Migrazioni interne al Meridione e politiche della mobilità tra le due guerre

Since the mid-twenties, the evidence of a phase of international closure to transoceanic immigration brought Fascism to launch a new phase in the relationship between State policy and Italian mobilities. The first steps of the Fascist migration policy turned to the unemployment problems in Northern Italy. Internal colonization plans were studied to send rural workers from Northern to Southern provinces. A closer look shows it was a paradoxical policy from a demographic perspective; if we analyse the population dynamics of Italy at the time, Southern regions were the most affected by the migration crisis. Internal migration from underdeveloped areas toward major urban centres (Rome and the North) truly took off timidly in the 1930s and in a much more sustained manner since the 1950s, years after emigratory flows were halted by the international economic situation and laws passed in the United States. The article discusses the manifold mobility patterns of Mezzogiorno in the interwar period. Before meeting a new pull factor in other Italian regions, Southern societies adopted diversified strategies, including clear demands on the political sphere.

Keywords: Internal migration; Southern Italy; Fascism; Migration policy.