Ancient rural town Pagliara dei Marsi in Italy has a population of roughly 20 people – with more cats than humans – which is why there was widespread celebration when a child was born this year
A town where cats outnumber humans is celebrating after a child was finally born after a 30-year baby-drought. The residents of Pagliara dei Marsi, an ancient rural town in Italy’s Abruzzo region have been rejoicing this year after the birth of little Lara Bussi Trabucco.
Lara, now a few months old, is one of roughly 20 inhabitants of the ancient town. Her christening earlier this week brought many tourists to the village, reports the Guardian. The little child’s arrival into the world broke a lengthy no-baby streak in the town, reminiscent Alfonso Cuaron’s plot in the film Children of Men.
In the 2006 thriller, starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, a bleak picture of the earth in 2027 in painted when two decades of human infertility have left human civilisation on the brink of collapse.
“People who didn’t even know Pagliara dei Marsi existed have come, only because they had heard about Lara,” said her mother, Cinzia Trabucco. “At just nine months old, she’s famous.”
Despite the celebrations surrounding Lara’s arrival, experts are still fretting about Italy’s worsening demographic crisis. Last year births reached a historic low of 369,944, continuing a 16-year negative trend, according to national statistics agency Istat.
Fertility rates also fell to a record low, with an average 1.18 children to women of child-bearing age in 2024 – one of the lowest rates in the EU.
Alongside an increasing number of people are simply choosing to not have children, the drop of births is also due to financial and health factors.
“Pagliara dei Marsi has been suffering from drastic depopulation, exacerbated by the loss of many elderly people, without any generational turnover,” said Pagliara dei Marsi’s local mayor, Giuseppina Perozzi.
Lara’s parents benefited from a €1,000 “baby bonus” – a one-time payment for each child born or adopted since January 2025.
The payment was introduced by Giorgia Meloni’s government as part of a pledge to tackle what the prime minister has dubbed a “demographic winter”.
Child benefits aside, Lara’s parents also harbour concerns about their child’s future education. It’s been years since Pagliara dei Marsi had a teacher – who also used their home as the school.
There’s a nursery and primary school in nearby Castellafiume, but with schools across Italy shutting down due to the falling birthrate, it’s uncertain whether there will be enough youngsters to keep the institution going in the long run.
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