Why people are moving away from the north (Mezzogiourno)
In the southern part of Italy out migration is common, this is due to push factors. A push factor is a reason for a individual or a collective to leave an area.
One of these ‘push factors’ is climate. In the south of Italy the climate is not and dry, drought is common. The average temperature in summer is 28c+. The hot and dry weather is partly caused by the sirocco wind from the Sahara, it brings with it hotter weather and sand storms as well as extremely dry weather. In winter the climate is completely different, with and average temp of 0c – 4c cold, windy, rainy, snow and sometimes even sleet. Winter brings the mistral wind witch brings precipitation ( all of the above ), there can also be floods and land slides. Because the climate goes both ends of the scale, cold and hot, Farming/ agriculture very hard. In summer there is too much sun and not enough rain, in winter there is rain but not enough sun. crops need both to grow. The soil is dry and sandy, sand on top and clay underneath. The soil is awful for growing crops and when it rains the soil gets eroded (Washed away) , taking with it all the seeds. The only was to fix this is to plow the other way, this is very dangerous.
The highest percentage of work in the south is farming / agriculture because there is little industry in such a rural part of Italy and companies don’t invest here. Companies don’t invest hear because communication is difficult and transport is bad, this is due to natural barriers such as hills, forest and desert. Another reason is the lack of natural resources such as water, easy food and available land to build on.
That Brings me to the Next push, factor lack of paid work. The main source of work is agriculture, this pays very badly, it pays in food and very little real money. This is due to lack of industry (as explained above). Another reason for this is the amount of natural hazards. One example of all of the above is Aliano ( meaning hill top village) It has all these problems, isolation ect. Aliano has many natural hazards such as land slides, floods, soil erosion and drought. Aliano is a hill top village and is crumbling away, every so often a house will fall of the cliff. Another natural hazard is volcanoes, Etna and Vesuvius Another Push factor is the higher birth rate in comparison tot the low death rate. This shows that people are born in Aliano and then move and die somewhere else, causing the birth rate to be higher then the death rate. Less people chouse to die in Aliano. One example of this a Gigi palianico who moved from Bari, he moved to find work and a better education. Each year many people move to the north of Italy. Some of the more economically active people move for jobs and social lives (the 18’s to 40’s), others move for family and better accommodation. These people move for a variety of reasons these reasons are called pull factors. One of these pull factors are the main cites of Vennis and Milano. Both of these cites are in the region of lombaria. Near the city of milano is the smaller town of trevilio, where the firm of bianche bikes. Near Vennis is the small town of treviso, this is the home of Benetton ( clothing company) and Roche’s ( sports equipment company ). These are pull factors because these company's are large and employ many people, and there for offer many job opportunities. Another reason for the cites being pull factors is that cites have many resources as well as good communication ( telephone lines, airports, train stations and coaches ), these are all part of infrastructure which includes roads and communication, services and population. In the south the infrastructure is good, as apposed to the north where the infrastructure is poor. A pull factor to the south is tourism, this includes sits seeing in the cities. These sites include the leaning tower of paisa ,the churches museums and chapels in Florence and the vennis canals. Another major tourist attraction is the winter sports. In the south of Italy there are many mountains such as the alps. People travel from all over the world to ski and snowboard there, all these people bring more money and trade to this area. Another pull factor is climate. The climate in the south is much more temperate and is more agreeable. The temperature ranges from 24c – 8c. Because of the temperate climate farming and agriculture is a lot easier, although agriculture is not so not so common in the south. Industry is the highest percentage of employment. As well as the migrants from the south many other people migrate to the north of Italy. These people move for a verity of reasons, money, education or family for example. They come from all over the world. most of the people who migrant from a different country come from the E.U ( European union ). This is because if you live in the E.U you are legally allowed to move to another E.U country if YOU have a work permate. On example of someone who moved to North Italy for work is Carmen Heinemann. She comes from Germany, she moved to Northern Italy to find a better job with a large design company called Fabrica who are employed by the Benetton to design bike patterns. Another example of this is Adriano Gouabaldy. He comes from Albania, a very poor country with very little tourism, industry or paid jobs. At the time he moved Albania was experiencing political unrest due to the ending of the communists rein. Albania is in the E.U so he was able to go and work for Benetton and stay with his cousin till he could find accommodation. All of the above means that the population in Italy is unevenly distributed. The North of Italy is highly populated and the south is sparsely populated. This creates many problems for the north and south. The problems in the north include lack of money and tourism, lack of resources and migrants. The problems in the south are pollution and overcrowding in some areas. There are problems for the whole of Italy to, the uneven population restricts the amount of industry and exports that can be produced. Because the younger more economically active people are leaving it means that there is no one to look after the elderly, this costs the government millions of pounds each year. There are many corces of action that the Italian government could take to combat this issue, all of which are long term. One of these courses of action is to stop migration from the north to the south. The Italian government could do this bye investing in the industry in the north, this would create more jobs and make sure that the 18 to 40 year olds would want to stay in the north. Another thing they could do is invest in tourism in the north, this would bring trade and money the area. The solution to the problems facing Italy are all about persuasion, persuade industry to come to the north, persuade people to stay in the north, and persuade tourists to come to the north.