Frank Furedi's 'I confini contano' appears in Italy's 2026 Maturità exam, sparking debate on boundaries and adulthood
An excerpt from sociologist Frank Furedi's 'I confini contano' is one of the text analysis tracks in the first written test of Italy's 2026 Maturità, asking students to reflect on generational boundaries and the concept of 'adultescents'.
The exam track
On 18 June 2026, over half a million Italian students sat the first written test of the Maturità, the national school-leaving exam. Among the proposed tracks for the argumentative text (type B3, according to several sources) was an excerpt from Frank Furedi's 2021 essay 'I confini contano. Perché l'umanità deve riscoprire l'arte di tracciare frontiere', published in Italy by Meltemi. The track invites candidates to explain Furedi's claim that "the lack of clarity about the boundary between generations is now widely recognised" and to define the neologism 'adultescenti'.
Furedi puts the twenty-to-thirty-five age group under the magnifying glass, calling them 'adultescents': a term for those who refuse to take on commitments and prefer to prolong a youthful lifestyle well beyond what is due. The author underlines how the line of demarcation between generations has now blurred. Growing up is perceived almost as a nuisance, synonymous with stress and loneliness, provoking a strong idealisation of childhood and puerility at the expense of responsibility.
Who is Frank Furedi
Frank Furedi was born in Budapest in 1947 (some sources say 1948). After the 1956 Hungarian revolution, his family fled first to Canada and then to the United Kingdom. He built his academic career at the University of Kent, where he is now professor emeritus of sociology. In the 1980s he was among the founders of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain, but over the decades he moved toward a critique of modern progressivism and cancel culture. Today he directs MCC Brussels, a think tank financed by the government of Viktor Orbán, or the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (sources differ).
- Born in Budapest, Hungary (some sources cite 1948).
- Flees Hungary with family after the revolution; moves to Canada, then the UK.
- Publishes 'I confini contano. Perché l'umanità deve riscoprire l'arte di tracciare frontiere' in Italy with Meltemi.
- Excerpt from the essay appears as a track in the first written test of the Maturità 2026.
The thesis of the essay
Furedi argues that the contemporary obsession with abolishing all barriers (geographical, moral, generational) has not produced greater freedom but has instead deprived individuals of the coordinates needed to orient themselves. In his view, drawing boundaries is not an act of hostility but a necessity for the survival of democratic societies and for building a solid collective identity. The essay also denounces the "culture of fear" that, according to Furedi, makes Western societies obsessed with eliminating every danger, reducing personal autonomy.
Reactions and context
The choice of Furedi's text has drawn attention because of his intellectual trajectory and his current role in an Orbán-linked think tank. Italian media have described the track as "sovereignist" or "counter-current". The exam itself is the first under a reform promoted by Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, which places the concept of 'maturity' at the centre of the assessment. The track's focus on the blurred line between adolescence and adulthood thus resonates with the broader aims of the reformed exam.
