La “provincia” subordinata: il Mezzogiorno nella storia d’Italia

We identify three development strategies for Southern Italy: The first (1830-1863) focused on protected industrialization, the second (1863-1887) was dominated by the growth of specialized agriculture within a free trade environment, the third (1948-1974) originated from an industrialization process led from above. The first model was crushed by the passage from protectionism to free-trade, the second from free-trade to protectionism, the third from interventionism to disengagement. Each change of policy was implemented without warning, causing serious economic and social damage. Mezzogiorno could not adapt to each new model, because of its nature as «subordinated Province».