ABSTRACT
Among the countries represented in this book, Italy is one where the family has undergone a transformation quite recently: from a patriarchal family, where the women were only housewives, to a nuclear family in which mother and father are on equal terms. Moreover, different cultural roots and great unevenness in the process of industrialization over the various regions have produced microcosms which are very often distinct in ideologies and habits. It is significant that there is a higher percentage of divorce cases in the north compared to the south. It is, therefore, particularly difficult to identify a predominant model of the Italian family.
