When it comes to Italy, art, fashion, history, football, sunshine and food all seem to be unavoidable topics.

This country, which combines natural and human scenery, is located on the Apennine Peninsula.

Apennine Peninsula is like a boot embedded in the Mediterranean Sea, which is long and narrow from north to south.

Historically, the collision of different cultures in the south and north of Apennine Peninsula has brought great differences between the north and the south in Italy. This difference between the north and the south is manifested in all aspects of Italian life. The north pays more attention to efficiency, while the south is more unrestrained and unruly.

▲ North and South Italy are divided, and the red color is South

Although Italy is a highly developed country, the Italian economy has formed a situation in which the capital Rome is the boundary, the northern region is economically developed, and the southern region is relatively backward, and the gap between the north and the south is widening.

▲ The map of per capita GDP in Europe in 215 shows that northern Italy is rich, while southern Italy is poor

1. The ancestors in the south were once richer

Italy is an ancient European country, where human beings lived and lived as early as the Paleolithic Age. Before the establishment of Rome, the Greeks began to establish their own sub-states in the southern Apennine Peninsula and Sicily.

After the establishment of the colony, Greeks and war slaves moved to Apennine Peninsula one after another. The climate of Apennine Peninsula is mainly Mediterranean, with mild and rainy winter, hot and dry summer and sufficient light and heat, which is suitable for developing plantation agriculture.

Later, the ancient Romans established political power in Apennine. A large number of slaves plundered by ancient Rome through foreign wars brought sufficient labor resources to the south and stimulated the development of plantation agriculture.

after centuries of plantation agriculture development, South Italy was extremely rich at that time.

Besides, the coastline of Apennine Peninsula is tortuous and there are many excellent harbors. With the development of port trade, southern Italy became the center of Rome and later the Roman Empire. The disappearing ancient city of Pompeii is one of the witnesses of the prosperity of southern Italy.

▲ Geographical location of the ancient city of Pompeii. Before it was swallowed up by Vesuvius, it used to be a convalescent resort for ancient Roman nobles.

However, if you look closely at the map of Italy, most of the topography of the peninsula is dominated by mountains, but the largest Po River Plain is located in the north.

the Bohe River has a long wet season and abundant water resources. The Bohe Plain has a flat terrain, high river sediment concentration and a large amount of sediment in the downstream, and the soil is more fertile than that in the south.

the natural conditions in the north are superior to those in the south, so the development in the north should be better than that in the south. However, during the Roman Empire, northern barbarians (including Gauls, Celts and Germans) were always a headache for the Roman central government.

In order to prevent the invasion of barbarians in the north, the Romans took advantage of the natural barrier of the Alps and built numerous military forts in the north to prevent the invasion of barbarians. Most northern cities, represented by Turin, were built on the basis of military fortresses.

As an outpost to resist the barbarians in the north, the development cost is high, so although the natural conditions in the north are superior, the economic center of Italy is in the south and the north is in an undeveloped state.

second, the north attacked and the south declined

In the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. In 476 AD, the Germans officially perished the Western Roman Empire, and Europe entered the Middle Ages. Italy began to fall into a state of division for more than 1, years and gradually split into many countries of different sizes.

Germans began to enter the Apennine Peninsula, gradually merged with the local people and became residents of northern Italy. The hidden dangers of northern barbarians have been eliminated, and the advantages of northern Italy have gradually become prominent. It is from this time that the north has gradually completed its counterattack against the south.

in addition to the superior natural conditions in the north, trade routes also played an important role. In 711 AD, Arabs crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and occupied the Iberian Peninsula. Since then, the Iberian peninsula has been ruled by Muslims for nearly 8 years, and the lifeline of the western route, the Strait of Gibraltar, has been controlled by Arabs.

The Strait of Gibraltar is blocked by other nationalities, and the Apennine Peninsula in the center of the Mediterranean Sea has gradually become the center of mediterranean shipping company. More businessmen choose to transit their goods to the European continent through northern Italy.

The development of the Mediterranean Trade Zone has promoted the economic prosperity of Venice, Genoa, Lombardy and many other cities.

although the latitude in the south is low, there are abundant light resources. However, the topography in the south is dominated by hills and mountains, and the population in the Greek colonial period and the Roman period is relatively small. The south can rely on a large number of slave labor to reclaim land to meet the needs at that time.

