Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
trial projects like the steel plant in Taranto and the Fiat factory in Basilicata. The scheme
was eventually scrapped by the central government in 1992 amid allegations of misappro-
priated funds.
In the same year, the huge
Tangentopoli
(Bribesville) scandal - the institutionalisation
of kickbacks and bribes, which had been the country's modus operandi since WWII -
made headline news. Although it was largely focused on the industrial north of Italy, the
repercussions of the widespread investigation (known as
Mani Pulite,
or Clean Hands)
were inevitably felt in southern regions like Sicily and Campania, where politics, business
and organised crime had been long-time bedfellows.
HISTORY ON SCREEN
Il Gattopardo
(The Leopard; Luchino Visconti; 1963) A Sicilian aristocrat grapples with the political and social
changes heralded by the 19th century Risorgimento (reunification ).
Le quattro giornate di Napoli
(The Four Days of Naples; Nanni Loy; 1962) Neapolitan courage shines through
in this film about the famous popular uprisings against the Nazis in September 1943.
Il resto di niente
(The Remains of Nothing; Antonietta De Lillo; 2003) Eleonora Pimental de Fonesca, heroine of
the ill-fated Neapolitan revolution of 1799, is the protagonist in this tale.
Salvatore Giuliano
(Francesco Rosi; 1963) A neorealist classic about the murder of Sicily's very own modern
Robin Hood.
