ABSTRACT
Calabria has been historically the poorest among the Italian regions. 2 Of the three main provinces, Reggio Calabria is the southernmost, covering the Aspromonte massif and the plain of Gioia Tauro. The city itself – historically the largest in Calabria – is situated on the coast, facing the Sicilian town of Messina on the other side of the Strait (see Figure 11.1). At the end of the nineteenth century it was a typical provincial centre, acting as a trade and government post for its hinterland – specializing in agriculture (olive and citrus trees) and ‘niche’ export-oriented manufacturing (silk production, oil for lamps, bergamot essence), with some port activities (ferry service and freight shipping). This fragile economic structure, already weakened by the unification of the country in 1861, was crushed by the great earthquake that destroyed the city in 1908. The local economy never fully recovered and the city remained at the margins of the postwar southern development trajectory, exhibiting a protracted dependence on public transfers and sinking into a seemingly irreversible socio-economic, institutional and cultural decline. It was only in the early 1990s that the appointment of a charismatic mayor succeeded in reversing the tide, although the city remains in the throes of enduring structural problems.
