“They won’t call a good deal marriage.” Residents of sunny Italy agreed with this saying.
According to the census of Italy, conducted two years ago, the number of Italians who filed for divorce doubled. Such data are provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).
In its annual report, ISTAT published very sad statistics: if in 2001 the number of Italians divorced was about one and a half million (1,530,543), then ten years later it doubled and amounted to more than two and a half million (2658943). Sociologists note that those who are married only on paper did not get on these lists.
Experts also managed to find out that after the divorce, Italians are in no hurry to tie the knot again. The number of single people has also increased over the past ten years: about four million single people between the ages of 20 and 35 live in Italy, and almost three and a half million potential brides.
The National Institute of Statistics has caught some pattern of divorce: more than 80 percent of couples divorced in 35-54 years old, while the initiators of the gap, as a rule, are women.
Residents of the northern regions of the country turned out to be more impetuous and quick-tempered: most often the northerners do not want to put up with the shortcomings of their second half, which leads to the dissolution of the marriage, while the southerners are trying by all means to save even a not very successful marriage.
By the way, according to the Institute of Statistics, the number of people in a family is inexorably decreasing. If forty years ago the average Italian family consisted of 3.3 people (each family had at least two children, ”then in 2011 this figure dropped to 2.4 people (parents and one child).
However, the number of divorces in Italy is much smaller than in neighboring countries. This is easily explained by the legislation of the country, which delays the divorce proceedings for whole years.
The thing is that not a single Italian court will divorce spouses if they have not passed the so-called probation period (separazione), which in some cases can last up to ten years. It is believed that during this time the husband and wife will finally be able to solve all the accumulated issues, make peace or realize that the marriage has actually come to an end.
Italians are bred quickly only if all the formalities of separation have been followed and the spouses are ready to amicably break up. If they cannot independently share the jointly acquired property, then the divorce proceedings may drag on for many years.
However, Italian law is aimed at supporting women. It is believed that the amount of alimony paid by the husband should provide his ex-spouse with the same happy life as in marriage.
A striking example of such a divorce proceedings was the former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, whom the court ordered his ex-wife to pay about 1.4 million euros every month.
