The figure of the mother in Italy is almost a religion, venerated to the point where a man, as long as he has a mother in his life, has no need of other women.
A “mammone” in Italy is a man attached to the apron strings of his mother, incapable of being independent or creating a life for himself.
A “mammone” is the bane of any young woman’s life, and if you have an Italian mother-in-law you’ll know that your man is losing weight because you don’t feed him enough, and that your polenta will never be as good as his mother’s.
A mammone Italian man is generally lazy, helpless and blindingly devoted to his mother.
The word “mamma” in Italian also takes on the form of “mammasantissima” meaning the head of organised crime in Italy.
In the video above you can find a scene from the 1979 Italian film “Mammasantissima” with Mario Merola.
The famous film is a cross between a b-grade police flick and napoletan soap opera.
In the scene above you will see scenes from Naples life, a male dominated society with only a few images of women, among which we see a statue of the Virgin Mary.