Italy, as already established by millions of others, is a great country– food, people, and quality of life.  However, from people that I’ve spoken to, it sounds as though Italy might be going through growing pains associated with EU membership, the euro, and social structures that are changing at different rates.

Because I am on the dollar, I tend to think of everyone in Italy as being .3 times richer than I (the exchange rate being roughly 1 euro to 1.3 dollars) with a parallel cost of living.  However, I learned that the cost of living is a bit higher and average starting salaries are much lower– about 800 euros/month.   While costs of basic necessities vary–rent is higher in the US and we typically pay outrageous sums for health insurance–the average Italian is not living as large as I thought.

Because the typical budget is a bit tight, most families need two incomes to get by.  With childcare costing about 350 euros/month, parents with small children have a hefty additional expense.  This doesn’t necessarily get any easier once children begin school– many Italian schools apparently still send the kids home for lunch and school ends much earlier than the average work day does.   The school schedule, it seems, will have to do a lot of changing to keep up with the needs of Italy’s families.  These financial and scheduling constraints have likely contributed to Italy having the slowest population growth in Western Europe– .13% between 2000 – 2005 according to The Economist.

Regardless of whether change comes internally or externally, Italy has a lot of growing to do.  Hopefully, it will happen in such a way that preserves the heart of an excellent culture.