[ June, 2013 ] In the restaurant in Piacenza in Italy, my table was close to the one of one big family.
In this season, they have many ceremonies like Confirmation or First Communion in Italy.
This family seemed having a dinner after one of those ceremonies.
One side was a children’s table with about 10 kids all in white and the other was a table for dressed up adults.
One or two adults were always with children to look after them.
You cannot tell which adults are parents of which children.
All the members of the family were looking after all the children.
This is not a rare occasion.
In Italy, the family bond is stil very strong.
They often get together, because of an aunt’s birthday, or a nephew’s Baptism and so on.
Even for summer holiday, ir often happens that two or three families rent a villa and stay for 3 weeks together.
It is so different from the situation that only mothers face their children to bring them up, in a small room in a flat, while fathers are out for work for long hours.
In Italy, no one will be surprised if a father of young children get divorced by his wife because he went out for drink with colleagues and came back home very late.
