By: ISDA Staff

Italian young adults do not have the automatic right to financial support from their parents, even if they are not financially independent, according to Italy’s Supreme Court.

In a decision made public this past Friday, the court ruled against the appeal of a 35-year-old part-time music teacher who still expected financial support from his parents, claiming his yearly salary of about $24,000 was not adequate, CNN reports.

The announcement concludes the 2015 case and overturns a lower judge from Tuscany, who ruled the part-time teacher should receive roughly $360 a month from his parents.

“The (adult) child must in any case actively search for a job to ensure an independent livelihood.” Judge Maria Cristina Giancola, who chaired the panel of the Supreme Court, wrote.

According to a 2019 study from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), about 64.3% of Italy’s young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 still live at home with their parents.

Of these young adults, only 36.5% are students and 38.2% are employed, while 23.7% are in search of a job, the study found.

The lack of jobs, in part, stems from a sluggish Italian economy that has sputtered for decades. For this reason, droves of Italy’s young adults have left the country to find work.