the number of births has fell for 16 years.

On average, they have only 1.18 babies, the lowest level of Italian women. This is 1.38 under the average fertility rate of the EU and far below 2.1 required to maintain the population.

Despite his efforts to encourage birth and speaking a lot about family -friendly politics, Giorgia Meloni’s right -wing government could not stop the slide.

“You should think so much before you have a baby,” he confesses to Fregona’s main square, when we meet, 10 -month -old daughter Diletta Cooing.

Valentina receives approximately € 200 (£ 175) per month for Diletta’s first year, but missed the government’s new baby bonus for children born 2025.

There are new tax cuts and longer parental leave.

However, Valentina needs to return to work now, and it is still very difficult to reach affordable child care.

“There are not many babies, but there are not many kindergartens [places] “He says.” I’m lucky to make my grandmother take care of my daughter. If not, I don’t know where to leave him. “

So his friends carefully care about motherhood.

“This is difficult – because of money, because of money, Valen says Valentina. “There’s some help, but it’s not enough to have a baby.

“It won’t solve the problem.”

Some companies in the Vento region took issues to their own hands.

A short driving to the Fregona Valley is a large industrial land full of small and medium -sized companies operated by most families.

Irinox, a explosion cooler manufacturer, saw the problem of parenting a long time ago and decided to move instead of losing valuable workers.

The company combined with seven people to make a short walk from the factory floor – not free, but intense discounted and convenient. It was the first of its species in Italy.

Melania Sandrin, one of the firm’s finance bosses, was very important knowing that I had a chance to put my son here for two minutes, because I can always reach him very fast, Melan Melania Sandrin, one of the finance bosses of the company.

He would struggle to return to work without Creche: he did not want to lean on his own parents, and state kindergartens usually would not take children for a full day.

“There is also a list of priorities… And there’s a few places, Melan says Melania.

Like Valentina, he and his friends delayed the children in their late 30s, willing to start their careers, and Melania is not sure that even a second baby will be a second baby. “Not easy,” he says.

Later, birth, which is a growing tendency here, is another factor in lowering fertility.

That’s why CEO Katia da Ros thinks that Italy should make “major changes” to address the population problem.

“To have a difference that makes a difference, not paying € 1,000, but to have services such as free kindergartens.

Another solution is the increase in the migration that is much more contentious for the Meloni government.

More than 40% of the workers in Irinox are already from abroad.

A map on the factory wall with pins shows that they come from Mongolia to Burkina Faso. Katia da Ros, which prevents an unexpected sudden increase at birth, argues that Italy will need more foreign workers to direct her economy – like Vento.

“The future will be.”

Even immigration could not save a school in Treviso nearby.

Last month, Pascoli closed the gates of Primary thoroughly because there were not enough students to continue it.

Only 27 children gathered at school steps for a final ceremony marked by an alpin beetle on his hat and performed the last task when downloading the Italian flag.

“A sad day, Ele Eleanora Franceschi said, gathering his 8 -year -old daughter for the last time. As of September, he will have to travel more to a different school.

Eleanora does not believe that the falling birth rate will be blamed alone: Pascoli said that the school does not teach the afternoons and then makes life difficult for parents who carry their children to another place.

The chief teacher has another explanation.

Luana Scarfi, in a statement to the BBC, many people from abroad came here because came here. “He said.

“Some [families] Then he decided to go to other schools where the immigration index was less high. “

Oldu Over the years, there were lower and lower people who decided to come to this school, the manager says tensions in English.

The UN estimation shows that Italy’s population will fall from 59 million to five million in the next 25 years. This is getting older, increasing the burden on the economy.

The government, the struggle measures that have only drawn the surface so far.

However, Eleanora argues that parents like him need more help in services, not just cash work papers, but also more help in services.

“We get monthly checks, but we need practical support for children like free summer camps,” says, he says, a three -month school holiday that can be a nightmare for parents working since June.

“The government wants a larger population, but they don’t help.” Says.

“How can we get more babies in this case?”

Made by Havide Ghiglione.