Abstract

At the time of Italy's Unification the North-South divide in gdp was already present, but mild; conversely, a clear North-South gap in the preconditions of development and in social indicators could be observed. During Italy's modern economic, it was the latter that shaped the former: in per capita gdp the North-South divide enlarged, at the same time while both the South and the Centre-North grew more internally uniform and the North-East and Centre converged towards the North-West. Nowadays, there are two Italies in terms of gdp and industrial structure; but in socio-institutional terms Italy is more homogeneous, and has been falling behind the rest of Western Europe.