Family provides the network of the deepest and most important relationships of Italian society . The Italian family has many stereotypes. When we think of the typical Italian family, we of course think of a big, loud, crazy family with the mother and grandmother cooking and eight kids running around. The father comes home and the kids run up to him and greet him, then he greets his wife and goes to wash up for dinner, which is ready for him because his wife and mother have been cooking it all day. Though the role of the wife in a marriage is still similar, in some ways, to this image, everything else has changed. Today, Italian families are much smaller and the women are out working for themselves. Much has happened over the past few decades to make this change in tradition come about; the Italian family is no longer the big, loud, crazy family that we see in the movies.
The typical Italian family, although still very close to its extended family, is beginning do distance itself from other family members. Many of the traditions remain, however they are slowly starting to become more relaxed. Families often live in very close proximity to each other, often in the same house. Italian men tend to live at home until they are married, and this is completely normal. In 1992-3, nearly half of the Italian sons between 20-24 years old still lived at home . Even after they are married, often they will bring their wife to live with them or buy a house next door to his parents. This has great benefits, both to the older and younger generations. For the older generation, they will constantly have people around to keep them company and look after them as they age. For the younger generation, they have someone there to cook for them and look after their children, 24/7. The families will often go over to one house and cook a large dinner together. The mother can look after the wife when she becomes pregnant and help her when she has children.
