The course aims at presenting the theories on the intertemporal choices of households concerning savings, with particular focus on retirement savings and on the implications of the latter at the macro level; thereafter the theories on pension systems will be illustrated, and discussed their effects both at the micro level (saving and fertility behaviour, labour supply) and at the macro level (redistribution, public finance and economic growth); finally, the course will present the Italian pension system, with focus on its institutional setting, the strength and the weakness of both the public and private pillars.