ABSTRACT
The industrial backwardness of the South has been a recurring theme throughout this book. As a classic ‘problem region’ the Mezzogiomo has generated a vast literature representing a wide range of scholarly approaches and political interpretations.1 Throughout a century and a quarter of national life, the Questione Meridionale has rarely been absent from the arena of parliamentary debate, although only in the last 25 years has much been done to actively develop industries in the region.
