Lowering the narrow main road of its northern Italian city, Jiakomo de Luka points to businesses that are closed: two supermarkets, a barber shop, restaurant – all were drawn with shutters and faded signs above their doors.

The beautiful city of freagona in the legs of the mountains is getting empty like many people here, because the children of Italians are less and migrate rapidly in large places or go abroad.

Now the local primary school is at risk and the mayor is worried.

“The new year cannot go ahead because there are only four children. They want to shut it down,” de Luka explains. The minimum square size to get money is 10 children.

“The decline in births and population has been very sharp.”

The mayor calculates that the population of one -hour drive freegona in the north of Venice has shrunk from the fifth in the last decade.

Till June this year, there were only four new births and most of the 2,700 or remaining residents are elderly, from men to the morning processco, women who fill their bags with chicori and tomatoes in the weekly market.

For D Luka, closing the reception class of the school will be a tide-turner: if the children leave the freegona to study, they are afraid that they will never look back.

So he is visiting the surrounding area, even visiting a nearby pizza factory, trying to convince parents to send his children to his city and helps to keep the school open.

The Mayor told the BBC, “I am offering to take them with a minibus, we have offered children to stay in school till six in the evening, all have been paid by the council.”

“I am worried. Very few, if things go on in this way, the village will die.”

Italy’s demographic crisis is far ahead of freagona and is deep.

In the last decade, the nationwide population has signed a contract of about 1.9 million and the number of births has fallen for 16 consecutive years.

On average, Italian women now have only 1.18 children, which is the lowest level ever. This is the average fertility rate of the European Union 1.38 and below 2.1 required to maintain the population.

Despite its efforts to encourage delivery, and a lot of family -friendly politics, the right -wing government of Georgia Meloni has been unable to stop the slide.

Valentina Dotter admitted, “When we meet on the main category of Freagona, you have to think a lot before having a child.

Valentina receives an allowance of approximately € 200 (£ 175) a month for the first year of delayetta, but missed the government’s new baby bonus for children born in 2025.

There are also new tax brakes, and prolonged parents’ holiday.

But Valentina now needs to return to work and says that it is still very difficult to reach affordable childcare.

“There are not many children, but there are no kindergarten [places] Either, “she says.” I am lucky to take care of my grandmother. If not, I do not know where I will leave him. ,

So his friends areware of motherhood.

“This is difficult – due to work, schools, money,” Valentina says. “There is some help, but it is not enough for infants.

“This will not solve the problem.”

Some companies in the Veto region have taken cases into their own hands.

A small drive in the valley to the valley is a large industrial property filled with small and medium -sized firms, scoring several runs by families.

A blast chiller manufacturer, Irinox, long ago saw the parenting problem and decided to act instead of losing valuable workers.

The firm joined the army along with seven other people, not to create a cricch from the factory floor – not free, but heavy discounts and convenient. This was the first of its kind in Italy.

One of the finance owners of the firm, Melania Sandrin explains, “Knowing that I had taken my son two minutes from here, it was very important, because at any time, I could reach him very fast at any time.”

She struggled to return to work without Crach: She did not want to bow down to her parents, and the state kindergarten would not usually take the children throughout the day.

“There is also a priority list … and some, some places,” says Melania.

Like Valentina, she and her friends delayed children in the late 30s, were eager to establish their careers, and Melania is not sure she would have another child, still. “It’s not easy,” she says.

Later delivery here is a growing trend, another factor to reduce fertility.

That is why CEO Katia Da Ross feels that Italy needs to “change on a large scale” to solve its population problem.

“It’s not € 1,000 payment that creates a difference, but there are services like free kindergarten. If we want to change the situation we need strong action,” she says.

Other solutions have increased immigration, which is far more controversial for the government of Meloni.

More than 40% of workers in Irinox are already from abroad.

A map on the wall of the dotted factory with pin shows that they come from Mongolia to Burkina Faso. Except an unexpected sudden bounce in delivery, Katia da Ros argues that Italy – such as Veneto – will require more foreign workers to run their economy.

“The future will be like this.”

Even the immigration could not save a school in a nearby traviso.

Last month, Pascoli Primary closed its doors for good because there were not enough students to maintain it.

Only 27 children gathered at the school stages for a final function marked by a alpine bugler with a wing in their hat, who gave voice to the last post as reducing the Italian flag.

“It’s a sad day,” Elenora Francchi said, one last gathering her 8 -year -old daughter. From September, he will have to travel to a separate school.

Elenora believes that the falling date of birth is only blaming: She says that Pascoli school did not teach in the afternoon, making life difficult for working parents, who then shifted their children elsewhere.

There is another explanation of Hedtekar.

Luana Skarfi told the BBC, “The region has been replaced as many people from abroad came here,” BBC told the BBC, mentioning two decades of migration in the Veto area with many factories and many jobs.

“Some [families] Then decided to go to other schools where the immigration index was low. ,

“Over the years, we had low and lower people who decided to come to this school,” the headmistress, in English, pointing under stress.

A United Nations prediction suggests that the Italian population will be reduced by about five million in the next 25 years, from 59 million. It is increasing aging, also, stress on the economy.

To deal with government measures which have so far scratched the surface.

But Elenora argues that parents need a lot of help with services, not only a cash -up.

“We get monthly checks, but we need practical support for children like free summer camps,” she says, pointing to a three-month school holiday from June, who can be a bad dream for the working parents.

“The government wants a large population, but at the same time, they are not helping,” says Elenora.

“How can we have more children in this situation?”

David manufactured by Ghiglione.