English publication of "Terroni" - A book about the Neapolitan genocide. In my opinion the english title and subtitle sounds horrendous, more horrendous than in italian, it should be "All That Has Been Done to Ensure That the Neapolitans and Sicilians became Southerns", but never mind.
This book can be "a spark that lights the fire" and awaken the old national pride of Neapolitan emigrants. When they discover that they have been cheated because of Italy's unification and the general history of Italian unification is a fake written by the winners.
In his book, Aprile explains, through a series of anecdotes and historical events, how Neapolitans and Sicilians has been robbed, how those people have been transformed to a poor and derided "minority". Napolitania's and Sicily's decline began with the unification of Italy, today resulting in an abyss in comparasion with the socio-economic development experience by northern Italian regions and the rest of Europe. Naples for 150 years ago, culturally and socio-economic development was at same level as Paris, just after London.
The book's title is a political statement. Aprile uses the word "terroni", which is a pejorative term used by North Italians to denigrate Neapolitans and Sicilians. Into the subtitle, Aprile uses the word "Meridionali", which translated means "southerners," and even that word is used by North Italians as a pejorative term, rather than in geographical mean.
Aprile relates events happened for 150 years ago to the present day in a skilful manner, he shows the similarity between the past and current events, or he shows causal connections between the events of the past and the present. He talks about how the government of Piedmont put up the first concentration camps in 1860, where thousands of Neapolitans soldiers loyal to the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was deported and left to die of cold and starvation, this happened about 80 years before the Nazi's infamous concentration camps in Europe. The similarities between the Nazis and the Piedmontese soldiers are reported by Aprile, when he describes how villages Pontelandolfo and Casalduni was destroyed by troops from the Bersaglieri, the infantry in August 1861, just as the Nazis destroyed the Marzabotto in September 1944. In both cases, civilians were massacred in response to attacks on occupation troops from irregular troops. Aprile also makes a comparison between the torture used by the U.S. military at Abu Graib with the Piedmontese were doing in the years after the unification of Italy. His comparisons between then and today's events, making it easier for the reader to immediately relate to the horrors that happened 150 years ago.
Aprile is based on an extensive amount of data from official government sources in Italy in order to demonstrate causal relationships between historical events and the current situation in Napolitania and Sicily.
One of the most surprising fact in this book is the value of the Treasury in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which was in excess of 443 million lire in gold, compared to just 20 million lira in paper money that the invading Kingdom of Sardinia had (as the Piedmont State was known as the unification of Italy ). The kingdom of Two Sicilies contributed with actually 60% of the total aggregate value of the new state of Italy, money that of course was brought to north, and was used to pay the debts of the Royal House of Savoy, the royal family that ruled the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, and who had been involved in wars against their neighbors for years. This money was used also unfairly to finance industrial development in Northern Italy.
Aprile remarks that money from the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, ironically, has been used to modernize northern Italy and to a small proportion has been allowed to rifle back to the South in the form of public aid and loans. In short, Neapolitans and Sicilians had ended up having to borrow their own money.
The book tells the story of pioneer industries in Napolitania, as the unification of Italy either shut down or run out of business due to a bias-driven competition from northern Italy, or as a result of specific political decisions of the newly formed Italian state. Metal Industries in Mongiana and Pietrarsa, shipyard of Castellammare, textile industry in Salerno, and sulfur mines in Sicily was the crown jewels before the unification of Italy and pretended to go over or reduced to second-class activities after the unification of Italy.
The most striking aspect of the book for a Neapolitan or Sicilian is that coincidence with the Italian unification withe mass immigration from southern Italy. The so-called "Questione Meridionale" was only a product of the invasion by Piedmont. Millions of Neapolitans and Sicilians left her occupied and impoverished countries to reach the shores of America, South America, Australia and other destinations.
Aprile says that immediately after the unification of Italy, Neapolitans and Sicilians realized that they were ripped off and revolted, by forming irregular armies, which came to be called "Briganti" of enemies from Piedmont. The book says that these soldiers' heroic resistance against an occupying power that sent 120,000 regular soldiers who fought in more than 10 years to quell the rebellion. The irregular troops were composed of former soldiers from the defeated Neapolitan Army, farmers and idealists who were unhappy over the Piedmontese occupation of their homeland.
Aprile is not particularly generous to the Italian national hero, Garibaldi, who made agreements with local criminals to conquest the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
Aprile's book is a call to action for Neapolitans and Sicilians, with emphasis on theirs proud history, to take their courage to stay up and combat the prejudices and the injustices.
This book has been i bestseller in Italy, and now when it is translated into English, we hope that it will open the eyes of millions of Neapolitans and Sicilians spread beyond the sphere. It would make them understand why they were born in America, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Australia, etc.. They also will understand how heroic their ancestors were when they fought against a brutal occupying force, supported by Britain, France and other major powers who wanted to eradicate the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
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