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The most striking of these is the north-south divide. Most countries have richer regions and poorer ones. What is unusual about Italy is the south’s failure in recent years to catch up with the north in any way at all. Data from the Bank of Italy show that GDP per person is over 40% lower in the south than in the centre and north, and has been for the past 30 years (though there was some catching up before then). A third of Italy’s population lives in the south, making it “the largest and most populated underdeveloped region in the euro area”, according to Mario Draghi, the bank’s governor.

The wonders of commune-ism

If this problem were only 30 years old it might be easier to fix, but the gap between the north and centre of the country and the south goes back much longer. If you know how any place in Italy was governed in the 14th century—as a self-governing commune, as part of the Papal states or by a monarchy in the south—you can predict with reasonable certainty what proportion of people there would come out to vote in a referendum tomorrow or donate blood. That is an awful lot of history to push against. And if you plot indicators of a successful society—from the ease of doing business to turnout in elections to educational attainment—on a map of Italy’s boot today, you get the same differentiation between north and south.

A. 어휘
striking 현저한, 두드러진, 인상적인. catch up with 따라잡다.
governor 은행장. commune 공동 생활체, 자치단체, 親交(친교).
Papal 로마 교황의. monarchy 君主國(군주국). reasonable 합리적인.
proportion 비율. referendum 국민투표. donate 기부하다.
plot 도면을 만들다, 도면에 기입하다, 좌표로 위치를 결정하다.
indicators 指標(지표). attainment 성취, 달성.
Italy’s boot (장화처럼 생긴) 이탈리아 반도. differentiation 차별.