Prada, Alfa Romeo, Pellegrino, Ferrari, Illy, Lamborghini, Gucci: these are a few Italian corporations we all know, though we don’t necessarily know that they’re all from the north of Italy. The same is true, in fact, of most Italian brands that now enjoy global recognition, and according to the analysis presented in the RealLifeLore video above, that’s not a coincidence. More than 160 years after the unification of Italy, the south remains an economic and social under-performer compared to the north, reflected in measures like the Human Development Index, GDP per capita, and even voter turnout. At this point, the disparity between the two halves of the country looks starker than that between the former East and West Germany.
The reasons begin with geography: besides its obvious proximity to the rest of Europe, northern Italy is home to the highly navigable Po River and its surrounding valley, the freshwater (and hydroelectric power) sources of the Alps, and the deep-water ports at Trieste and Genoa. What’s more, it doesn’t much overlap with the fault zone under the Apennine Mountains of central and southern Italy, and thus isn’t as exposed to the earthquakes that have taken such a toll over the centuries. Nor are any of the country’s active volcanoes — including Mt. Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii in the year 79 and killed thousands of Neapolitans in 1631 — located in the north.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the political fates of what would become northern and southern Italy also diverged. Large parts of the south experienced rule by Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards, and Austrian Habsburgs. As the video’s narration tells the story, “The long reign of foreign powers throughout southern Italy established a culture of absentee landlords, large land holdings worked by peasants, and feudalism that persisted for much longer than it did in the north, which for centuries after the Middle Ages was controlled by various thriving, independently governed communes and city-states that built up large amounts of trust, or social capital, between the people who lived there and the institutions they built.”
Even at the time of unification, southern Italy had less infrastructure than northern Italy, a difference that remains painfully obvious to any travelers attempting to make their way across the country today. It also had quite a lot of catching up to do with regard to industrial output and literacy rates. Though certain gaps have narrowed, the north-south divide has actually become more pronounced in certain ways since, not least due to the recrudescence of Mafia influence since the Second World War (a major factor in the persistent lack of a bridge to Sicily, as recently featured here on Open Culture). Not to say that each half is homogeneous within itself: spend enough time in any of the regions that constitute either one, and it will come to feel like a distinct nation unto itself. Eventually, you may also find yourself in agreement with the Italians who insist that Italy never really unified in the first place.
Related content:
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Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter at @colinmarshall.
Interesting article. However, it contains some untruths that should be clarified, as they are repetitions of the usual falsehoods repeated ad bayseum regarding southern Italy. Before the(forced) union of the Iralian peninsula in 1861, the north wad a patchwork of independent states. The south, however, was one unified kingdom with Italy’s first railroad, a constitution, a popular royal family and over 453 million gold ducats in the treasury. The litetacy rate, though not high, was higher than that in the north. There was peace, free bread for the poor and great religious devotion. The south went down after the invasion of Garibaldi who was a dreamer who thought it his duty to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and forcefully unite it to the Kingdom of Piedmont. He confiscated many monasteries and their land which had provided the grain and bread for the poor and a free education to those who wanted it. He then took all the money from the Treasury and had it transferred to Turin. The south became impoverished and its people began to emigrate to America. Previously norherners had left, now it was the turn of southerners. These are the reasons the south fell behind the north. Suffice it to know that northern troops executed over 9,000 southerners who had rebelled against the northern occupation of their country and who had supported their own king, Francesco II.
P. S. Please excuse the printing errors!
Most of the South of Italy is agriculture. The North has it too but is more common in the southern Italy. It is not as populated either. It is pretty much that way in the United States as well. You will find there are several more countries that way as well.
At time of so called unification the south was flourishing under the borbon kingdom the savoys methodically destroyed the south forcing millions of southern italians to flee and emigrate in the americas with the implemantition of certain degrees the south was left to rot
That’s is a standard situation on almost all the countries and even in the world.
The richest countries are all or almost all north of equator.
USA northern states are the richest with some exceptions but the majority are at north.
Don’t take to much to figure that out..
Should have kept the two Sicily’s !
Amen
The north or settentrionale was under Germany or the Holy Roman Empire since Charlemagne. It was not until the Lombard League was formed that the north experience industrial, artistic, and financial development. The south or meriodionale was under Byzantine, Morris,and Norman-German rule. Because the south also experienced economic prosperity it was nickname IL Mezzogiorno or noon day. Unfortunately the Angevin French destroyed the south by plundering through invasion and heavy taxation leading to poverty. Hence centuries later the south Italians went to America in the late 1800s. Molta grazie.
Noi siamo diversi, ma tutti italiani. La diversità è un pregio non un difetto. W l’Italia è viva la nostra Europa.
Yes, VV SICILIA!
Monsignore
Apprezzo moltissimo l appunto fatto per lo stato economico del meidione D Italia!!!!
Quando I Savoia si sono impacroniti dei nostri territori hanno fatto man basse con tutte le infrastructure productive del sud non contando il denaro
Molta Gente al nord non lo sa. Perche questa e storia che non viene insegnata a scuola
Un cordiale saluto
Antonio DePau
This is a fascinating look at what most do not know — that the powers from the north devastated the south.
However, if the southern regions were more advanced, and with a rail system and a treasury of gold, how were they ill-equipped to fight off Garibaldi or others? Did they have a standing army that was dwarfed by that of the north? Or, no army at all, perhaps?
Solo sue, vero!
Absolutely unfitting explanation as not applicable to the last 30 decades of reversing process especially when considering the high density of small and mid-size tourism business and new baseline technology manufacturers
The English were interested in the Sicilian island for the wineries and supplied Garibaldi with amounts of money to buy one of the southern generals wich betraying the south ordered his army to stand down giving Garibaldi free passage.
Obviously all of this isn’t written in the history books for the simple reason that the winners write their truth and that’s what they teach in school.
Rubbish. Richest state in the US is Texas, which is not north. Ok..
The article presents a highly simplistic and historically inaccurate version of the facts. Before the unification of Italy, the northern regions had defaulted after the war with Austria. Garibaldi—financed by the Masonic powers of Piedmont and Britain—along with the Piedmontese army, carried out a brutal military invasion that many consider the first modern genocide. This is where the real story begins.
What is never told in conventional history books—written by those who criminally won the war falsely labeled as the “Unification of Italy”—is that the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was one of the most advanced and prosperous states in Europe. Its gold reserves, held in the Banco di Napoli and Banco di Sicilia, were among the largest in Europe. The metallurgical industry in Calabria and the silk industry were of world-class excellence. The first railway in Italy was built in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as were the first large steamships, constructed in the shipyards of Naples. The world’s first public university was also founded in Naples.
None of this is part of mainstream education, because the South never asked for or desired that so-called unification—it was imposed through war, violence, and corruption. From that moment onward, the South was systematically impoverished.
This historical injustice gave rise to a deep-seated sense of resentment and marginalization, which over time morphed into distorted forms of resistance—such as the mafia, the ‘ndrangheta, and the camorra. These are not mere criminal phenomena, but the dark legacy of a betrayed people. From the hatred towards a distant and unjust State came violence, abuse, and the rise of a parallel power—corrupt and wrong, yet born from a desire for recognition and revenge.
So before writing an article on such a complex and painful chapter of history, I kindly urge you to research more thoroughly.
Antonio
Thank you very much for your response. As it is very well written. Are you an historian professor?
Technology vs Agricolture..refrigerators vs fresh fruits& vegetebles,industrial pollution vs clean air..do I need to continue? A question of priorities,wouldn’t you say???
Very interesting. Thanks for that.