This is ridiculous. Italians do not hate sicilians and vice versa. I've been in Sicily plenty times in August when mainlanders come down to vacation in Sicily. There is no animosity.
exactly
I thought it was because Italians in the northern industrial cities were richer and looked down on southern Italians?
northern italian regions were as poor, if not even poorer, than most southern ones during the great emigration years (1860 - 1930).
1876 - 1900, 5 millions, mostly Northerns
1900 - 1915, 9 millions, North/South tied
1915 - 1945, 4 millions, slightly more Northerns than Southerns
1945 - 1976, 5 millions, mostly Southerns (high numbers flock to Norther Italy)
1976 - 2000, 3 millions, slightly more Southerns than Northerns
2000 - ongoing, 780 thousands, North/South tied
since the formation of Italy as a united country in 1861, roughly 30 million italians moved elsewhere, which is half of its current population of 60 million.
Basically, if one counts all siblings born abroad to italian immigrants, there are more "italians" outside of italy than on italian soil.
out of all Italian regions, the one that has seen more of its residents move out is Veneto.
sources: ISTAT, Fondazione Migrantes, Fondazione Agnelli, Museo dell'Emigrazione, Fondazione Altreitalie, Fare Geo Informazioni, Memorie Grandi Migrazioni, M.E.M Museo del Mare di Genova
