Southern Italy autonomist movements

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The last southern Italian state before the Italian unification, the Kingdom of the two Sicilies Koenigreich beider Sizilien.jpg
The last southern Italian state before the Italian unification, the Kingdom of the two Sicilies

In Italy, there are some active movements and parties calling for autonomy or even independence for the areas comprised within the historical Kingdom of the two Sicilies: that is, Southern Italy and/or the region of Sicily. No political movement promoting these ideas has ever been successful in gaining traction among the population. The movement remains on the fringes with no representation in the Italian parliament.

Contents

The main regional languages of Southern Italy are from the Italo-Dalmatian family, being Neapolitan (dark turquoise) and Sicilian (dark purple). Linguistic map of Italy - Legend.svg
The main regional languages of Southern Italy are from the Italo-Dalmatian family, being Neapolitan (dark turquoise) and Sicilian (dark purple).

Languages

Most of the languages traditionally spoken in southern Italy (historically the Kingdom of the two Sicilies) are grouped as dialects of the Neapolitan and Sicilian languages. Like the Gallo-Romance languages spoken in the north, these dialects are different from standard Italian, though the Neapolitan variants are similar to the central language group which includes the Tuscan language on which standard Italian is based. Sicilian has a very strong Greek-Arab substratum, which give the languages many distinct sounds and flavors not typical of Italian. [1]

Southern Question

Pasquale Villari Pasquale Villari.jpg
Pasquale Villari

Many academics, politicians and other influential people have contributed to "Meridionalism" (meridionalismo), opinions, and research, analysis and policy proposals regarding the south of Italy. Historically concentrating only on the economic gap between the north and south of Italy, the southern question and problem is now seen in the broader context of Europe.

The historian Pasquale Villari (1827–1917), the politician Sidney Sonnino (1847–1922) and the publicist Leopoldo Franchetti ( 1847–1917) were among the first to study in depth the effect of annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. To some of them, the unification was a form of military and economic colonialism. The early Meridionalists, although conservative, did not hesitate to reveal the serious responsibility of the government and the ruling classes, especially landowners. [2]

The solutions the Meridionalists proposed varied considerably due to their different viewpoints and political affiliations. For example, the writer and politician Napoleone Colajanni (1847–1921), a positivist and socialist, supported state intervention in the south as the only way to develop the area. [3] On the other hand, Antonio De Viti De Marco (1858–1943), a liberal economist and radical deputy, accepted state regulation of "natural" monopolies, but believed in free trade and was hostile to state interventionism. [4]

Francesco Saverio Nitti, (1868–1953) was an economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as the prime minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia ("Theories of Overpopulation"), Nitti (Population and the Social System, 1894) was a staunch critic of English economist Thomas Robert Malthus and his Principle of Population.

Gaetano Salvemini graduated in literature in Florence in 1896. He taught History at the universities of Messina (during the 1908 Messina earthquake he was the only survivor of his entire family), Pisa and Florence. From 1919 to 1921 he served in Italian Parliament. As member of the Italian Socialist Party he fought for Universal Suffrage for the moral and economic rebirth of Italy's Mezzogiorno (southern Italy), and against corruption in politics.

World War II and Sicilian Independence Movement

The Committee for the Independence of Sicily (Comitato per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia, CIS) was founded in September 1942 during the struggle between the Italian/German Axis and the US/Russian/British Allies.

The Allied forces successfully invaded Sicily in July 1943, and in general were warmly embraced by the Sicilian population influenced by Mafia gangster like Lucky Luciano. [5]

The CIS gained authority following the Armistice of Cassibile of 8 September 1943. In the spring of 1944, the CIS was disbanded and the Sicilian Independence Movement (Movimento Indipendentista Siciliano, MIS) was founded. Although the Allies prohibited any kind of political activity, they tolerated the existence of the MIS.

Italy became a Republic in 1946 and as part of the Constitution of Italy, Sicily was one of the five regions given special status as an autonomous region. [6] Both the partial Italian land reform and special funding from the Italian government's Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) from 1950 to 1984, helped the Sicilian economy improve. [7] [8]

However, the MIS remained active after the war. [9] One of the best-known members was Salvatore Giuliano, who formed a band variously described as mafia-members or bandits, evading capture until he was killed in 1950. [10] Another early supporter was Calogero Vizzini, one of the most influential and legendary Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954, but Vizzini later shifted alliance to the Christian Democrat party. [11]

Emblem of the Fronte Nazionale Siciliano It frontenazionalesicialiano-emblema.png
Emblem of the Fronte Nazionale Siciliano

