Here is a paper I submitted for a graduate business class at NYU in 1998. I wrote a paper on the economic disparities between the Northern and Southern Italy, or "the Southern Question", as Italian politicians refer to the situation. Recently, Italy was accepted into the European Union (EU), based on stringent economic requirements. Our DeLisa ancestors from Sassano are from the mezzogiorno region of Southern Italy. Below is an excerpt from the paper.
The Mezzogiorno region of Southern Italy, is comprised of modern Italian regions of Abruzzi, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The term Mezzogiorno, means midday in Italian, and refers to the strength of the midday sun in Southern Italy. The Appenine mountain system is a pervasive feature throughout Southern Italy, as steep slopes and poor or eroded topsoil render about half of the land un-tillable; nevertheless, agriculture employs most of the workforce and is the mainstay of the generally underdeveloped economy. The chief crops are grains, fruits, olives, grapes, and vegetables. Two of the larger industrial centers are the port cities of Bari, with chemical and petrochemical plants, and Naples, with manufactures of textiles, iron, steel, machinery, and automobiles. Illiteracy in the Mezzogiorno is significantly higher than the national average.[1]
After the emancipation of Southern Italy in 1860 by Garibaldi's forces, feudal traditions persisted as the peasants (or contadini)[2] were still tied to large estates. The Mezzogiorno remained an underdeveloped area for the next 90 years as the Italian government focused on the prosperous north. Consequently, many Italians left their homeland for the United States, and by 1927, nine millions Italians, mostly from the south, had emigrated[3]. Large-scale land reforms were not instituted until 1946, and in 1950, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) was set up by the Italian government to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno.
North versus South
The existence of two Italys -- one a beautiful sunny country where time does not matter and locals chat over a plate of pasta in run-down but spectacular surroundings, the other a foggy, work-driven, wealthy consumer society -- has long been a national joke and a sore point on both sides of the divide.[4]
Northern and Southern Italians have been divided since the unification of Italy in 1870. “Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united,” the Neapolitan historian Luigi Blanch wrote of the Italians in 1850. “Leave them to themselves, and they split into fragments.”[5] Many Italians would prefer the fragments as for years the north has accused the south of living a parasitical and semi-feudal existence, using the re-distributive powers of the Italian state to sponge off the profits of northern industry. The south has traditionally accused the north of exploiting its raw materials and its migrant labor force, which maintains it in a state of captive dependency.[6]
Further examples of this division are evident through out Italy's relative short history. At the turn of the century, United States Immigration Officers were instructed to fill out alien shipping manifests by classifying Northern and Southern Italians as different races of people.[7] During World War II, the Italian army put northerners and southerners in separate units. Sicilians resented the polentoni, polenta-eaters of Milan, who despised anyone born south of Florence.[8] In the 1950s government studies described almost half of Sicily's 4.5 million people as destitute or semi-destitute.[9] Since the late 1950s, however, there has been a concerted effort to bring the backward south to a par with the richer north, Southerners' lives have improved beyond recognition as the mezzogiorno is no longer plagued by malaria, malnutrition and illiteracy.[10]
Even during the last five years, there was a profound secessionist movement led by Umberto Bossi's Northern League. Bossi wanted to make Northen Italy into a separate country--Padania, named for the Po river valley.[11] Although the movement eventually failed, it did underscore the some of the major disparities between the Northern and Southern Italy economies.
Now, many say, the divide between north and south - the curse of Italian unity since the nation was formed in 1870 - has never been greater.[12] The economic gaps in productivity and employment between the rich industrialized north and the poor, more agrarian south has widened in recent years.
In fact, there exists a parallel with the dual Italian economies of today with the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Both had strong manufacturing centers in the north, and both had agricultural centers in the South. Italy's contadini work the land of the landowner much as the American slave had years earlier.
Failed Efforts in Southern Italy
After World War II, in an attempt to develop the Mezzogiorno, the Italian government sent trillions of lire southward for ambitious public works projects.[13] Known as the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, the Italian government attempted to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno. Benefits included a 10 year exemption from corporate income tax; a 10 year exemption from local income tax; preferential treatment on VAT; financing concessions; capital contributions; relief from the employer portion of social security taxes; and a reduction in selected tariffs.[14] But instead of spurring development, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, funds succeeded best at spawning more corruption and mismanagement.[15]
Calabria, Campania and Sicily became building sites for industrial and infrastructural follies, or "cathedrals in the desert", the only purpose of which was to line the pockets of pseudo-entrepreneurs and common-or-garden mafiosi. Roads appeared linking nothing with nothing; the 182km Palermo-Messina motorway took more than 20 years to come near to completion and then was terminated with less than 50 kilometres to go, its final viaduct half-finished. An enormous chemical plant was built at Porto Empedocle near Agrigento and was never used. An athletics stadium was built in Caltanisetta on ground so vulnerable to waterlogging that it became unusable. A hospital in Catania costing 40 billion lire was never opened. A one billion lire open-air Olympic swimming pool in Sardinia's Nuoro, built high up a steep hill and practically inaccessible, proved to be at the constant mercy of winds so strong that it was soon closed.[16] The huge Gioia Tauro harbor on Calabria' s west coast remains half completed. State-bred white elephants, such as the Bagnoli steel monster that ruined an enchanting gulf on the north side of Naples, have been gigantic flops[17].
