Mezzogiorno
Southern Italy, often referred to as the
Mezzogiorno, encompasses at least four of the
country's 20 regions:
Basilicata,
Campania,
Calabria, and
Apulia. The name is also applied to a former
ecclesiastical province of the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
Sometimes
Sicily and
Sardinia (
Insular Italy) are included as well as the regions of
Abruzzo,
Molise, and the southern part of
Latium (
Latina and
Frosinone), which are
linguistically,
historically, and culturally tied to Southern Italy. The
Eurostat,
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), and the
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT) list all eight regions (i.e.: without Sardinia) in Southern Italy.
The term Mezzogiorno first came into use in the
nineteenth century, a comparison with the
French Midi. Both mean "midday" or "noon" and are applied in this manner because the
sun is directly above the southern horizon at this time of day (in the
Northern Hemisphere).
Geographically (but not geologically) the Mezzogiorno is the actual "boot" of the peninsula, containing the ankle (Abruzzo and Molise), 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 famous
Blue Adriatic, 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.
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.
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, interrupted only by the arrival of the Normans, who, in less than one hundred years, rose to preeminence and completely subjugated the Lombard principalities, expelled the
Islamic menace, and removed the Byzantines from all but
Naples, which gave in to the great
Roger II in
1127. He raised the south to kingdom status in
1130, calling it the
Kingdom of Sicily. 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 immortalised 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.
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 remained so until it was created the Kingdom of Naples for 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.
Historically, the region has been exposed to some different influences than the rest of the peninsula, and in particular, to Greek settlement and the Norman invasions of Sicily and the southern mainland. These factors and others have left their mark on today's Mezzogiorno: population density, for example, is much less compared to
Northern Italy, with at the same time a higher proportion of large towns to small villages; wealth and education levels are not as high; and the day-to-day culture of the inhabitants is much more Mediterranean,
clan-oriented, rural, and
Catholic than that of the more
industrialized North.
Poverty and
criminality have been persistent problems in the agriculture and farming-dominated Mezzogiorno (per capita income in there is approximately one-half that of northern Italy), causing much
emigration from the area to many other countries, most notably the
United States (the vast majority of
Italian-Americans trace their ancestry to this part of
Italy),
Canada and
Australia. Many natives of the Mezzogiorno have also relocated to large northern Italian cities such as
Genoa,
Milan and
Turin.
Some Northern Italians have thus come to speak of a
"Mezzogiorno problem", viewed as an inherent and incurable climate of poverty and corruption and a sink-hole of government funds; such sentiments have fueled the rise of the
Lega Nord movement seeking to accomplish a secession from Italy of the Northern regions, the so-called
Padania.
*
Central Italy*
Insular Italy*
Northern Italy
