Italy is known for its devoted mammas. Emperor Nero’s maneuvered him into the line of succession. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi brought his on the campaign trail. Footballer Christian Vieri called his five times a day.
Yet refusing to buy into the cult of maternity are Italian women themselves, who are having fewer children — with some eschewing motherhood altogether.
It’s not just about the cost of childcare, or the country’s anemic economy — though women say both these issues come into play. What’s turning them off may be precisely the burden of the myth: "Mothers are required to give these children their absolute and total attention,” said Valeria Merlini, a restorer of Renaissance paintings in her late 50s who lives in Rome. "If you think too hard about having kids you may simply give up.”