The role of the national government

The national debate on how to integrate the south into a politically unified Italy started in the early nineteenth century. Before political unification occurred, it was the mandatory topic of conversation among educated Italians. After 1860 it became one of the major concerns of the national government and the source of endless accusations and recriminations. For example, when the northern socialist Enrico Ferri, rather untactfully, claimed that although northern Italy had small enclaves of crime the south had just a few small oases of honesty, the Chamber of Deputies had to be adjourned in a hurry as southern newspapers demanded an apology. The southern rebuttal, voiced by the Sicilian socialist Napoleone Colajanni, was that the north had created the southern problem. After all, there was no southern problem before the south was dragged into the new nation. Northerners started indulging in negative stereotypes of southerners, contemptuously called terroni and cafoni, while southerners engaged in an orgy of accusations toward an oppressive north, as they blamed the government for their unfortunate predicament.

Parliamentary rhetoric and popular prejudices did not prevent thoughtful Italians from addressing the problem in a realistic way. From the initial variety of opinions, a broad consensus slowly emerged. First, because of geography and history the south had unique problems requiring special legislation and preferential treatment. Second, the special legislation was to be phased out as soon as the south caught up with the rest of Italy. This consensus was based on the assumption that it was within the power of the government to set in place a number of programs in favor of the south.