“Village will die” – Italy is looking for answers to reduce the number of babies

Walking along a narrow main street on its northern Italian city, Giacomo de Luca points to closed companies: two supermarkets, barber shops, restaurants – all with blinds, drawn and faded signs over their doors.

The beautiful city of Fregona at the foot of the mountain is emptied as many here, as the Italians have less children and are increasingly migrating in larger places or moving abroad.

The local primary school is now at risk and the mayor is worried.

“The New Year, which one cannot continue because there are only four children. They want to close it,” explains De Luca. The minimum amount of the funding class is 10 children.

“The decline of births and in the population is very, very sharp.”

The mayor estimates that the population of the freagon, an hour north of Venice, has shrunk from almost fifth over the past decade.

By June this year, there were only four new births and most of the 2,700, or around the other residents, are adults, from men who drink their morning to women, filling their bags with chicory and tomatoes in the weekly market.

For de, the closure of school intake for admission would be a turn of the tides: if the children leave the freagon to study, he is afraid he will never look back.

So he goes around the surrounding area, even visiting a nearby pizza factory, trying to persuade parents to send their children to his city and help keep the school open.

“I suggest taking them with a van. We suggested that the children stay at school until six in the evening, all paid by the council,” the mayor told the BBC, his sense of urgency obvious.

“I’m worried. Little by little, if things go on, the village will die.”

Italy’s demographic crisis extends far beyond the freagon and deepens.

Over the last decade, the population across the country has been concluded with almost 1.9 million, and the number of births has dropped in 16 consecutive years.

On average, Italian women already have only 1.18 babies, the largest level ever registered. This is below the average EU fertility rate of 1.38 and far below 2.1 needed to maintain the population.

Despite his efforts to encourage birth and talk a lot about a family -friendly policies, the right -wing Grior Meloni government failed to stop the slide.

“You have to think a lot before you have a baby,” admits Valentina Dotter when we meet at Fregona’s Main Square, her 10-month-old daughter, Dylette, cools in the cart.

Valentina receives an over 200 euros (175 British pounds) a month for the first year of Dileta, but simply missed the new baby bonus of 1000 euros for children born in 2025.

There are also new tax breaks and longer parental leave.

But Valentina now has to return to work and says that access to affordable children’s care is still very difficult.

“There are not many babies, but not much kindergarten (places),” she says. “I am lucky that my grandmother is taking care of my daughter. If not, I don’t know where I would leave her.”

That is why her friends are cautious about motherhood.

“It’s hard – because of work, schools, money,” Valentina says. “There is some help, but it’s not enough to have babies.

“This will not solve the problem.”

Some companies in the Veneto region have taken things in their own hands.

On a short road down the valley of the Fregon is a large industrial property filled with small and medium -sized companies, many of which are managed by families.

Irinox, the manufacturer of the Chiller, has long noticed the problem of parenting and decided to act, not to lose valuable workers.

The company joined its efforts with seven others to create a brief on a short walk from the factory floor – not free but very reduced and comfortable. It was the first of its kind in Italy.

“Knowing that I have the opportunity to put my son two minutes away, it was very important because I can contact him at any time, very quickly,” explains one of the financial bosses of the company Melania Sandrin.

Without a jig, she would fight to return to work: she did not want to lean on her own parents, and state kindergartens would not usually take children all day long.

“There is also a list of priorities … and there are few, few places,” says Melania.

Like Valentina, she and her friends slowed down to have children at the end of their 30s, wanting to establish their careers, and Melania is not sure she will have a second baby, even now. “It’s not easy,” she says.

Later, the birth, a growing trend here, is another factor in reducing fertility.

All this is the reason CEO Katia da Ros believes that Italy should make “massive changes” in order to deal with its problem with the population.

“These are not € 1000 payments that make a difference, but to have services like free kindergartens. If we want to change the situation, we need strong action,” she says.

Another solution is enhanced immigration, which is much more controversial to the Meloni government.

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

A card of the factory wall, full of pins, indicates that they come from Mongolia to Burkina Faso. Forbidding a sudden jump in birth, Katya da Ross claims that Italy – like Veneto – will need more foreign workers to manage his economy.

“The future will be like that.”

Even immigration could not save school in nearby Treviso.

Last month, Pascoli Primary closed its doors forever because there were not enough students to maintain it.

Only 27 children gathered at the school steps for a final ceremony, marked by an alpine bugle with a feather in its hat that sounded last post when the Italian flag was lowered.

“It’s a sad day,” Eleanora Franci said, gathering her 8-year-old daughter for the last time. From September, she will have to travel much further to another school.

Eleanora does not believe that the falling birth rate itself is guilty: she says that the Pascaoli school has not taught the afternoon, which makes life more difficult for working parents, who then move their children elsewhere.

The head teacher has another explanation.

“This area is transformed because many people from abroad came here,” Luana Scarfi told the BBC, citing two decades of migration in the Veneto region with numerous factories and many jobs.

“Then some (families) decided to go to other schools where the immigration index was less high.”

“Over the years, we have had more low and more people who decided to come to this school,” he says in English, hinting about tension.

The UN estimate suggests that the population of Italy will drop by about five million over the next 25 years, from 59 million. This is also outdated, increasing the tension of the economy.

Government management measures that have so far scratched the surface.

But Eleanora claims that parents like her need much more help with services, not just money, for starters.

“We get monthly checks, but we also need practical support, such as free summer camps,” she said, pointing to the quarterly school vacation from June, which can be a nightmare for parents who work.

“The government wants a larger population, but at the same time they do not help,” Eleanora says.

“How can we have more babies in this situation?”

Made by Davide Ghiglione.