However, with the improvement of productivity brought by the disintegration of slavery, the population of Italy has soared, and the terrain in the south can no longer support more people. Italy's economic center began to shift to the north with flat terrain and abundant water resources.

after the demise of the western Roman empire, the remnants occupied central and southern Italy for a long time, and the productivity developed slowly, which greatly restricted the development of southern Italy.

At the same time, the economic prosperity in northern Italy promoted the ideological emancipation in central and northern Italy, resulting in the Renaissance, which not only affected the historical process of Europe as a whole, but also laid the foundation for later risorgimento.

With the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism, Italy's fragmented state has increasingly become a natural barrier to economic development. There is a growing demand for national reunification in various places.

in Italy at that time, the kingdom of Sardinia and the two Sicilian kingdoms were the two most influential countries, with the kingdom of Sardinia in the north and the two Sicilian kingdoms in the south.

In p>1852, Gafur became the Prime Minister of Sardinia, and he passed a series of reforms, such as fiscal and tax reform to increase fiscal revenue; Encourage the construction of railway ports to develop industry and commerce, reduce tariffs and develop free trade, making Sardinia the most developed region on the peninsula and the concentrated area of bourgeois liberals, laying the foundation for the reunification of Italy.

The two Sicilian kingdoms in the south are economically backward, maintaining feudal autocracy, and the king is corrupt and incompetent. Therefore, the responsibility of risorgimento and independence finally fell on the shoulders of the kingdom of Sardinia in the north.

Gafur also achieved Italian reunification through diplomatic means. In 1859, the Kingdom of Sardinia defeated Austria with France and recovered Lombardy and Venice. In 1861, the Kingdom of Sardinia was renamed the Kingdom of Italy.

Subsequently, Italy took advantage of the Puao War and the Franco-Prussian War to drive the Austrian and French forces out of the Apennine Peninsula. In 187, the Roman papal state was merged into Italy, and Italy completed national reunification.

Third, a heavy step restricting Italy's progress

Although Italy has completed national reunification, the gap between the rich and the poor between the north and the south is too large, which is a headache for the government both in the period of the Kingdom of Italy and in the current period of the Republic of China.

in p>1946, the Italian Republic was founded. In order to narrow the regional gap, the government has developed new industrial zones on the basis of stabilizing the traditional industrial zones in northwest China.

this move has achieved certain results, which has promoted the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy, and also promoted the rapid development of the entire Italian economy. It has become a high-income country with a per capita GDP of US$ 32, and a G7 industrial country. In some cities in northern Italy, the local living standard can even compare with Switzerland next door.

northern Italy has always been a fashion and luxury center, with many luxury brands such as Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, and many luxury goods such as Armani, Gucci and Fendi. There are few famous brands in the south.

however, the new industrial policy did not benefit the southern region, but further widened the gap between the north and the south. The economic backwardness in the south has weakened Italy's ability to resist risks.

when the European debt crisis swept across the European union, northern Italy became the engine of Italian economic recovery with its solid industrial base, but the southern region with weak economic base has been mired in the economic crisis.

The poor south has become a drag on Italy's economic recovery. When the economies of EU countries generally pick up, Italy is due to the south? Drag your feet? Growth has been weak.

▲ Italy has received the largest number of refugees crossing the sea (data in 217)

The backwardness in the south has also brought a series of social problems. Southern Italy is close to North Africa. In recent years, many refugees have landed in the southern region from the Mediterranean, and the security problem is particularly prominent.

Italy attracts many tourists with its rich natural and human resources. However, when many people travel to Italy, they will only choose to go to the north-central part. However, the scenic south is deterred by the public security problems brought about by poverty.

The widening gap between the rich and the poor has also caused the identity crisis of the whole country. For example, in Serie A, the northern teams, represented by Milan duo and Juventus, and the southern teams, represented by Naples, are even more verbally abusive.

politically, this gap reflects the risk of national separation. The north thinks that the south has become a burden to Italy's development, and it feels that it has a lot of labor, but it has to subsidize the south by paying a lot of taxes. Poor guy? .

The separatist forces caused by this imbalance have become more and more powerful during the economic downturn. Some right-wing parties in northern Italy are calling for autonomy or even independence from Italy.