Northern Italians have always looked down on southern Italians. Not so much in America but in Italy they still do to a lesser extent than years ago. The thing is, italy is still a very young country. It became a country in 1861 which isn't that long ago. I'm sure sometime in the future you will see everyone in Italy call themselves italian rather than the region that they hail from. When America first formed, we were still extremely divided, but today there's more of a sense of pride being from America whether you're from Ohio or Louisiana. People don't look at it was northerners and southerners anymore, we are all one now. Obviously we are still divided some what but compared to centuries ago we have vastly improved.