When Daniela Vicino started work as a teacher in Sicily three decades ago, she had up to 30 children in her classes. With the birth rate tumbling, that number has almost halved. There are now "18-20 at best, and even 15-16 in some cases," she told AFP in the south-eastern town of Caltagirone, adding: "It is a very painful thing." Italy has long suffered one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, but the situation has been exacerbated by the.