The education system
In Italy, school time is divided into four study periods: scuola materna (3 to 5 years), scuola elementare (6 to 11 years), scuola media (up to 14 years), then scuola secondaria before university. The University of Milan - Politecnico - is among the world's best in engineering, among the top 5 in design and among the top 10 in architecture, according to the 2021 Qs World University ranking.
The place of women
The family, long the foundation of Italian society, is losing its influence. The role of women has changed too. Women are no longer confined to the reductive role of mamma. Divorce has been permitted in Italy since 1970, the pill is widely used and abortion has been decriminalized since 1978. Today, boys and girls receive the same education, and thus have the same career expectations. Women are finding new roles in society, and the birth rate (1.4 children per couple) is one of the lowest in Europe. However, polls show that the family remains at the heart of Italian women's concerns.
Homosexuality
Italy was the last country in Western Europe to adopt gay civil unions, on May 11, 2016. In May 2020, were it not for the Covid-19 crisis, Milan would have hosted the 37th edition of the Gay and Lesbian Tourism Convention. With its many LGBT venues and nightlife events, the city asserts itself as cosmopolitan and open.
In 2017, the court of Lecco - in Lombardy - allowed families with a child born of a same-sex marriage to choose his or her surname. The court pronounced "a judgment in the best interests of the child".
Daily life
As far as daily life is concerned, in large industrial cities like Milan, it is marked by speed and efficiency, which is now common to all major international metropolises. However, in 2018, Milan was voted "city with the best quality of life of the Italian provinces" in the 29th edition of the 24 Ore survey. Each year, cities are scrutinized, studying 42 indicators. In provincial cities and lakeside towns, the pace is a little more relaxed than in the city, although the regional population as a whole is renowned for its productivity and creativity in many sectors. As for working hours, they are comparable to those of employees in French companies. However, you can go home at 8 p.m. and meet your friends 20 minutes later for the classic aperitivo, a frequent and very trendy pleasure. And to protect the health of its residents, since January 2021 the city of Milan has penalized cigarette smoking in public places when it inconveniences citizens within a ten-metre radius. The ultimate aim is to ban smoking outdoors by 2025.
