There were two very different stories in the Italian news in 2023 of home evictions.  In the first, a 75-year-old woman from Pavia, south of Milan, sued her two sons, aged 40 and 42, to have them removed from her home.  Calling them “parasites” and “bamboccioni” (big babies), she claimed that they lived in the family home without contributing financially or helping around the house.  Both men are employed, while the mother’s pension was spent entirely on food and maintenance of the home.

The men hired lawyers to fight the eviction.  They argued that Italian parents are required by law to take care of their children as long as necessary.  The judge acknowledged the law “based on the maintenance obligation incumbent on the parent,” but ruled that it no longer appeared justifiable as the defendants are over 40; expecting parents to continue maintenance was no longer reasonable.

The “mammoni” phenomenon is well known in Italy.  And the legal system has dealt before with adult men who are overly dependent on their mothers.  In 2020, Italy’s Supreme Court ruled against a 35-year-old-man who worked as a part-time music teacher but still expected financial support from his parents.   According to Eurostat 2022 data, Italians leave the parental home at the average age of 30, whereas children in Finland, Sweden and Denmark begin to live independently at an average age of 21. The median age for Europe is 26.4 years.  Only the youth in Croatia (33.4 years), Slovakia (30.8), Greece (30.7) Bulgaria and Spain (both 30.3) and Malta (30.1) leave later than their Italian couterparts.

The second story involves an Italian princess who was evicted from her Rome home that she lived in for 20 years.  Princess Rita Carpenter Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi was escorted out of her villa in April by the carabinieri.  She got into a taxi with her four bichon frisé dogs while the locks were being changed to the villa.

The Casino dell’Aurora is not an ordinary house.   Situated near Rome’s upscale Via Veneto, the villa has been in the Ludovisi family since its construction 600 years ago.  It is teeming with valuable art.  The crown jewel is a Caravagggio ceiling painting that depicts the Roman gods Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto.  It is the only known ceiling painting by the Renaissance artist.

Born in Texas, Rita Carpenter was a model and actress.  Her movies include Zombie Island Massacre.  She married John Jenrette, a United States Congressman, who was convicted and jailed for bribery and corruption in the Abscam FBI sting operation of the late 1970s.  The couple divorced in 1981, the same year that she gave an interview to Playboy magazine that detailed having sex with Jenrette on the steps of the US Capitol building and the same year that she published a not-so-widely acclaimed memoir, “My Capitol Secrets.”

Rita married Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi in 2009.  He died in 2018, and an inheritance dispute ensued with the Prince’s sons from a former marriage.  The condition of the villa is at the heart of the vicious battle.  Princess Rita claims that the house was lovingly cared for and that she and her late husband made financial sacrifices to keep the villa going, even offering guided tours as a way to support its upkeep.  She claims that in his will, he left the house to her.

Prince Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi tells a completely different story.  He claims that his stepmother manipulated his late father after he had promised the estate to Bante and his brothers.  Furthermore, he claims that the couple neglected the house for years, letting it fall into dangerous disrepair.  Italian courts ruled that the villa must be sold to resolve the inheritance dispute.  But several auctions with successive price reductions did not yield a single buyer.

No doubt the squabbles and court cases will continue.  While uncertainty surrounds the end of this story, one thing is certain.  Princess Rita plans to write another book.