Persistent North-South inequalities
Within the region itself, there is already a real difference between the coasts, living on tourism and industry, and the interior of the country, subsisting mainly on agriculture. We are witnessing a phenomenon of desertification of the countryside. Despite significant financial assistance from the state and various subsidies, Sicily is lagging far behind the north of Italy. Since the end of the Second World War, there has been a strong emigration of Sicilians to the large industrial cities of the North. The old North-South opposition is unfortunately still relevant. This problem of the relationship between Sicily and the Peninsula was the concern of many major artists and intellectuals of the post-war period, and of filmmakers in particular: Rossellini, Pasolini, Rosi, but above all Visconti(Rocco and His Brothers, about the emigration to Milan of a family from the South, The Earth Trembles, a film shot with real fishermen and in dialect). The author of the famous Cheetah saw in this problem of the South the backbone of any reflection on the future of Italy. Against the current opinion of certain political forces, he thought that the "Sicilianity", as Leonardo Sciascia said, was the way of salvation of the Peninsula...
An economy with low productivity
Corruption, mafia, unemployment, poverty, red tape... the Sicilian economy bears its crosses! And seen from the world, but especially from Milan, the image is largely tarnished. The active population of the island barely exceeds 40%. Average salaries in Sicily are half those of the rest of the country (€11,000 compared to €22,000 in the rest of Italy), despite the substantial aid granted by the government after the fall of fascism.
Petrochemicals and industry. However, the aid funds allowed the island to develop, among other things, the chemical and petrochemical sector, since oil was discovered in Gela and Ragusa in the 1990s. From then on, the main industries were directed towards the exploitation of methane and oil deposits. They were established in the two baroque cities, but also in Syracuse, Milazzo and especially Augusta. The exploitation of minerals is one of the strong points of Sicily. After being number one for many years, the island is now the second largest producer of sulfur after the United States. More recent aid from the European Union has also given the economy a boost, although the rest of the industrial activity is not yet very developed. In Palermo, Catania and Messina, the mechanical industry dominates, and more recently electronic and computer research.
Fishing, agriculture and food processing. Fishing remains one of the mainstays of the Sicilian economy, even if competition is becoming increasingly tough (especially from the Japanese). Tuna in Trapani or swordfish in Catania are the major productions. Like fishing, agriculture is one of the last means of survival for many islanders (especially in the center and on the southern coast). Despite the archaic nature of some of its structures, it is the spearhead of the island's activity. In the former granary of the Roman Empire, agriculture still represents 20% of the GNP and 15% of the active population. Citrus fruits (the famous Sicilian lemons) are mainly cultivated, but also olives, wheat in the center and vineyards. Sicily produces 100% of Italy's cotton and 90% of its lemons, making it the world's leading producer. Due to a lack of modernity and efficiency, cattle and sheep breeding, which was already small, is losing momentum. And it is not the food industry (wine, oil, pasta...), curiously enough weak, that will be able to respond to the blows of globalization.
Endemic unemployment and poverty
A famous Sicilian proverb says: " chi n'esce rinasce " ("he who leaves succeeds"). With almost 20% unemployment, Sicily has the second highest unemployment rate in Italy, after Calabria. This rate is rising steadily: twice as high as the national average and three times higher than Milan. Unfortunately, the ancestral poverty of some Sicilians is not just a myth or an old memory. A stroll through the Kalsa or Capo districts of Palermo is enough to discover, in old dilapidated palaces, squats or what look like overcrowded shantytowns from another era. A quarter of Sicilian families still live below the poverty line.
Poorly exploited tourism
Tourism, as well as the discovery of oil, is one of the major factors of the economic revival of the island. But today, some of its leaders do not seem to be aware of this. The tourist industry is largely below its capacity, although it welcomes on its ground nearly 4 million visitors each year. The region has all the advantages to develop this sector to the maximum: a history and a culture, incomparable natural sites, a magical climate... The majority of foreign tourists are French, English, Dutch, Japanese and American. In addition, there is a significant proportion of Italian tourists.
