Earlier quoted context omitted.
>just a generation ago having a large catholic, and poor, family was one of the most prominent qualities of Italian life. I would not say so, no. That's speculation, this has not been true even for the south for a long time now. The only large, poor families you see are from immigrants nowadays.
What is a long time? I lived and worked in the Central part in Emilia Romanga, an affluent albeit largely communist part of Italy, and I saw it amongst farming families, although most had since abandoned Catholicism. Many of the older children had left for Germany, Switzerland, Austria or Holland for work to send money back home. But, and this was just my personal experience since I was in the EU during the financial…
Emilia Romagna hasn't been communist since at least 2 decades.
Emilia Romagna is largely an industrial compound with better average welfare state than the rest of Italy.
At best I would say Italian-socialist with some communist folklore