Funeral services in Italy are changing: more cremations, greater demand for privacy and new structures dedicated to farewell.
The way Italians deal with the loss of a loved one is changing. Today more than ever, the demand for services capable of guaranteeing a more refined, confidential and personalized farewell, far from the standardized (and often chaotic) models of the past, is growing.
A transformation that is still underway and which concerns the rites, places and companies in the sector, called to invest in new structures and skills. Those who are attentive and professional and monitor the environment with due attention and with the awareness that it is an extremely delicate profession, evolve: a clear example is the Ad.Ma Funeral Home. Pisani.
How bereavement services have changed in Italy
Let us try, however, to give a context to the aforementioned transformation, which is now profoundly structural. The incidence of cremation on total deaths reached 38.94% in 2024, with approximately 298,600 cremations carried out in the 91 plants active across the national territory, while in 1995 the practice concerned just 2.78% of cases. Industry estimates predict a further approach to the 40% threshold for 2025.
On the demographic front, deaths in Italy remain stable at around 652 thousand per year, with a mortality rate of 11.1 per thousand inhabitants and a structural pressure linked to the aging of the population. Added to this is a moving regulatory framework, with law 182/2025 which has redesigned the rules on cremation and funeral transport.
Within this evolution lies the growth of funeral homes: structures dedicated to wakes and farewells that respond to increasingly widespread social needs. Families are smaller, homes are less suitable for welcoming visits, and the request for privacy is more felt.
The funeral service thus shifts from a simple fulfillment to an accompanying experience, with direct repercussions on the organization of businesses in the sector.
A structure dedicated to farewell in the Oltrepò Pavese
An example of this evolution, as we mentioned at the beginning, comes from the area of Broni and Stradella, where on the Strada Bronese (ex 617) to Pavia, in front of the Broni cemetery, the Ad.Ma Funeral Home is open. Pisani. The structure, dedicated to the memory of Adolfo and Mariuccia Pisani, represents the most recent investment of a family business active in the sector since 1920.
The spaces meet the new standards of the sector: garden, ample parking and a large common room in the entrance area, from which you can access the chapel for moments of reflection and prayer, as well as for farewell ceremonies.
Casa Funeraria Pisani, in light of the new ASST directives, has the characteristics required to host the body in an “open coffin”.
Accompanying in the hardest moment: a professional attitude
The funeral home is part of a larger offering. The Pisani company organizes funerals and funeral transport, follows the procedures related to cremation and guarantees an on-call service active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to respond to families at any time of death.
A distinctive feature concerns assistance in the phases following the funeral: upon customer request, meetings are organized with professionals from various sectors, available to family members for post-mortem procedures and obligations. A support that responds to a real need, because the bureaucratic management of bereavement (inherits, communications, documents) falls on people who are going through emotionally complex days.
The members of the Pisani family and the company’s staff support the family members along the entire process, with an approach built on over a century of activity in the area, taking charge of the entire bureaucratic process relating to the organization of the funeral and offering suggestions and indications to help the family members navigate the practices and obligations following the loss.
Mourning, courtesy and attention: the profession today
The Italian funeral sector today asks companies for a new balance between business management and personal service. Structures count, investments too, but the quality perceived by families depends above all on courtesy, listening and the ability to accompany without intrusiveness.
Family businesses rooted in the territory start from an advantageous position: they know the communities they serve, share their history and can update tradition without distorting it. The case of Broni and Stradella shows how this transition can take place, with a modern funeral home that supports an ancient profession, which pays attention to people even before services.
