Why was it difficult to form an Italian nation before fascism?
“we have made Italy, now we must make Italians”¹
In the early eighteen hundreds Italy was divided up into two sections, a north and south divide. Life each section was completely different to other.
In the south there was a very poor standard of life. The land in the south was divided into large estates (lati fandi) the land owners of these areas would let peasants farm on there land and were happy to just come and take their rent and go. The peasants lived a subsistence life and sold the little extra food they made to pay the tax. But the land in the south was very poor farming land so life was very hard. The people in the south were catholic and very religious, they did not like the people of the north mainly due to jealousy. Very few people in the south spoke Italian, the main languages were French and Austrian. There were often riots from the south but were usually unsuccessful.
