American family living in Southern Italy: Raising kids here is different

July 30, 2026 - 21:43

Twelve years ago, our family packed up and left a bustling American city for a small town in Southern Italy. We thought we were just moving for a change of scenery. What we found was a completely different way to raise children and be parents.

Here, childhood is not scheduled to the minute. Kids run through the piazza after school, kicking a soccer ball until the streetlights come on. There is no frantic rush from piano lessons to tutoring to travel sports. The village itself becomes the playground, and the neighbors become the babysitters. A parent can send a child to the corner shop for bread without a second thought, and everyone knows whose kid that is.

The pace of life forces you to slow down. Dinner is not a quick meal between activities. It is a long, loud affair that starts late and ends when the last story is told. My children have learned patience from waiting for the pasta water to boil and from sitting through three-hour family lunches. They have learned community from the elderly woman who scolds them for not wearing a jacket and from the baker who saves them the best cookies.

It is not always easy. The bureaucracy is maddening. The school system is rigid. But watching my kids grow up with a deep sense of belonging, without the constant pressure to achieve, has changed everything. We did not just move to Italy. We moved into a different idea of what a family can be.