My Tuscan vacation gave me a few more clues as to why Italy is the way it is and why really it is not as united as it could be.
First of all I believe that Italy is a relatively young country, in the sense that the unification of the country only really began with Garibaldi. And Garibaldi’s exploits happened relatively recently and when all is said and done, did not really create one single united unit. Then there was Mussolini, who, although he did lots of bad, did attempt to make the country more united. He did not really succeed, fortunately, which is just as well because his vision of unity was that of a dictatorial fascist state. Although even now, there are people who yearn for a return to Mussolini’s idea of a united Italy. I know this because we met some people who make an annual pilgrimage to the celebrations of the man’s death, as though his passing were something of a loss for Italy. In part I can understand such people and it could be said that basically they just want Italy to be one single united unit.
Other things I learnt while chatting and overhearing Italians while on holiday were some of the possible reasons for the lack of unity in Italy. I’ll explain. As some will know, Italy is littered with hilltop towns and villages. The reasons for the high locations of these population centres were twofold. Logically, a hilltop town was easier to defend, but also, and maybe not so obviously, these locations allowed people to avoid the malaria ridden swamps which dominated much of central Italy until quite recently. Indeed, as I understand, Mussolini actually instigated a process of ‘bonificazione’, that is eliminating lowland swamps and thus eradicating the malaria problem. Just think what it was like before the swamps were drained.
Communications between individual towns would have been difficult to say the least, and this is probably why these small isolated units almost became tiny countries in their own rights. An enormously strong sense of community developed in these outposts and they became self-reliant just about to the point of independence. Certainly their inhabitants did not feel Italian, with their local dialects and traditions. Hence the reluctance, even today, of many Italians to feel one hundred percent Italian, and the wish of such people to maintain strong ties with their places of origin. This is something which still obstructs the true unity of the country, in my opinion. Yes, there is a north-south divide in the UK, but it is nothing like the ocean-sized gap which exists between north-south and to an extent central Italy.
Will the country ever become fully united? Not with the current crop of politicians, I fear. You almost wonder whether an new Mussolini could emerge and attempt a form of unification through indoctrination, as is generally the way with dictators. I believe, and really hope, that the chance of such a thing happening is quite slim. However, hearing Umberto Bossi’s virtual calls to arms the other day, does make you think. Nope, silly idea. It could not happen in modern Italy, even though it has to be said that one of the reasons why Italy maintains two similar police forces is supposed to be to reduce the likelihood of a coup occurring.
Change, if it happens at all, happens at walking pace in the Living Museum. At least I am starting to understand why Italians are so individualistic.
matt says
I strongly believe some of the assumptions made in this article are misleading and misinterpreted. I am Italian but capable of observing my motherland from afar, living in UK.
I think it’s an enormous mistake to judge a land which have been populated by culture for the past 3000 years + based on facts happened in the past 150.
I can assure you that Mussolini is NOT going to come back, as the super minority of followers you might be talking about is equal to the nazi followers you will find in UK. Mussolini has been and will remain an utterly hated figure in Italy since after the war.
Italy might be a young country as a whole but different cultures have been evolving within for thousands of years, making much older traditions within the different areas of the peninsula, that is why you will find lots of individualism and pride. Italy also got conquered more frequently in the past, by different cultures, being a peninsula and being in the centre of the Mediterranean trading. Geographically, not because of Malaria :s :s (the outbrakes of pests in other European counries didn’t create individualism, why would malaria do it in Italy??), Italy creates very different climates within one country, from super hot seasides to freezing glaciers on the appennine and the Alps, creating very different communities and in the past, communication has always been more difficult, and isolation more frequent than in a flat land. All of these have helped evolving different cultures mainly for necessity, as if you were close to the French speaking people and have only dear & chickens available in a freezing cold environment trust me, you would have grown up and still do, very differently from somebody from a Sicilian island who might be closer to the African coast than to the Italian coast line.
DIFFERENCES CREATE INDIVIDUALITY! not malaria…….
Italy will never really be whole because we have traditions in places that go back 1000s of years, which will not change “hopefully”, which differ too much from one another, Italy is the OLDEST youngest country of all…. and in this case, majorly misunderstood!!
I understand it might be difficult for an English native to see this kind of divide as a positive, but none in Italy want to make a stop to individualism, we embrace it and appreciate it, it makes us who we are, as indeed every region is proud of their own traditions, which go back through generations and mean “family”, but we want to be able to work “together” which as you might understand, as in UK we have similar difficulties for example with Scotland, it is not sometime all that simple, as different people, have different priorities.
I hope this gives you a slightly different insight into a country that has been around much longer than people might think, under different names…..
Alex says
Hi Karin, and thanks for dropping in. I think what you say is right, in that if Italy and Italians change too much, Italy will cease to be Italy, which would be a real shame. The rich cultural diversity which derives from the country’s history is worth maintaining. I just wonder if there is a way of improving what is not so good, whilst retaining all that is so wonderful. A utopian hope, I fear.
All the best,
Alex
Karin Fester says
Hello,
I must say I truly enjoyed your observations on the Italian cultural landscape. I have lived in Italy for 10 years now and during that time I have travelled widely throughout the country. During my travels I have experienced first-hand the distinct different cultures which So, I can understand, quite passionately what you are saying. Each region–each community–is proud of who they are and in preserving their cultural heritage. Globalization in my opinion would ruin this interesting cultural landscape and its microcomponents of dialects,languages, cuisine, art, literature etc etc. What I see as Italian is all of the cultures of Italy and not just one. Many who visit Italy for the first time always assume that Tuscany– or even Rome–is the real Italy and this is of course not the reality: Many Italians would be offended if this were expressed. I live in the north of Italy in Piedmont and I love the unique character of each province. I could not imagine it to be in any other way. There will always be a north-south divide in this country, as this goes back centuries and is not something so easy to change, and to totally unify may not necessarily be good either. Italian-regional-cultural diversity in Italy will also exist and will flourish.
Karin