Entry into the European Union
The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 established requirements for the European Union. A primary objective of the treaty is to achieve economic and social cohesion amongst the Member States.[18]. In order to achieve social and economic cohesion, the European Union as a whole must show solidarity towards its poorest countries, regions and population groups with a view mainly to ensure a fair distribution of the expected benefits of European unification. The EU desires to speed up economic and social development in the less-prosperous countries so that they can play a full part in economic and monetary union and accept the discipline involved.[19] The EU has continued to provide funds to the mezzogiorno region with mixed results.
Cultural Issues: Extortion and the influence of the Mafia:
The Mafia (along with similar criminal organizations, such as the Camorra in Naples) remains a huge problem for the south. Even in areas where the influence of organised crime has been greatly reduced, the image of Mafia violence continues to worry outsiders.[20]
There were nearly 2,000 official complaints of extortion south of Rome in 1997. Those who went to the police were merely a brave but tiny minority. Almost 1,000 shops and businesses were torched as a result of their owners failing to meet Mafia obligations and pay il bizzo, as the Mafia cut is locally known[21]. The number of anti-racket organizations across the south rose to a record 42, indicating the extent of the problem rather than the imminence of a solution.[22]
A recent study found that 90 per cent of northern Italian entrepreneurs stayed away from the south because of fears of criminality, corruption and extortion. The mayor of Manfredonia found that out when he went to lobby in Treviso. "We all know the score," one businessman said, to tumultuous applause. "When big money arrives in a town like yours, the bandits are soon round looking for their cut."[23]
Results:
Decades of experiment in the mezzogiorno suggest that as Europe becomes a single large economy, convergence between rich and poor regions will neither happen automatically nor be easily brought about by government policy.[24] Despite all of the incentive packages and the economic aid for the Mezzogiorno, the gap between Italy's rich north and deprived south continues to widen, according to statistics published by Svimez.[25]
The industrial projects have been especially damaging. The south is dotted with great petrochemical works, a half-finished harbour, bits of unfinished highways with cloverleaf interchanges that go nowhere, hospitals that never opened, factories that never started hiring and other ``cathedrals in the desert''. Many investments were in capital-intensive industries quite unsuited to a labor-rich agricultural economy.
The Mezzogiorno region still remains undeniably beautiful. Climate, landscape and food are all delectable, many of the people charming. Crime in the south, not to mention the Mafia, still flourishes. Traffic in Naples and Palermo varies between chaotic and lunatic. Many hospitals are third-world. Public transport is still primarily primitive. The train from Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, to its second town, Sassari, takes six hours to cover the 220km (137 miles).[26]
Unfortunately, there are also modern ruins in the South of Italy. In Palermo, the Teatro Massimo, built in 1895 and one of the country's finest theaters, has been closed for renovations and bureaucratic bungling for more than two decades. "I have a son who's 23 and for him the Teatro Massimo is nothing but a mirage," complains editor Elvira Sellerio. The theater has come to symbolize the tragedy of Sicily and the rest of southern Italy, with such remarkable beauty and potential completely going to waste.[27]
1 “Mezzogiono” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. Columbia University Press, 1993
2 Contadini is a term used in Southern Italy for a farmer.
3 Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[4] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1).
[5] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[6] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[7] D’Elisa Family Papers, List of Manifest of Alien Passengers for the Immigration Officer at the Port of Arrival, S.S. Main sailing from Bremen Germany to the Port of New York, 1903
[8] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[9] Ibid.
[10] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[11] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[12] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A.
[13] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[14] The Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. http://www.italyemb.org/index.html
[15] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A
[16] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[17] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[18] Member States include:
[19] EU Website, Grants and Loans from the Euorpean Union, Ecomonic and social cohesion of the European Union, http://europa.eu.int/comm/sg/aides/en/p1intros1.htm#fn5
[20] Author not available, Not as bad as it was, but plenty left to do: Southern promise. Vol. 345, The Economist, 11-08-1997.
