Increasingly expensive and often inaccessible, with increases from one year to the next reaching almost 30 euros more per week; and many, many weeks of school closures, in some cases double those of other European countries, such as Germany and France. The costs of summer centers not affiliated with the Municipality they have become a real drain, the equivalent of a salary, or more, when multiplied by the eight weeks many families would need.
The investigation
The annual survey by Adoc (Association for the defense of consumer orientation) and Eures, which analyzed the costs of summer centers in some large Italian cities, including Bologna, where schools closed early due to elections and where the first bell for next year won’t ring before September 16th (that’s 14 weeks of closure). And it is precisely Bologna that is one of the most expensive cities in the country — the third, behind only Milan and Rome — with a weekly average of 137 euros, an increase of 27 euros compared to 2023 (24.7% more after twelve months, the highest percentage at a national level, the whose average stands at +10%). This is the average cost referring to a summer center – in fact not affiliated with the Municipality – and full-time, while in the case of reduced hours it drops to 90 euros per week: the projection at eight weeks of enrollment brings the figure to 1,093 euro per child, which could rise to 2,110 in the case of a second child.
The discounts
Another data on which the investigation focuses is precisely that of any discounts for brothers and sisters, considering it a further critical element: «As many as 44.2% of non-affiliated summer centers do not provide any reduction for siblings – you can read in the report -, compared to 55.8% who apply a discount to the second and third member of the same family unit; discount which however stands on average at 7%. «Everything is exacerbated for families who do not have a family support network and Bologna is a city with a stably positive migratory balance – underlined in this regard Manuel Michelacci, president of Adoc Emilia-Romagna, together with Marcello Borghetti, general secretary of Uil Emilia Romagna -. Today there are still mothers who, if without help, are often forced to give up a full-time job, also due to the difficulty of facing such high costs”.
Labor taxes
The Municipality of Bologna, it must be said, has been providing a vast range of affiliated summer centers for some time: this year there are 106, to which must be added the schools that have joined the Open Schools project, intended as an extension of the school training offer. For the affiliated summer centers, the Region and the Municipality have invested massively, guaranteeing a maximum contribution of 300 euros per child, up to a limit of 100 euros per week (various categories that were able to request it). Viale Aldo Moro has allocated a total of 7 million euros as a “fee bonus” to be divided between the various territories; in Bologna alone, between regional and municipal resources, over a million went to support families (plus another million and a half for the inclusion of children with disabilities). Some places are still available.