The gangrene of the mafia
Palermo is relegated to the bottom of the league table of Italian cities when it comes to production levels, but at the same time to the top when it comes to consumption... But where does the money come from? The mafia is the main issue facing Sicily. It is estimated that the "Octopus" controls 80% of the island's economy. The supreme irony is that the mafia, Sicily's greatest economic force, is also the essential brake on outside investment. It is Sicilian in origin. Here, it's called the Onorata Società. In popular imagery, mafiosi were originally Robin Hoods who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Only a few figures, such as Salvatore Giuliano - who, incidentally, is not considered a mafioso by those who defend him - served the mafia image for a time by resisting the invaders during the war. It was only with the passage of time that the Mafia developed into a veritable secret society, with the implacable omertà (the law of silence that condemns to death, with a stone in the mouth, anyone who transgresses it), and a multinational organization. Today, the mafia is more financial than criminal, and operates in parallel with the state. Every district, town and city is run jointly by the state and the mafia.
Fighting the mafia for 20 years. Associated in people's minds with drug trafficking and murder, it's understandable that outsiders associate the island with a secret society, and this is painful for its inhabitants. Anti-mafia campaigns were launched in 2004. Palermo launched a poster campaign denouncing the payment of pizzo (mafia tax). An " addiopizzo " sticker (farewell to the mafia tax) was put up all over the streets. This stance has sparked a dialogue in a society that had previously been subject to omerta. Today, the Comitato Addiopizzo is present in the island's main towns, bringing together over 700 shopkeepers who are not afraid to publicly state their point of view (more information at www.addiopizzo.org). Also in 2004, Provenzano, one of the mafia's leading figures, on the run for 43 years, was finally arrested 3 km from Corleone, his home village. In 2008, the Cosa Nostra lost many of its members, with the arrest of Lo Piccolo, father and son. Another member, Giuseppe Coluccio, a drug and arms baron, was extradited from Canada, where he had been arrested, to be incarcerated in Italy. In 2015, a new wave of arrests: 11 Cosa Nostra members close to Matteo Messina Denaro, current head of the organization on the run since 1993, were arrested. In 2016, journalist Pino Maniaci, a spokesman for anti-mafia associations, was finally convicted of extortion and banned from entering Sicily, as for years he had allegedly been playing both sides.
The mafia enthrones a new godfather. But on May 22, 2017, a notorious Cosa Nostra leader, Guiseppe Dainotti (released in 2014 on a mistrial after 20 years in prison), is murdered in the street in Palermo, on the eve of the anniversary of Judge Falcone's murder (May 23, 1992). That same year, Toto Riina, the former head of the Sicilian Mafia, died in prison. A new twist in 2018: Settimo Mineo, an 80-year-old jeweller nicknamed "Uncle Settimo", was due to be appointed head of the Palermo "dome" in May, replacing Toto Riina. However, the Italian justice system did not approve of this enthronement, and arrested him and 45 other people in a major raid just before the party. In March 2021, a new blow was dealt to "the Octopus" when some 100 Mafia members were tried and convicted for embezzling over €10 million in EU agricultural subsidies. Another high-profile trial in 2021 involved two families in a bloody clan struggle, the Distefano and the Bellavia, between Favara in Sicily and Liège in Belgium. Between 2015 and 2020, 5 people were killed and 2 others seriously injured. The trial resulted in 2 life sentences, 4 prison terms and one acquittal. But according to the Italian Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, the mafias are today winning major public contracts in legal markets, mainly in construction and urbanization in Sicily. As a result, the gangrene is everywhere: poorly built infrastructures, unprotected work, unpaid taxes... urbanization is suffering from this mafia infiltration. While the Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, Italy's most powerful, runs the cocaine trade, Cosa Nostra runs the dealing points on its own territory, particularly in Palermo. With Sicily's youth unemployment rate approaching 40%, it's easy to recruit little hands in poor neighborhoods. A recent victory for the justice system, in January 2022: Gioacchino Gammino, a Sicilian mafia boss - on the run since his escape from prison in 2002 and vanished into thin air - was found and arrested in Spain after changing his identity... thanks to a Google Street View photo. A new twist in January 2023: Matteo Denaro, one of the godfathers of Cosa Nostra, is arrested under a false identity on leaving hospital in Palermo, after more than 30 years on the run. He is sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for murder.
