Is there animosity between people from northern and southern Italy? [closed]
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In an episode of "The Sopranos", the protagonists and his entourage (Italian Americans from Napoli and Sicily) react strongly to examples of Italian achievement which happen to originate from northern Italy. One of the characters, and actual Sicilian, comments that he doesn't like Christopher Columbus, since he's Genovesi.
Is that actually true? Can one offend e.g. a Neapolitan by praising Milanese culture or vice versa?
Best Answer
There's some sort of "animosity" between people from northern and southern but not like the kind you described in your question.
Northern Italy is considered more developed and there is, unfortunately, always be a somewhat large part of people living in the north that thinks that Italy could be a way more advanced country IF they would get rid of the south. This feeling is basically originated from these factors (most of them are just prejudices):
- the south is less industrialized
- the south is "governed" by Mafia
- people from the south don't want to work as hard as people from the north
- less education
In the north there is a derogatory term for people from the south: Terroni. It's actually impossible to translate in English but it refers to the fact that they "work the land" and are somewhat uncivilized.
See also Lega Nord which is a party aiming to separate the north from the south and in recent times it managed to reach 15% on votes in some elections.
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15 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ITALY: My parents share their experience
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