Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southern Italy Today
Singing about his native city in his song '
Napule è' ,
musician Pino Daniele muses:
'Napule è nu sole amaro'
(Naples is a bitter sun). This irony could easily encompass
the whole of Italy's Mezzogiorno (land of the midday sun). A region justifiably famous
for its cultural cachet, celebrity-graced coastlines and gregarious locals, southern
Italy is also one of the European Union's 'problem children'. In the face of soaring
unemployment and suffocating corruption, a growing number of
meridionali
(south-
ern Italians) are questioning their region's future.
Wanted: Work
While Italy's economic woes continue to fuel
anxiety throughout the country, it's a headache
that pounds strongest in the south. National un-
employment may have reached a record high
of 12.2% in mid-2013 but in southern Italy the
rate was a significantly higher 20.1%. The
number of jobless youth in Italy's south is
more than double that of the country's wealthi-
er north. And while the rate of NEET (Not in
Education, Employment or Training) youths
aged between 15 and 29 currently exceeds 20%
nationwide, it peaks at a staggering 45% in the
southern regions.
For a growing number of locals, the toxic
cocktail of high unemployment and taxes, red
tape and rampant cronyism is proving too
much to take. Between 2011 and 2012 alone,
the number of Italians emigrating to greener
economic pastures rose 30%, from 60,000 to
79,000. The increase has been especially sharp
for those aged between 20 and 40, desperate to
forge careers in the more robust economies of
northern Europe, Britain and beyond. Dubbed
Best on Film
Il Postino
(
The Postman;
Michael Radford;
1994) Exiled poet Pablo Neruda brings poetry
and passion to a drowsy southern Italian isle and
a misfit postman.
Matrimonio all'italiana
(
Marriage, Italian-
Style;
Vittorio De Sica; 1964) Sophia Loren and
Marcello Mastroianni join forces in this comedy
about a cynical businessman and his shrewd
Neapolitan mistress.
Cinema Paradiso
(Giuseppe Tornatore; 1988)
A bittersweet tale about a director who returns
to Sicily and rediscovers his true loves: the girl
next door and the movies.
Best in Print
The Italians
(Luigi Barzini; 1964) A revealing
look at Italian culture beyond the well-worn
clichés.
Christ Stopped at Eboli
(Carlo Levi; 1945)
Bittersweet recollections from a writer exiled by
Fascists to a mountain village in Basilicata.
Midnight in Sicily
(Peter Robb; 1996) A dis-
turbing yet fascinating portrait of postwar Sicily.
The Silent Duchess
(Dacia Maraini; 1992) A
feminist-flavoured historical novel set in 18th-
century Palermo.
