There’s a small village in Italy called Pagliara dei Marsi. It is believed, the place is so quiet that cats are more than the human beings there. If you go there, you’ll see cats moving about freely, entering people’s houses as if they pay rent, and lying on walls enjoying the mountain breeze.
For years, the place has been quiet like a Sunday afternoon. People have moved away, the old folks are passing on, and not many children are being born. So the silence has been normal.
But in March, something big happened.
A baby was born.
The whole village was happy like it was Christmas and Easter combined. That baby, Lara Bussi Trabucco, is the first child to be born in that village in almost 30 years. Her arrival has brought the population to about 20 people.
When they went to christen her in the church just opposite her house, everybody came. Everybody. Even the cats were around. These days, if you go to the village, Lara is the main attraction. People come just to see the baby.
Her mother, Cinzia, said people who never even knew the village existed are now visiting because of Lara. At only nine months old, the girl is already famous.
As sweet as the story is, it also shows a serious problem in Italy. People are no longer giving birth like before.
In 2024, Italy recorded the lowest number of births in its history. The number keeps dropping every year. On average, women are having just a little over one child. That’s very low, even by European standards.
Why is this happening? Plenty reasons. Jobs are not stable, young people are travelling abroad to hustle, support for mothers is poor, and some people just don’t want children anymore. Health issues, including fertility problems, are also part of it.
The situation is even worse in the Abruzzo region where this village is. This year alone, births dropped by more than 10 percent. So villages like Pagliara dei Marsi are slowly fading away.
The mayor herself admitted that the place is losing people fast. Old people are dying, and there are no young ones to replace them. She’s happy Lara has come and hopes others will be encouraged to start families too.
Lara’s parents are not even from there originally. Her mother worked in Rome for years but decided city life was too much. She wanted a quiet place to raise a family, so she moved back to her grandfather’s village. That’s where she met her partner.
The government gave them some baby money — a one-time bonus and a small monthly allowance. It helps, but, money alone is not enough.
The real problem is childcare. There aren’t enough nurseries, and many women are forced to stop working when they get pregnant. Once they stop, coming back to work is another struggle on its own.
Then there’s the issue of school. The village hasn’t had its own teacher for years. The nearest school is in another town, and even that one might close because there aren’t enough children.
According to Lara’s mother, the whole system needs fixing. She said people pay plenty tax but don’t get good services in return.
About an hour away, another town is even fighting to keep its maternity hospital open. Not enough babies are being born there, so the government wants to shut it down. If that happens, pregnant women will have to travel far to give birth — even in emergencies.
One doctor shared a scary story about a woman who got stuck in a snowstorm while in labour. By the time she reached the hospital, it was already a serious situation.
Health workers say the rules the government is using are outdated. Even in the past, they never recorded the number of births the government is demanding now. Closing maternity wards, they say, will only make things worse.
Some leaders are asking a simple question: how can you encourage women to give birth but not give them safe places to deliver?
Doctors also say Italy needs to talk more openly about fertility and family planning. According to them, old mindsets are holding the country back. If Italy really wants babies, they need to support young people properly — with good jobs, proper healthcare, and real education about starting families.
