Anne McElvoy is on the road again, exploring the state of modern Europe. Following her Radio 4 programme, The Reinvention of Germany in April, the Politico journalist has travelled to Padua, in northern Italy, where reactions to the rise of the right-wing populist Giorgia Meloni appear to vary. Is the 46-year-old PM a breath of fresh air – the best chance Italy has for a future – or a hypocritical dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist?

The reinvention (or rather restoration) of Italy is very much Meloni’s goal. Clinging to the familiar principles of faith, flag and family, she has eschewed measures that would allow those born in Italy to define themselves as Italian, ostensibly believing that to be Italian is to have Italian blood. Addressing the falling birth rate – Italy now has one of the lowest in Europe at 1.24 – she has even introduced financial rewards for large families. And yet, one of the residents interviewed for the programme could not help pointing out that Meloni is a single mother who, in his words, ‘does not appear to be a particularly observant Catholic’.

That fertility is also a men’s issue has been broadly overlooked in Italy as elsewhere in the world

Bonuses for bigger families do not have a great record of success in Italy. Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, provided numerous incentives for wealthy Romans to breed, only to suffer a popular backlash. One of the problems, as a demographer from the University of Padua explained, is that while Italians love la mamma, la mamma increasingly needs, or indeed wants, to work. That fertility is also a men’s issue has been broadly overlooked in Italy as elsewhere in the world.

McElvoy – always a clear and amiable interviewer – spoke to a couple of successful childless Italian businesswomen, but it would have been good to hear the male perspective. Do men share the view, apparently held by many feminists in Italy today, that feminism has slowed in recent years in spite of the surge in women in work? Do they hold themselves partly to blame for the falling birth rate? Do they accept that they perpetuate what one female interviewee described as a tradition for seeing women as beautiful spectacles above anything else?

The programme was brilliantly layered and especially good at capturing the complexity of the clash between Italy’s innate conservatism and the growing ambition of its people. It was astonishing to discover that the GDP per capita is the same now as it was at the turn of the century. Easy though it is to blame the lack of progress upon the so-called ‘demographic winter’, there are clearly other factors at play, which no amount of legislation could address. Just ask the Romans.

The Roman poet Martial, the subject of the opening episode in the new series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics, was wonderfully straight-talking. He wrote more than 1,500 epigrams, many hilariously rude and, sadly, totally unquotable on radio. ‘I wish he were less nauseous,’ wrote an offended Lord Macaulay in the mid-19th century. ‘Besides his indecency, his servility and his mendicancy disgust me.’

If you’re not already familiar with the series, Haynes, a classicist and former stand-up comedian, performs a half-hour set on one classical topic per episode in front of a live audience. She’s typically joined by a couple of academics or interested outsiders with some connection to the humanities. The programme retains the feel of a live show – no canned laughter here – but it is at least loosely scripted and adheres to a neat structure, much like In Our Time.

Haynes’s selection of poems well showcased Martial’s sense of humour. The poet writes of a friend pursuing an ugly woman. What is the source of his attraction? Her cough – she may die soon and leave him all her money. Another friend pesters Martial for a free copy of his latest work. Martial directs him to the local bookseller. Would anyone in his right mind pay for such trifles, asks the friend? No, Martial confesses, he wouldn’t bother either.

The whole thing is thoroughly enjoyable. Many of the eight series to date have ranged widely – the previous one had episodes on the Odyssey, Pompeii, Spartan women and the poet Lucretius. Others, including the series before that, have been constructed around a theme, such as women from myth. Listeners will find the second episode of the new run, on Demeter, goddess of grain and mother of Persephone, quite different in tone from the earthy opener on Martial. No matter: Italian traditions always have been deeply eclectic.