Information about Southern Italian

Southern Italy

Regional statistics
Largest city	Naples
Regions of Italy	Apulia, Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Sardinia and Sicily
Area  - Total	47,504 mi² (123,036 km²)
Languages	Standard Italian (official); Neapolitan, Sicilian, and Sardinian Italian dialects; minorities of Griko and pockets of Franco-Provençal and Arbëresh.
Population  - Total (2006)  - Density	20,755,621[1] 168.6 people/km²
GDP (nom.)  - Total   - Per capita	2003 estimates[2][3] $0.369 trillion (17h) $17,924 (26th)
GDP (PPP)  - Total   - Per capita	2003 estimates[4][5] $0.365 trillion (24th) $17,724 (32th)

The mezzogiorno is generally viewed as encompassing Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Apulia, and Sicily, which lie in Italy's south, as well as Molise and Abruzzo, which are geographically in central or south-central Italy. Some would also include Sardinia and the southern half of Lazio in the Mezzogiorno. Italians often refer to Southern Italy as Il Meridionale (the South); the terms Meridionale and Mezzogiorno are often used interchangeably, though word Meridionale has less cultural and political baggage associated with it. The Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT) now uses the term Meridionale Italia in place of Mezzogiorno. ISTAT excludes Sicily, Sardinia and southern Lazio in its definition of the Meridionale but does include Abruzzo and Molise.

The term Mezzogiorno ("mèzzo" /'mɛddzo/ or half in English and "giórno" /'dʒorno/ or day) first came into use in the 19th century. The term was popularized by Giuseppe Garibaldi who referred to all of Italy to the south of Rome as well as the Abruzzi (although part of that region lay to Rome's north) as "Il Mezzogiorno".

Geography

Depending on just what one includes as being in the Mezzogiorno, it forms the "boot" of the Italian peninsula, containing the ankle (Abruzzo and Molise and sometimes southern Lazio), the toe (Calabria), and the heel (the southern half of Apulia). Separating the two is the Gulf of Taranto, named after the city of Taranto, which sits at the angle between heel and "sole". It is an arm of the Ionian Sea. The rest of the southern third of the Italian peninsula is studded with smaller gulfs and inlets.

On the eastern coast is the Adriatic Sea, leading into the rest of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Otranto (named after the largest city on the tip of the heel). On the Adriatic, south of the "spur" of the boot, the peninsula of Monte Gargano (Policastro), the Gulf of Salerno, the Gulf of Naples, and the Gulf of Gaeta are each named after a large coastal city. Along the northern coast of the Salernitan gulf, on the south of the Sorrentine peninsula, runs the famous Amalfi Coast. Off the tip of the peninsula there is the world famous isle of Capri.

The climate is classic Mediterranean (Köppen climate classification Csa), except at the highest elevations (Dsa, Dsb) and the semi-arid eastern stretches in Apulia, along the Ionian Sea in Calabria, and the southern stretches of Sicily (BSw).

The largest city in the Mezzogiorno is Naples, a title it has historically maintained for centuries. Palermo and Bari are the next largest cities in the area.

History

See also: , , and

Ever since the Greeks colonised Magna Graecia in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, the south of Italy has, in many respects, followed a distinct history from the north. After Pyrrhus of Epirus failed in his attempt to stop the spread of Roman hegemony in 282 BC, the south fell under Roman domination and remained in such a position well into the barbarian invasions (the Gladiator War is a notable suspension of imperial control). It was held by the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome in the West and even the Lombards failed to consolidate it, though the centre of the south was theirs from Zotto's conquest in the final quarter of the 6th century. Amalfi, an independent republic from the seventh century until 1075, and to a lesser extent Gaeta, Molfetta, and Trani, rivalled other Italian maritime republics in their domestic prosperity and maritime importance.



From then to the Norman conquest of the 11th century, the south of the peninsula was constantly plunged into wars between Greek, Lombard, and the Caliphate. The Norman conquest of southern Italy completely subjugated the Lombard principalities, integrated the Islamic element, and overwhelmed the Byzantines from all but Naples, which ultimately gave in to Roger II in 1127. He raised the south to kingdom status in 1130, calling it the Kingdom of Sicily. The Normans retained harmonious control of their territory, and ran the kingdom of Sicily efficiently. However, it lasted only 64 years before the Holy Roman Emperors long-held designs on the region came to fruition. The Hohenstaufen rule ended in defeat, but the conquering French of Charles of Anjou were themselves forcibly pushed out in the event immortalized as the Sicilian Vespers. Hereafter, until the union in Spain, the kingdom was split between the principalities of Naples on the mainland and of Sicily over the island. The Aragonese rule left its impression on Italy and the Renaissance through such figures as Alfonso the Magnanimous and the Borgia clan. With the unification of the crowns of Castile and Aragon in the late 15th century, southern Italy and Sicily ceased to have a local monarch and were ruled by viceroys appointed by the Spanish crown.

The region remained a part of Spain until the War of the Spanish Succession, when Duke Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia took Sicily. It was soon exchanged with Austria for Sardinia. It became an independent kingdom for Charles of Bourbon and experienced a period of enlightenment with a local, flourishing royal court. In 1798 the French revolutionaries captured southern Italy and created the short-lived Parthenopaean Republic. Eventually, France created the Kingdom of Naples for the benefit of Napoleon's marshal Joachim Murat. An object of irredentism and the Risorgimento, the land was conquered by Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Redshirts in 1861 and, with the north, formed the modern state of Italy.

