Foreigners or Nuns

When the family tree becomes a beanpole, there's no one left to take care of the old folk.

So, Italy's Aged Turn to Foreigners for Care

Marzano is one of a swelling number of Italians entrusting themselves to an army of foreign workers from eastern Europe, South America, Asia and Africa who are doing what families here are increasingly can't or won't do - take care of their elderly.

Long life and low birthrates have conspired to change family life, which long had been the one institution Italians could count on while history rolled past, with its parade of conquerors and short-lived governments.

Italy's demographics - and Europe's as a whole - give new meaning to the term "Old World."

Twenty-four of the world's 25 oldest countries are in Europe, noted a joint report by the European Commission
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"I would have thought I would have lived with my son; I would never have thought that it would be like this," said Marzano.

The alternative solution in Italy is to send the old folk to be cared for by nuns, many of whom have converted their former  schools into rest homes.