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I'd love to comment more specifically, but as one of those people from the "poorer South" - by all means, do it. Those 5000€ have historically never been actually routed to the actual regions, anyway - mainly they get lost in a maze of entities and small time orgs that disappear just after they get the money, often with the implicit acknowledgement by politicians of both places.

In exchange, I have just one request - please ask your local MPs to stop saving the ass of our corrupted politicians who foster such behavior, instead of giving them parliamentary immunity or "institutional benefit of doubt" every time some anti-corruption or anti-mafia investigation gets them. It would be a nice start.

1) Of course 2) Autonomy doesn't allow the type of independence you are looking for 3) It is very much, and for different reasons, but if your problem is redistribution of wealth on a national level, but not on a local it just means that you feel that southern Italy isn't Italy as much as Veneto is. Which isn't really a great thing in 2017 4) Rome and Naples have longer and definitely more impactful histories. we should be moving toward the future, instead of still grasping toward a few historical myths of the past (la serenissima fell on the 18th century).

It really sickens me to see people supporting segregation, separation and justify their ignorance with some historical fact that has no ties to the present.

For what I personally care, Veneto and Lombardia could become their own countries, but let's just call things with their names instead of finding silly justifications.

The reference to "la serenissima" is simply ludicrous, yet I see more and more often such things (in other countries as well).

When people are unhappy with the present (for any possible reason, like being "just average", which is not necessarily a bad thing, among one of them), they look back to the past, to some "glorious times".

However, they only look at the most successful moment[s], they never wonder how things built up, how they got lost, etc. It's much easier, because this way you can blame it on someone else, instead of rolling up your sleeves and work to create a (more) decent environment.

This is incredibly offensive and ignorant.

I am happy with my present, however I am surrounded by Venetian culture, everywhere around me, from my native Venetian language, to monuments in my city, from food and traditions to street names in the Venetian language.

Everywhere around me speaks of my Venetian heritage.

Venetian are hard-working people, after WW2 Veneto went from an underdeveloped, rural region to one of the richest regions in Italy, whose per-capita GDP compares with that of the richest German industrial districts.

Still, people always felt deeply bound to their Serenissima roots. It’s not a matter of unhappiness or hard times, it’s a matter of a millennial history that pervades the whole region and cannot be denied.

Do you also acknowledge that such redistribution could not happen without a constitutional reform?

(More remarks here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15531255 - disclaimer, I chose not to vote)

Yes, there are many problems, some of which could be solved without a Constitutional reform, some of which would need one, the redistribution being on of these.

However, given that five Regions essentially don't engage in such redistribution due to their special status, and given that it is a widespread opinion that this special status is just for historical reasons -- making very little sense today -- I think that a constitutional reform may be on the table soon.

The Veneto referendum is a good demonstration that these issues have widespread support from all the political spectrum.

I honestly doubt. The required supermajority is incredibly hard to achieve, and without it you would need a national referendum with no hope of passing.

The referendum might have had widespread _local_ support, but at the country level it's a whole different story. Why didn't Veneto get more autonomy (same as what they want to ask now) when the Lega Nord was part of the national government coalition?

It might feel empowering demanding taxes to be spent in the richer areas instead of helping poorer areas: Zaia, Governor of Veneto and member of the anti-Europe, anti-Euro, anti-italian nation Lega Nord party, promoted the referendum demanding that "taxes in Veneto should stay here, not helping Sicily".

It probably is, at first. But in an economy of different parties, who produces more needs some buyers to keep growing. If there are not enough buyers, overproduction and economical collapse will knock at the door. You can see this trend internationally: we seldom see a country be an outlier in the yearly growth. Either all countries grow, or all countries decline. It is the % that changes. We saw this during the 2008-2012 crisis in particular.

It is in the interest of the richest areas to help the poorest. By doing so not only the average quality of life of a country increases. With less economical inequalities between regions, the once poorer regions are buyers of goods of the once richer ones.

While you correctly associated Lombardia and Veneto to Germany, you forgot to mention that after the WWII, Germany went split politically and economically. When it got re-united in 1989-1991 East Germany was economically very diverse from the more developed West. Our fathers were wiser: instead of doing referendum demanding taxes to be withheld in the West, they demanded to be taxed to help the East. [source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification#Cost_of_r... ] After 20 years those differences are still somewhat visible, yet they do not constitute a problem for Germany's growth and quality of life as a nation.

On the historical side it has been confirmed that 2/3 of the gold resources in Italy came from Regno delle due Sicilie [source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regno_delle_Due_Sicilie in Patrimonio e finanza section ]. Those lands are today's most rural parts of Italy, yet contributed the most to the wealth of Italy as a nation.

I highly suggest a read on this last historical matter: Terroni by Pino Aprile. You might find a different point of view. [ https://www.amazon.com/Terroni-Ensure-Italians-Became-Southe... ]

> It is in the interest of the richest areas to help the poorest.

Yes, however one still needs to decide to which extent. Italy helps the poorest areas much more than Germany or the US do. Would a federal model like Germany work better?

That's why I said that redistribution is OK in principle, but many feel that in Italy there's just too much of it.

> On the historical side it has been confirmed that 2/3 of the gold resources in Italy came from Regno delle due Sicilie

Many wrongs were commited in that age, many of which targeted the North, as well.

However, if you sum all the subsidies the South has been granted through the years (one among many: Cassa per il Mezzogiorno) that would easily offset those gold resources.

Edit: actually is more, Cassa per il Mezzogiorno was given about 140 billions, while 2/3 of Italy's gold resources are worth about 100 billions. One should also keep in mind that Cassa per il Mezzogiorno was active only between 1950 and 1984, and many other subsidies for the South were present before, during and after.

> That's why I said that redistribution is OK in principle, but many feel that in Italy there's just too much of it.

While the amount is huge, that is not event the biggest issue. What people resent is _how_ that money is spent: public construction project meant mostly to funnel money to organized crime and companies of relatives of politicians; covering the bizarre expenses of the politicians; and the never ending legion of public employees that got a job in exchange of votes (but get paid without working much or at all). If you add the fact that southern Italy is where most of tax evasion and health-related fraud occurs, the feeling for many is not that they are paying to help the poorer, but that they are sweating so that others can live a comfortable life.

While it is not a black-white situation (there are also such issues in the North, and hard working people in the South), the difference is notable.