Garibaldi’s Redshirts were supported by most southern Italians; however, to many others the "northern regime" of Victor Emanuel II was "a hostile invasion which looted the treasury of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, devastated the heavily protected local industries, and reduced Naples from the fourth largest city in Europe and the capital of a kingdom to a provincial town".^[6]

The transition to a united Kingdom of Italy was not smooth for the South. The Southern economy was much more agrarian and feudal than the industrial northern economy. Poverty and organized crime were persistent problems in the Mezzogiorno as well. Because of this, the South experienced great economic difficulties resulting in massive emigration leading to a worldwide Southern Italian diaspora. Many natives also relocated to the industrial cities in northern Italy, such as Genoa, Milan and Turin.

Today, the South remains considerably less economically developed than the North. Southern Italian secession movements have developed, but have gained little, if any, significant influence.

North-South Divide

The Mezzogiorno has historically been an economically underdeveloped area, roughly coextensive with the former Kingdom of Naples. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples played a major role in European affairs and exhibited many signs of prosperity. However, by the middle of the 13th century, due to fiscal policies that prevented the growth of a strong merchant class, the region became economically backward compared to the northern Italian states.^[7]. Unlike the rest of Italy, which experienced the rise of many small, independent and prosperous city states, all enterprise in the comparatively large kingdom centred on the capital city of Naples. The outlying areas, cursed with generally poor agricultural conditions, fell further behind. Sicily's trade fell primarily under Catalan control. In spite of economic repression, the Mezzogiorno did experience periods of cultural flowering. With the Spanish conquest, however, the kingdom continued to be repressed and exploited by foreign rule until the late 18th century and when Bourbon rule meant a native court and a time of enlightenment.

Following unification with the rest of Italy in 1861, the southern aristocracy began to deal with northern industrialists- a practice that may have had the adverse effect of continuing the repression in the south well into the 20th century^[8]. Southern Italy was in terrible shape prior to and during Giovanni Giolitti's tenure as Prime Minister between 1892 and 1921. During this time most southern Italians were illiterate, there were large numbers of absentee landlords, rebellions were common, and poverty continued.^[9] Corruption was such a large problem that Giolitti himself admitted that there were places "where the law does not operate at all".^[10] One study released in 1910 examined tax rates in north, central and southern Italy indicated that northern Italy with 48% of the nation's wealth paid 40% of the nation's taxes, while the south with 27% of the nation's wealth paid 32% of the nation's taxes.^[11] There were also several natural disasters (earthquakes and landslides) during this period, often killing hundreds of people with each disaster. Giolitti's poor response to a major earthquake in Messina in 1908 was blamed for the high number of deaths. The Messina earthquake infuriated southern Italians who claimed that Giolitti favoured the rich north over them.

Into the 1930s, illiteracy and poverty in southern Italy were still among the highest in western Europe. During the 1950s the regional policy, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno was set up to help raise the living standards in the South to those of the North. The Cassa aimed to do this in two ways: by land reforms creating 120,000 new small farms, and through the "Growth Pole Strategy" whereby 60% of all government investment would go to the South, thus boosting the Southern economy by attracting new capital, stimulating local firms, and providing employment. As a result the South became increasingly subsidized and dependent, incapable of generating growth itself.

Today, in spite of increased affluence and a much improved economy, the regional disparities persist. Southern Italy continues to be the least prosperous area of Italy. Problems continue to include corruption, organized crime and relatively high unemployment^[12]. Southern Italy includes 37% of Italy's population, occupies 40% of its land area, but only produces 24% of its GDP. This does not, however, include the large underground informal economy, reported to be as high as 30% of GDP.^[13]

Even though the standard of living is still well below that of northern and central Italy, there are districts with substantial economic production. On the whole, the Mezzogiorno's per capita income has improved to the point where it is nearing the European Union median.^[14]

Culture

Historically, the regions of the Mezzogiorno have been exposed to some different influences than the rest of the peninsula, starting most notably with the Greek colonization. Greek influence in the South was dominant until Latinization was completed by the time of the Roman Principate. Greek influences returned by the late Roman Empire, especially following the reconquests of Justinian and the Byzantine Empire. With the History of Islam in southern Italy, different parts of the South came under various influences. Sicily, and to a lesser extent Sardinia, Calabria and parts of Puglia, were almost entirely in control of Aghlabids for some 75 years in the 9th Century. The rest of the mainland was subject to a struggle of power among the Byzantines, Lombards, and Franks. Until the Norman conquests of the 11th and 12th centuries much of the South followed Eastern rite (Greek) Christianity. The Normans and other northern rulers of the Middle Ages significantly impacted the architecture, religion and high culture of the region. Later, the Mezzogiorno was subjected to rule by the new European nation states, such as Spain and Austria. The Spanish had a major impact on the culture of the South, having ruled it for over three centuries.

In recent years, Southern Italy has experienced a revival of its traditions and music, such as Neapolitan song and the Tarantella.

See also

• Groups of regions of Italy
• Central Italy
• Insular Italy
• Northern Italy

References