The Italian South. Economic development in Mediterranean Europe [old book number 34126]

Pocket, 243 pp., index, bibliography. The author focuses upon the barriers to economic development: illiteracy, backward agriculture, poor utilization of meager natural resources and wasteful land-holding patterns (latifundia). In the South, in 1946, before the reform, 2.5 million peasants owned a total of 443.810 ha in patches of less than one-half hectare each, an average holding much too small for efficient farming. At the same time, 4.5 million hectares were owned by 13.000 landlords in 25.000 estates of over 100 ha each. (P. 107) On the land reform of 1950-1955 (see p. 107): 'However, many large estates still remain intact."