[21] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[22] Ibid
[23] Ibid
[24] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[25] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1)
[26] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[27] Burke, G., Italy/Special Report: Crime And Punishment The Mafia's Reign Of Terror Combinedwith Decades Of Debilitating Political Patronage Have Left The Sicilian Economy In A Hole. , Time
International, 04-21-1997, pp 28+.
The Mezzogiorno region of Southern Italy, is comprised of modern Italian regions of Abruzzi, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The term Mezzogiorno, means midday in Italian, and refers to the strength of the midday sun in Southern Italy. The Appenine mountain system is a pervasive feature throughout Southern Italy, as steep slopes and poor or eroded topsoil render about half of the land un-tillable; nevertheless, agriculture employs most of the workforce and is the mainstay of the generally underdeveloped economy. The chief crops are grains, fruits, olives, grapes, and vegetables. Two of the larger industrial centers are the port cities of Bari, with chemical and petrochemical plants, and Naples, with manufactures of textiles, iron, steel, machinery, and automobiles. Illiteracy in the Mezzogiorno is significantly higher than the national average.[1]
After the emancipation of Southern Italy in 1860 by Garibaldi's forces, feudal traditions persisted as the peasants (or contadini)[2] were still tied to large estates. The Mezzogiorno remained an underdeveloped area for the next 90 years as the Italian government focused on the prosperous north. Consequently, many Italians left their homeland for the United States, and by 1927, nine millions Italians, mostly from the south, had emigrated[3]. Large-scale land reforms were not instituted until 1946, and in 1950, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) was set up by the Italian government to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno.
North versus South
The existence of two Italys -- one a beautiful sunny country where time does not matter and locals chat over a plate of pasta in run-down but spectacular surroundings, the other a foggy, work-driven, wealthy consumer society -- has long been a national joke and a sore point on both sides of the divide.[4]
Northern and Southern Italians have been divided since the unification of Italy in 1870. “Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united,” the Neapolitan historian Luigi Blanch wrote of the Italians in 1850. “Leave them to themselves, and they split into fragments.”[5] Many Italians would prefer the fragments as for years the north has accused the south of living a parasitical and semi-feudal existence, using the re-distributive powers of the Italian state to sponge off the profits of northern industry. The south has traditionally accused the north of exploiting its raw materials and its migrant labor force, which maintains it in a state of captive dependency.[6]
Further examples of this division are evident through out Italy's relative short history. At the turn of the century, United States Immigration Officers were instructed to fill out alien shipping manifests by classifying Northern and Southern Italians as different races of people.[7] During World War II, the Italian army put northerners and southerners in separate units. Sicilians resented the polentoni, polenta-eaters of Milan, who despised anyone born south of Florence.[8] In the 1950s government studies described almost half of Sicily's 4.5 million people as destitute or semi-destitute.[9] Since the late 1950s, however, there has been a concerted effort to bring the backward south to a par with the richer north, Southerners' lives have improved beyond recognition as the mezzogiorno is no longer plagued by malaria, malnutrition and illiteracy.[10]
Even during the last five years, there was a profound secessionist movement led by Umberto Bossi's Northern League. Bossi wanted to make Northen Italy into a separate country--Padania, named for the Po river valley.[11] Although the movement eventually failed, it did underscore the some of the major disparities between the Northern and Southern Italy economies.
Now, many say, the divide between north and south - the curse of Italian unity since the nation was formed in 1870 - has never been greater.[12] The economic gaps in productivity and employment between the rich industrialized north and the poor, more agrarian south has widened in recent years.
In fact, there exists a parallel with the dual Italian economies of today with the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Both had strong manufacturing centers in the north, and both had agricultural centers in the South. Italy's contadini work the land of the landowner much as the American slave had years earlier.
Failed Efforts in Southern Italy
After World War II, in an attempt to develop the Mezzogiorno, the Italian government sent trillions of lire southward for ambitious public works projects.[13] Known as the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, the Italian government attempted to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno. Benefits included a 10 year exemption from corporate income tax; a 10 year exemption from local income tax; preferential treatment on VAT; financing concessions; capital contributions; relief from the employer portion of social security taxes; and a reduction in selected tariffs.[14] But instead of spurring development, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, funds succeeded best at spawning more corruption and mismanagement.[15]
Calabria, Campania and Sicily became building sites for industrial and infrastructural follies, or "cathedrals in the desert", the only purpose of which was to line the pockets of pseudo-entrepreneurs and common-or-garden mafiosi. Roads appeared linking nothing with nothing; the 182km Palermo-Messina motorway took more than 20 years to come near to completion and then was terminated with less than 50 kilometres to go, its final viaduct half-finished. An enormous chemical plant was built at Porto Empedocle near Agrigento and was never used. An athletics stadium was built in Caltanisetta on ground so vulnerable to waterlogging that it became unusable. A hospital in Catania costing 40 billion lire was never opened. A one billion lire open-air Olympic swimming pool in Sardinia's Nuoro, built high up a steep hill and practically inaccessible, proved to be at the constant mercy of winds so strong that it was soon closed.[16] The huge Gioia Tauro harbor on Calabria' s west coast remains half completed. State-bred white elephants, such as the Bagnoli steel monster that ruined an enchanting gulf on the north side of Naples, have been gigantic flops[17].
