Le poids de l’appartenance. Familles et parentés en Italie entre permanences et transformations

The Weight of Belonging: Families and Kinship in Italy between Persistence and Transformations Several scholars have referred to the ‘anomaly’ of the Italian family model characterized by the persistence of ‘strong ties’ in the presence of ‘weak choices’. Several scholars have referred to the ‘anomaly’ of the Italian family model characterized by the persistence of ‘strong ties’ in the presence of ‘weak choices’. Italian family is deeply influenced by the logic of kinship belonging, despite transformations in family life. These transformations include decreasing natality and nuptiality, the spread of unmarried couples and births outside of marriage, connected to the loosening of the centrality of marriage. The persistence of the logic of kinship belonging are visible in the residential proximity between parents and adult children and in the strong moral obligations across generations. This essay aims to analyse this ‘anomaly’, reconnecting the current situation to that of the recent past in which various ‘cultures of family and kinship’ characterized the different contexts of the Italian peninsula. Persisting and changing characteristics in the process of family formation are analysed starting from ethnographic research carried out by two scholars: the first is related to the evolution of residential models in a Tuscan province (Siena), and the second focuses on procreative choices in a Sardinian urban context (Cagliari) characterized by low birth rate. Family; Kinship; Demographic transition; Residential models; Cultures of reproduction; Italy.