The ageing population and the consequent growing prevalence of chronic diseases and multimorbidity are increasing long-term care (LTC) demand worldwide. In Europe and beyond, regardless of the welfare policies, the bulk of care for older people is carried out by informal caregivers (ICGs), who are usually adults and older adults. Nevertheless, many studies have recently shed light on young people playing the role of caregivers (known as Adolescent Young Carers, or AYCs) of frail older family members, often grandparents (GrPs). Intergenerational informal caregiving can have negative outcomes (e.g. high levels of stress and poor physical health and mental well-being), especially in countries with underdeveloped LTC systems. The COVID-19 outbreak represented a real “stress-test” for the European LTC systems, bringing to light their limits and weaknesses. The virus containment measures exacerbated the health and living conditions of ICGs and older adults in need of care by restricting access to many social and health services. The overall aim of this article is to deepen our understanding of the characteristics of intergenerational caregiving both in ordinary circumstances and during the pandemic. To this purpose, four cross-European studies on informal intergenerational caregiving are presented, highlighting the difficulties faced by adolescents and adults in Europe, especially in Germany and Italy, and their support needs when they care for one or more older family members with LTC needs. Building on the caregiving stress appraisal model of Yates (Yates et al., .The Journal of Gerontology-Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 54:12–22, 1999), we propose a new conceptual framework for the interpretation of the intergenerational caregiving and for the provision of effective policies to support today’s informal caregivers.