Italians fall out of love with marriage

There were 197,091 marriages in Italy last year, amounting to 3.3 per thousand and “the lowest ever documented in Italian history” according to Istat.

The figure fell by around 10,000 on the previous year – from 207,138 – and was far from the 246,611 happy couples tying the knot in 2008.

Marriage was still, however, proving popular in southern Italy, with a rate of 3.9 per thousand compared to 2.9 in the north.

Wedding vows were at their peak in the southern regions of Calabria, Campania and Sicily, with 4.1 marriages per thousand taking place last year. Italians in the central Emilia-Romagna region were seen to be falling out of love with the ceremony, as just 2.7 per thousand got married last year.

Overall, the figures also showed that Italians are increasingly opting for civil rather than religious ceremonies.

Between 2008 and 2013 the share of civil ceremonies went up from 36.8 percent to 43.1 percent, although the majority of weddings in Italy are still religious services.

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