Families all'italiana: 150 years of history

With this paper we intend to contribute to the discussion about the delay and specificity of the family model all’italiana, through an historical perspective. After a fresh look at data and documents that describe the evolution of family structures and behaviours from 1861 onwards, we consider trends in family patterns at beginning of the new Millennium, and compare the Italian case with the other European countries. To substantiate our reflection, we also look at the evolution over time of definitions and conceptual frameworks, data sources, strategies of analysis and empirical results.