The era of the Cassa and the southern areas to be supported

Forty years have passed since the dissolution of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno in August 1984. An entity that was often criticised, but which had the undoubted merit of fostering the growth of the South. While differentiated autonomy is being discussed, retracing the history of this body helps to understand how Italy's approach to backward areas has changed and why so many are signing up for the referendum in these weeks.

The Cassa was desired by Alcide De Gasperi, based on a project by Svimez, in a historical phase in which the southern question was at the centre of the country's concerns. The institution was created in 1950 with a significant financial endowment and implemented a plan of interventions that radically changed the face of the South: aqueducts, sewers, land reclamation, roads, railways and much more. From 1957, the main focus was on industry. The results were remarkable and the Mezzogiorno grew at a high rate, making an important contribution to the 'economic miracle'.

The turn for the worse began in 1970 with the establishment of the regions, which quickly took over management. There was a growing intermingling of technicians and politicians, which caused the Cassa to lose efficiency. Party logics took over from the technical nature of decisions, favouring opaque choices and great waste. This dynamic was accentuated after the 1973 oil shock, while at the national level a way out of the energy crisis was struggling to be found. Criticism of the Cassa increased, until it was dissolved in August 1984 - due to the failure to convert a decree-law due to the many absences of members of the majority - without, however, drawing up an alternative plan for the South.

Public funding continued to flow into the Mezzogiorno, but much of it was managed for patronage purposes, which also ended up favouring organised crime. In this situation, an idea already present in the debate took over, whereby the South's backwardness was judged to be irresolvable. A conviction that made inroads especially in the North and favoured the rise of the League. For this reason, the first steps of the Second Republic privileged what was called the Northern question, while attention to the South was exhausted and the South fell out of the country's priorities. This approach won over the entire parliamentary arc, so much so that the centre-left was responsible for the reform of Title V of the Constitution in 2001, also due to the lack of a southern ruling class capable of interpreting the needs of the South. The recent law on differentiated autonomy is the culmination of this process and the changes that have taken place in recent decades.

Until a few weeks ago, the country seemed to have uncritically accepted this development, but the rapid collection of signatures for the referendum is a sign of strong discontinuity. It is not a question of a renewed North-South conflict because the signatures came from all over the country. Instead, what emerged from many was the desire to unite rather than divide, to seek common solutions and rights for all. There was a clear no to what appears to many as a selfishness of the richest regions, to reaffirm an idea of a nation in which people have the same rights of citizenship, regardless of the area in which they live. The same vision for which the backwardness of the Mezzogiorno has long been considered a major national issue in the history of Italy.