By Gianna Huesch
An Italian court has ordered that a middle-aged parent keep supporting his 28 year old son through university. The case has highlighted the familiar issue in Italy of the cash-strapped younger generation who are opting to live at home with their parents, giving rise to the problem of ‘bamboccioni’, or spoilt ‘big babies’, males who stay home until marriage up to their 40s.
In this case the father didn’t wish to continue to support his grown-up son as he was obliged to under a divorce settlement, which he challenged. The father had helped the son through longer-than expected undergraduate university studies, but when the younger man wanted to pursue post-graduate studies into experimental cinema, the father decided enough was enough.
“He does not deserve any further financial support, having made no effort to find work to support himself,” the father is reported as telling the court.
The civil court’s hearing is only one of 800 similar disputes ending up in Italian courts annually, usually adult children suing their parents for an allowance. The problem is said to be “ so acute that the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers has called for an age limit to be set by the Supreme Court in Rome, beyond which children could not sue their parents”.
Read more about the ‘boomerang children’ phenomenon here:
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