Child brides in XIX century Italy: the case of Montallegro (AG)

Abstract

While the Italian and international literature on marriage and family investigated the evolution of family and marriages over time, few attentions have been paid to the history of child marriage in Italy and Europe. Based on the employment of a source still little used in demographic studies, the register of marriage acts of the Kingdom of the two Siciles (contained in the Registri dello Stato Civile della Popolazione), this article attempts to investigate the early marriage patterns in nineteenth-century Italy (period 1821-1865) focusing on Montallegro, little municipality belonging to the province of Agrigento. Although, child -marriage was practised in all social classes, the higher percentage, together with a larger mean age difference between spouses, is found among the ‘upper class’.