Two Strong Families in Southern Europe? Re-Examining the Geography of Kinship Regimes Stemming from the Reciprocity Mechanisms Between Generations

David Reher??s hypothesis of a specific pattern of ??strong family?? characterizing the south of Europe is currently widely shared. Is a further specification possible, one that applies uniquely to the Mediterranean family? The supporting evidence from a large corpus of in-depth interviews of young people aged 30?C34 and living in the north and south of Italy seems to confirm the existence of a dual identity for the strong family, located in two distinct belts within southern Europe divided along a north?Csouth gradient. Pointers to the historical and anthropological roots of this cleavage between the two southern family patterns are sought in two major texts, Ibn Kaldun??s Mouqaddima and Mauss?? ??Essay on the Gift.??