Child marriage geographic dimension in nineteenth-century Italy

Abstract

Despite the extensive literature on family structures and marriage patterns developed more or less uniformly in Europe, the presence of child marriage in Italy (and Europe) has not been analyzed from a demographic and historical perspective. Employing census data available for the Kingdom of Italy, this article tried to offer a spatial overview of child marriage diffusion in the second half of the nineteenth century. Despite the phenomenon was marginal, it was present in many Southern regions, especially in Sicily. However, the second and third Censuses show a drastic reduction in this marriage practice everywhere.