The political arm of the movement today calls itself the Sicilian National Front, (Italian: Fronte Nazionale Siciliano, Sicilian: Frunti Nazziunali Sicilianu) and is a socialist political party founded in 1964. Its Secretary General since 1976 is Giuseppe Naics. The movement is no longer a significant force. In the regional elections of 2006 the party obtained 679 votes in Palermo, or 0.2% of the vote. [12]

Autonomous Magna Graecia movement

Since the beginning of the 2010s, an online social movement has been launched to awaken the Greek consciousness of the inhabitants of Southern Italy and also to express an opinion that highlights the desire of a part of the inhabitants of the south for secession from the state of Italy, its union with the Hellenism of the Mediterranean Sea (and re-establishment of Magna Graecia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies). [13]

Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria GrikoSpeakingCommunitiesTodayV4.png
Griko-speaking areas in Salento and Calabria

Through pages on Facebook, historical issues are highlighted that have more to do with the Greek presence in Italy that begins with the migration of the Greek diaspora in the 8th century BC., the linguistic minority, known as Griko in Calabria, Apulia and Messina, the modern day Greeks of Italy and in general the inhabitants of the south who call themselves Great-Greeks (MagnoGreci). [14]

Greek minority flag of Sicily Greek minority of Sicily flag.svg
Greek minority flag of Sicily

The largest Facebook page highlighting the specific issues called "Stato Magna Grecia - Due Sicilie", has over 270,000 followers, mainly Italians but also several Griko, expressing the need for the secession of Southern Italy, the so-called Mezzogiorno and its enosis with Greece and Cyprus. This page and other pages based in Italy highlight the achievements of ancient Magna Graecia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as well as the close relations that the people of Southern Italy have with Greece. [15]

According to the administrators, the unification of Italy, in which Garibaldi's campaign in Sicily in 1860 played a decisive role, represents for many inhabitants of southern Italy the beginning of a form of colonialism, as for them the union was made on the terms of the Italian north, which essentially imposed its own powers, its language, and its culture, while the Italian South was more economically developed than the North, but this trend was reversed after unification. Thus emerge views interwoven with neo-bourbonism (Italian: Neoborbonismo) which is a form of nostalgia for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a term coined in 1960 and born with the creation of the separatist movements in Italy, while experiencing a significant increase in popularity around 2011 during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the same decade of prominence of the movement of the re-Hellenization and independence of Greater Greece. The Neo-Bourbonist movement is supported by small political movements, amateur websites, leading the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno to report that "Neo-Bourbon revanchism is in vogue in recent years..." [16]

On a political level, the administrators of the said Magna Graecia - Two Sicilies pages urged followers during the 2023 national elections in Greece to vote for political parties supporting the demand for independence of South Italy and union with Greece. [15]

According to Italian media, the Italian political party "Insorgenza Magnogreca" led by Luigi Lista and based in Naples presents itself as a movement that represents, among others, the Greek identity of Southern Italy. [17] [18] The association "Comitato provincia della Magna Graecia" chaired by Domenico Mazza was created with the aim of promoting the union of all the regions of South Italy into a new separate great region of Italy and developing a stronger connection with Greece. [19]

In Greece, the far-right party "Hellenic world empire" (Ελληνική Κοσμοκρατορία), which officially seeks the secession of the Italian south, participated in the 2019 European elections in a joint descent with the Popular Orthodox Rally party and the Patriotic Radical Union party of the independent MEP, elected with the Golden Dawn of Eleftherios Synadinos gathered the 1.23%. [20]

An ancient Greek coin c. 330-300 BC. found in Croton, South Italy with the head of Apollo (left) and ornate tripod (right) Croton AR SNGANS 398ff.jpg
An ancient Greek coin c. 330–300 BC. found in Croton, South Italy with the head of Apollo (left) and ornate tripod (right)

According to Greek media, the inhabitants of South Italy already have their own flag with the emblem of the ancient greek tripod symbolizing the oracle of Delphi by Pythia that determined where the Greek colonies should be established in Italy, as well as an informal national anthem, created by the Greek soprano Sonia Theodoridou. [13] [21]

Current parties and groups

There continue to be various political parties and organizations who lobby for greater autonomy in the South, but they don't claim widespread support.

