Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE NEAPOLITAN MINDSET
Consummate performers and as
furbo
(cunning) as they come, Neapolitans are famous for their in-
genuity. Only in Naples will you hear of vendors flogging T-shirts printed with seat-belt designs to
fool short-sighted cops. Tough times have forced Neapolitans to become who they are today. For much
of its history, the city was fought over, occupied and invaded by foreign powers that saw the locals as
little more than taxable plebs. Consequently the Neapolitans learned early to fend for themselves and
to get by on what they had - a situation still all too common.
The North/South Divide
Countless
meridionali
(southern Italians) have left their beloved homeland in search of
greener economic pastures. While many have headed abroad, just as many have settled in
Italy's wealthier north - a situation comically captured in
Ricomincio da tre
(I'm Starting
from Three; 1980), a film starring late Neapolitan actor Massimo Troisi. Punchlines aside,
the film reveals Italy's very real north/south divide.
From the Industrial Revolution to the 1960s,
millions fled to the industrialised northern cit-
ies for factory jobs. As the saying goes,
Ogni
vero Milanese ha un nonno Pugliese
(Every
true Milanese has a Pugliese grandparent). For
many of these in-house migrants, the welcome
north of Rome was anything but warm. Dispar-
agingly nicknamed
terroni
(peasants), many
faced discrimination on a daily basis, from landlords to
baristi
(people who make coffee
at a bar). While such overt discrimination is now practically nonexistent, historical preju-
dices linger. Many northerners resent their taxes being used to 'subsidise' the 'lazy', 'cor-
rupt' south - a sentiment well exploited by the right-wing, Veneto-based Lega Nord
(Northern League) party.
Yet negative attitudes can work both ways. One well-worn southern joke tells how God
invented the north of Italy, realised his mistake, and consequently invented its infamous
fog.
Like New Yorkers, Neapolitans have a very
strong sense of their own identity. As
homegrown screen diva Sophia Loren once
famously quipped, 'I'm not Italian, I am
Neapolitan! It's another thing'.