Entry into the European Union
The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 established requirements for the European Union. A primary objective of the treaty is to achieve economic and social cohesion amongst the Member States.[18]. In order to achieve social and economic cohesion, the European Union as a whole must show solidarity towards its poorest countries, regions and population groups with a view mainly to ensure a fair distribution of the expected benefits of European unification. The EU desires to speed up economic and social development in the less-prosperous countries so that they can play a full part in economic and monetary union and accept the discipline involved.[19] The EU has continued to provide funds to the mezzogiorno region with mixed results.
Cultural Issues: Extortion and the influence of the Mafia:
The Mafia (along with similar criminal organizations, such as the Camorra in Naples) remains a huge problem for the south. Even in areas where the influence of organised crime has been greatly reduced, the image of Mafia violence continues to worry outsiders.[20]
There were nearly 2,000 official complaints of extortion south of Rome in 1997. Those who went to the police were merely a brave but tiny minority. Almost 1,000 shops and businesses were torched as a result of their owners failing to meet Mafia obligations and pay il bizzo, as the Mafia cut is locally known[21]. The number of anti-racket organizations across the south rose to a record 42, indicating the extent of the problem rather than the imminence of a solution.[22]
A recent study found that 90 per cent of northern Italian entrepreneurs stayed away from the south because of fears of criminality, corruption and extortion. The mayor of Manfredonia found that out when he went to lobby in Treviso. "We all know the score," one businessman said, to tumultuous applause. "When big money arrives in a town like yours, the bandits are soon round looking for their cut."[23]
Results:
Decades of experiment in the mezzogiorno suggest that as Europe becomes a single large economy, convergence between rich and poor regions will neither happen automatically nor be easily brought about by government policy.[24] Despite all of the incentive packages and the economic aid for the Mezzogiorno, the gap between Italy's rich north and deprived south continues to widen, according to statistics published by Svimez.[25]
The industrial projects have been especially damaging. The south is dotted with great petrochemical works, a half-finished harbour, bits of unfinished highways with cloverleaf interchanges that go nowhere, hospitals that never opened, factories that never started hiring and other ``cathedrals in the desert''. Many investments were in capital-intensive industries quite unsuited to a labor-rich agricultural economy.
The Mezzogiorno region still remains undeniably beautiful. Climate, landscape and food are all delectable, many of the people charming. Crime in the south, not to mention the Mafia, still flourishes. Traffic in Naples and Palermo varies between chaotic and lunatic. Many hospitals are third-world. Public transport is still primarily primitive. The train from Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, to its second town, Sassari, takes six hours to cover the 220km (137 miles).[26]
Unfortunately, there are also modern ruins in the South of Italy. In Palermo, the Teatro Massimo, built in 1895 and one of the country's finest theaters, has been closed for renovations and bureaucratic bungling for more than two decades. "I have a son who's 23 and for him the Teatro Massimo is nothing but a mirage," complains editor Elvira Sellerio. The theater has come to symbolize the tragedy of Sicily and the rest of southern Italy, with such remarkable beauty and potential completely going to waste.[27]
1 “Mezzogiono” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. Columbia University Press, 1993
2 Contadini is a term used in Southern Italy for a farmer.
3 Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[4] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1).
[5] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[6] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[7] D’Elisa Family Papers, List of Manifest of Alien Passengers for the Immigration Officer at the Port of Arrival, S.S. Main sailing from Bremen Germany to the Port of New York, 1903
[8] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[9] Ibid.
[10] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[11] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[12] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A.
[13] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[14] The Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. http://www.italyemb.org/index.html
[15] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A
[16] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[17] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[18] Member States include:
[19] EU Website, Grants and Loans from the Euorpean Union, Ecomonic and social cohesion of the European Union, http://europa.eu.int/comm/sg/aides/en/p1intros1.htm#fn5
[20] Author not available, Not as bad as it was, but plenty left to do: Southern promise. Vol. 345, The Economist, 11-08-1997.
[21] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[22] Ibid
[23] Ibid
[24] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[25] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1)
[26] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[27] Burke, G., Italy/Special Report: Crime And Punishment The Mafia's Reign Of Terror Combinedwith Decades Of Debilitating Political Patronage Have Left The Sicilian Economy In A Hole. , Time
International, 04-21-1997, pp 28+.
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