Night-time Hours and Activities of the Italians

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a secondary data analysis carried out on the latest survey on the use of time (2008-2009) by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). It aims to analyse how night hours are used by the Italian population, with attention to the duration and the temporal sequence of activities. In detail, it intends to answer questions regarding the beginning and the end of the night and to analyse the density and the temporal sequence of night activities, in order to verify the hypothesis on the reduction of time spent in physiological activities and on the increasing number and density of night’s activities in particular in urban environment. The attention to the temporal behaviour of the Italians who live in different regions and cities, places this paper not only in the field of time studies, but also in that of the relations between territorial characteristics and population behaviour.