Families, Generations, and Care Facing COVID-19 in Italy

A growing need for care and assistance is emerging in a European demo graphic context where populations are progressively aging, and this trend is likely to persist in the coming decades. Currently, especially in the South European countries, welfare systems are primarily based on the support pro vided by families and the reliance on informal caregiving practices. In this framework, families demand social protection, addressing exigencies that have exceeded their internal capacities. Traditionally intrinsic to familial roles and responsibilities, these demands have shifted toward external out sourcing. Consequently, we are confronted with a realignment of caregiving obligations and responsibilities among the family unit, the government, and the market. The COVID-19 pandemic emergency highlighted, especially in Italy, how relevant and essential family ties and relationships are in caring for and supporting members. Considering the central role played by fam ilies in care practices both before and after the pandemic, it is crucial to explore the adaptations, strategies, and tools implemented to cope with the crisis period and improve welfare policies and systems. This topical issue also concerns generational relations since informal caregivers turn out to be younger and younger in the family dimension, the so called sandwich generation, squeezed between the caring obligations of their children and their parents. Through documentary analysis and open-source secondary data (Share, Eurostat, OECD, and Istat) concerning the Italian context, this chapter explicitly discusses and explores the family dimension and how care relationships and practices changed during the pandemic emergency in Italy.