Movement for the Autonomies

The Movement for the Autonomies (Movimento per le Autonomie, MpA) is a minor centrist regionalist political party in Italy. It demands economic development and greater autonomy primarily for Sicily, but also for other regions of Southern Italy. The party is led by Raffaele Lombardo, President of Sicily. In the 2008 general election, the party won 1.1% of the vote (7.4% in Sicily) and obtained 8 deputies and 2 senators through an alliance with The People of Freedom and Lega Nord parties. After the election the MpA joined the Berlusconi coalition. [22]

Sicilian Alliance

The Sicilian Alliance (Alleanza Siciliana) is a minor autonomist and national-conservative political party in Sicily, Italy. It was founded in 2005 and was led by Nello Musumeci, an MEP who was elected on the National Alliance's list. On 7 October 2007, the party joined to Francesco Storace's The Right, although maintaining some of its autonomy as a regional section of the party, named the "Sicilian Alliance – The Right", often shortened as "The Sicilian Right". [23]

Neo-Bourbon Cultural Association

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.svg
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

The Associazione culturale Neoborbonica, or Neo-Bourbon Cultural Association is dedicated to restoring the history of the Bourbon kingdom, its glory, art, culture and identity, which they consider to have been maliciously falsified by the Piedmontese invaders. They aim to reconstruct the historical memory of the Two Sicilies, reconstruct their pride in being Southern Italian, and work towards the salvation of this ancient nation. [24] Passions are still high. When Prince Victor Emmanuel, head of the House of Savoy, returned to Italy in 2003 after a long exile he met hostility from both the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement and the Neo-Bourbon Movement in Naples in the form of posters, stickers and demonstrations. [25]

Two Sicilies Cultural Association

The Associazione Culturale Due Sicilie, or Two Sicilies Cultural Association is a website / blog that publishes commentary on the news as it affects the south of Italy. It is highly critical of government treatment of the south, and describes itself as a forum for discussing independence. It supports a Bourbon restoration on the grounds that a monarch would be more impartial than current politicians. [26]

There is also a Two Sicilies national football team.

Land and Liberation

Land and Liberation, or Terra e Liberazione is a pressure group founded in 1984 by a branch of the FNS that supports continued autonomy of Sicily with independent development of the economy. The group is politically far to the left, but has recently joined the Movement for Autonomy. [27]

Research Institutes

Several specialized research institutes today study the southern Italian economy in an attempt to better understand the problem and develop well-targeted economic policies. These include the Associazione nazionale per gli interessi del Mezzogiorno d'Italia (ANIMO) based in Rome, [28] the Associazione per lo sviluppo dell'industria nel Mezzogiorno (SVIMEZ) also based in Rome, [29] and the Associazione Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno (SRM) based in Naples. [30]

Other regionalist and independentist political parties

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicily</span> Island in the Mediterranean, region of Italy

Sicily, officially Sicilian Region, is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy. With 4.8 million inhabitants, including 1.3 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is the most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is generally considered part of Southern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magna Graecia</span> Historical region of Italy formerly inhabited by the ancient Greeks

Magna Graecia is a term that was used for the Greek-speaking areas of Southern Italy, in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers starting from the 8th century BC.

<i>Enosis</i> Modern Greek political movement

Enosis is the movement of various Greek cypriot communities that lived in Cyprus for incorporation of the regions that they inhabit into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea, a concept of a Greek state that dominated Greek politics following the creation of modern Greece in 1830. The Megali Idea called for the reunification of all ethnic Greek lands, parts of which had participated in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s but were unsuccessful and so remained under foreign rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Italy</span> Macroregion of Italy

Southern Italy, also known as Meridione or Mezzogiorno, is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movement for Autonomy</span> Political party in Italy

The Movement for Autonomy is a regionalist and Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose founder and leader is Raffaele Lombardo, advocates for greater economic development, autonomy and legislative powers for Sicily and the other regions of southern Italy.

Arba Sicula is a not-for-profit international society whose main objective is the preservation and promotion of the Sicilian language and culture. Its administration is located in Mineola, New York. The majority of members are from the United States, although there are also members from Sicily, Canada and other countries where Sicilian immigrants are found in large numbers. The society was founded in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sicily</span>

The history of Sicily has been influenced by numerous ethnic groups. It has seen Sicily controlled by powers, including Phoenician and Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Vandal and Ostrogoth, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Aragonese, Spanish, Austrians, British, but also experiencing important periods of independence, as under the indigenous Sicanians, Elymians, Sicels, the Greek-Siceliotes, and later as County of Sicily, and Kingdom of Sicily. The Kingdom was founded in 1130 by Roger II, belonging to the Siculo-Norman family of Hauteville. During this period, Sicily was prosperous and politically powerful, becoming one of the wealthiest states in all of Europe. As a result of the dynastic succession, the Kingdom passed into the hands of the Hohenstaufen. At the end of the 13th century, with the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the crowns of Anjou and Aragon, the island passed to the latter. In the following centuries the Kingdom entered into the personal union with the Spaniard and Bourbon crowns, while preserving effective independence until 1816. Sicily was merged with the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Although today an Autonomous Region, with special statute, of the Republic of Italy, it has its own distinct culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movement for the Independence of Sicily (2004)</span> Political party in Sicily

