3781 Italians, strange people. Episode 2

North vs. south

Due to Italy’s shape and geographical position, the climate is very different between the north and the south. That is the first reason why the north is much more developed than the south.

Do you like working with 40° C outside ? Well, southern Italians think exactly the same thing. Climate in the south doesn’t help at all, when it comes to work and sweat.

The second reason is historical. The north was ruled by Austro-Hungarian Empire that contributed to make it a modern and efficient region of the Enpire. In the south, the Spanish kingdom had no interest but to exploit the region as much as possible, and before Spanish, Saracens and Normans (who invaded the south and Sicily before) had not higher principles.

Agriculture and foreign tourists to rip off :D are the first means of support of the south.

80% of the Italian GDP is made in the north where for north we usually intend the area covered by the following regions: Valle D’Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia Romagna. And the rest is the south (in northern Italians' belief).

So, after the cultural and linguistic differences, in ‘50s, during the big Italian economic boom, started surfacing another big problem…the economic gap.
The Italian government realized that economy in the south was stagnant and put in place some measures to help the poorer south. Northern Italians (that didn’t like those measures) started to feel like caretakers of the ill south. That emphasized the growing spite. In that period appeared the word “terrone” that, more or less, means southerner (or peasant), in response southern Italians called northern Italians “polentoni” (polenta-eater. Polenta is very common all over the north).

In early ‘90s discontent reached the apex in the north, and Umberto Bossi (a not so hard-working university student at that time) founded Lega Nord (North League), a secessionist party determined to split the north from the south.
Bossi used a strong language going as far as saying thief to the government of Rome, calling the south parasite and insisting that taxes collected in the north should have remained in the north and not wasted in the policy of subsistence of Rome.
In the same period Public Prosecutor’s office in Milan started a cleaning process of the Italian institutions from corruption; Mani Pulite had begun, in the process four major players in the Italian politics were swept away: the Christian Democratic party, the Socialist party, Republican party and the Liberal party. Several politicians and business men were imprisoned other, being ashamed, committed suicide and among them also Raul Gardini who, just a few years before, in 1992 had almost won the America’s Cup on the yacht “Il Moro di Venezia” and he was revered as one of the most charismatic Italian business men. In consequence of the “cleaning” process, the so called Second Republic was born.

Lega Nord benefited from this situation and obtained huge success in the north of course. It’s still today an important party even if it has lost the initial rush. The idea of splitting the country has slowly faded away.
In the same period appears a new figure in the Italian political world, its name is Silvio Berlusconi. He exploits the positive (for him) moment to enter politics. Italy was shocked after so many scandals; trust in politicians was totally lost, Italians needed a new figure a fresh face (no politically lined up) …and…look at him, Silvio ! a business man of the new generation, self-made and with no stain on him, at least not then….what do you want more ? Unfortunately he is a “good” business man, but a very bad diplomatist…recent Italian history is full of Berusca’s blunders. Anyway it looks like we have a deserving successor …. Mr. Squared-face Prodi…. The Professor…

Some figures:

Provinces of Verona, Padua and Vicenza put all together make a GDP bigger than Greece's
Italy is the 7th economy in the world with a global GDP more or less comparable with those of France and UK and bigger than Canada.
Lombardy with the surrounding area is the most industrialized European region
Calabria and Basilicata are among the 5 poorest regions in EU
In the average Friulani (the tallest people in Italy) are from 6 to 10 centimetres taller than Sicilians :cool:

Interesting historical events:

1922: Mussolini starts the march on Rome and King Vittorio Emanuele III appoints him prime minister.
1929: Enzo Ferrari, 31, a proud and good pilot (and mechanic) founds Scuderia Ferrari, after having piloted Alfa Romeo racing cars for some years. One of the most famous sayings of Great Enzo (he had many) is: “A true racing car is the one that breaks down just after taking the chequered flag. If it lasts longer, it means you can get more out of it.”. Ferarri’s logo, the Prancing Horse, was copied after the lucky charm of Francesco Baracca, an air-ace of the Italian air force during WW I (it was a black prancing horse painted on his airplane’s fuselage), killed in flight by a random bullet fired by an Austrian infantryman. Actually his prancing horse wasn’t so lucky.
1945: Mussolini is captured by partisans linked to the future Christian Democratic party. They handed him (and his lover Clara Petacci) over to communist partisans who, after a short and farce trial, hanged them.
1946: Italy becomes a republic. The king is exiled and no member of the Italian royal family is allowed to enter Italy until 2002 when the proclamation of exile is cancelled.
1946: after the end of WW II a Sicilian puppet popular movement applied to USA for entering the US Federation as 49th state. :eek:
1963: after having troubles with his new Ferrari, Ferruccio Lamborghini (owner of a tractors producing company) bets he can make a better car….Lamborghini Auto was born.
1980: Tele Milano was born. The first Private Television channel. Soon it will change its name in Canale 5, Berlusconi’s first TV channel. It’s time for him to make his first appearance in the business world.

That’s all for now.

Next episode will be about Sicily, Sicilian mafia and the other 3 known Italian mafias; Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta and Sacra Corona Unita.

Hope this was interesting too.

Ciao