From Etruscans and Romans to Modern Times - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 70

Figure 5.11. Tribute to Victor Emmanuel
The period of Italian unification is unforgettably portrayed in the 1958 novel The
Leopard . A young revolutionary offers a memorable summing up of the times: “We live
between two worlds: One that is dying; the other not yet born.” [68] In the novel the Prince
of Lampadusa is ready to accept the new regime but has no illusions about the social and
economic changes unleashed by revolution. Strivers and place-seekers displace the old ar-
istocracy; money replaces hereditary privilege and the obligations entailed by that priv-
ilege. The Prince's young nephew fights for the new regime and welcomes it. Yet, he, too,
is conscious of great changes still to come. If we wish things to stay as they are, we must
work to change them, he says.
THE OLD NEW ITALY
After unification, the national capital moved to Rome. The wise traveler in Rome sees
the celebratory monument (informally called the Wedding Cake) to Victor Emmanuel atop
Capitoline Hill. Its symbolism is unmistakable—the glory of ancient Rome has returned! A
professional bureaucracy minded the details of running the state, and paperwork and cor-
ruption both helped and hindered modernization. Northern cities took the lead in bring-
ing modern industry to Italy. Milan and Turin became the country's leading industrial and
banking centers. Their factories built automobiles such as Fiat and Lankier. And their rail-
road yards linked Italy to the rest of Europe.
South of Naples, in the region called the Mezzogiorno (“middle of the morning”), so-
cial and economic development moved much more slowly. The Mezzogiorno is the poorest
part of Italy, and traditional, folk customs predominate. Here, the mafia operated a secret
government that resisted the formal and elected government.