Italy: Pasta and Partisans
Italy: Pasta and Partisans Italy, with its sun-drenched vineyards, ancient ruins, and Renaissance masterpieces, has long been romanticized. Its picture perfect food and beautiful scenery have been the subject of many a dream vacation. Yet beneath this postcard-perfect facade lies a history scarred by exploitation, where the riches of the land fattened elites while peasants and workers scraped by. From the moment of its unification in 1861, Italy was a nation divided, with the promise of liberty ringing hollow for the masses. The new government, dominated by northern elites, failed to address the deeply entrenched social and economic inequalities that defined the nation. This created the "southern question," a stark divide between the industrialized north and a rural, agrarian south still bound by near-feudal systems of land ownership. To this day, Italy’s culture and cuisine remains deeply regionalized. The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of intense turmoil....