The Movement for the Independence of Sicily was a separatist cultural movement with the goal of obtaining the independence of Sicily from Italy. It had its roots in the Movement for the Independence of Sicily, which was founded by Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASD Akragas 2018</span> Italian football club

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Akragas 2018, commonly referred to as Akragas, is an Italian association football club based in Agrigento, Sicily. The club, in its first inception, was founded in 1929 and has played many years at Serie C level, and currently plays in Serie D.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movement for the Independence of Sicily</span> Separatist political party in the Italian island of Sicily (1943-51)

The Movement for the Independence of Sicily was a separatist Sicilian political party originally active in Sicily from 1943 to 1951. Its best electoral result was in 1947, when it won 8.8% of the votes in the Sicilian regional election and had nine regional deputies elected.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Party of Sicilians</span> Italian political party

The Party of Sicilians was a regionalist and Christian-democratic political party in Sicily. It was the Sicilian regional section of the Movement for Autonomy (MpA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian nationalism</span> Secessionist movement in Italy

Sicilian nationalism, or Sicilianism, is a movement in the autonomous Italian region of Sicily, as well as the Sicilian diaspora, which seeks greater autonomy or outright independence from Italy, and/or promotes further inclusion of the Sicilian identity, culture, history, and linguistic variety.

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References

  1. ↑ "Arba Sicula". Arba Sicula. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  2. ↑ Nelson Moe (July 2002). "The View from Vesuvius: Italian Culture and the Southern Question". University of California. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  3. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Colajanni, Napoleone"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
  4. ↑ Mosca, Manuela (2004). "The notion of market power in the Italian marginalist school De Viti de Marco and Pantaleoni". Servizi Informatici Bibliotecari di Ateneo: Università degli Studi di Lecce. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "The Modern Era". BestofSicily.com. 7 October 2007.
  6. ↑ "Sicily autonomy". Grifasi-Sicilia.com. 7 October 2007.
  7. ↑ "Italy - Land Reforms". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 October 2007.
  8. ↑ "North and South: The Tragedy of Equalization in Italy" (PDF). Frontier Center for Public Policy. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008.
  9. ↑ "Movimento per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia website". Movimento per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  10. ↑ "Bandit's End". Time Magazine. 17 July 1950. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  11. ↑ Judith Chubb (1989). "The Mafia and Politics: The Italian State Under Siege". Cornell Studies in International Affairs. Archived from the original on 23 December 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  12. ↑ "Movimento per L'Indipendenza Della Sicilia" . Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Οι κάτοικοι της Νότιας Ιταλίας θέλουν να (ξανα)γίνουν Μεγάλη Ελλάδα!". 14 July 2023.
  14. ↑ "Greek MFA: Greek community in Italy". Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  15. 1 2 "Το ανυπότακτο «χωριό» στο Facebook που ονειρεύεται την ένωση Ιταλίας και Ελλάδας". 22 July 2023.
  16. ↑ A. Leogrande (6 July 2017). "Neoborbonici a cinque stelle". Corriere del Mezzogiorno .
  17. ↑ "Nasce il movimento "Insorgenza"". 20 December 2022.
  18. ↑ "Insorgenza Magnogreca: Un Movimento per l'Autodeterminazione dei Popoli del Mediterraneo -". 4 July 2024.
  19. ↑ "Il Comitato per la Baia della Magna Graecia: Un progetto di rinascita territoriale". 30 September 2023.
  20. ↑ "Έπεσαν οι τελικές "υπογραφές" για την κοινή πορεία του Γ. Καρατζαφέρη και του Ελ. Συναδινού στις Ευρωεκλογές". 21 April 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  21. ↑ "Στη Νάπολη ο νέος Ύμνος της Μεγάλης Ελλάδας σε σύνθεση Σόνιας Θεοδωρίδου (27/5/23) - Verianet". 26 May 2023.
  22. ↑ "Lombardo si allea con Storace "Intesa per superare il 4%"". Corriere della Sera. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  23. ↑ "La Destra - Alleanza Siciliana". Alleanza Siciliana. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  24. ↑ "Associazione culturale Neoborbonica" . Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  25. ↑ Bruce Johnston (18 March 2003). "Italy's exiled royal family shunned as they return". Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  26. ↑ "Associazione Culturale Due Sicilie" . Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  27. ↑ "Terra e Liberazione" . Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  28. ↑ "ANIMO Home Page". Associazione nazionale per gli interessi del Mezzogiorno d'Italia. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  29. ↑ "SVIMEZ Home Page". Associazione per lo sviluppo dell'industria nel Mezzogiorno. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  30. ↑ "SRM - Associazione Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno Home Page". Associazione Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
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