Agriculture and Territorial Differentation in Southern Italy, 1880-1950

In Southern Italy, the transformations resulting from the agricultural crisis of the late nineteenth century led to crops specialization and to the introduction of more advanced production techniques. These processes created unusual forms of territorial «dualism». This paper provides a survey of the cases of wheat, wine, olive oil and citrus fruits. These overlooked cases of agricultural modernization suggest that it was during the Fascist period, and not before, that the development potential of Southern agriculture was seriously compromised.