The proportion of Italian adults still living with their parents has long been high, but one mother was forced to take drastic measures after her sons, aged 40 and 42, refused to give up the comforts of the family home, The Guardian reports.

The 75-year-old woman from Pavia, located in the north of the country, was tired of having to support her sons, aged 40 and 42, and tried several times to convince them to find a more independent home, especially after everyone had a job. “But none of them wanted to hear,” she said, according to a report by local newspaper La Provincia Pavese, News.ro reported.

The mother was also upset that her sons did not participate in household expenses or household chores, the newspaper reported. So she went to court, culminating in Pavia judge Simone Caterbi taking a sympathetic view of her situation and ordering the men’s eviction.

In his judgment, Caterby noted that while the fact that the men were still living at home was initially justified by the “father’s obligation to provide support”, it was no longer justified given that they were over 40 years of age. The men have until December 18 to move.

The phenomenon of “bambocchioni”.

Almost 70% of people in Italy between the ages of 18 and 34 still live with their parents, according to 2022 data: 72.6% of men and 66% of women.

A 2019 study found that among youth living at home, 36.5% were students, 38.2% had a job, and 23.7% were looking for one.

Although Italy has always had a culture of several generations living under the same roof, the number of young people staying longer in the family home has increased in recent years, mainly due to the difficult economic conditions and the long time it takes to find a stable job.

However, many are dismissed as “bamboccioni” (big kids), a term first used by an Italian politician in 2007 to mock adults who still live with their parents, suggesting that some do so for convenience in order to take advantage of free housing. and food

Although eviction orders are rare, there have been cases in Italy where parents have been sued by their adult children who are still awaiting financial support. In one case in 2020, Italy’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a 35-year-old part-time musician who argued that his annual income of €20,000 was not enough to live on and that he needed money from his parents. His case was dismissed, the court ruling that young people do not have an automatic right to financial support from their parents.