- Italy in the early Middle Ages
- Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries
- Early modern Italy (16th to 18th century)
- Revolution, restoration, and unification
- Italy from 1870 to 1945
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Beginning in the 1960s, Italy completed its postwar transformation from a largely agrarian, relatively poor country into one of the most economically and socially advanced countries of the world. One consequence of these changes was that migration from the south slowed after 1970 and, by the 1980s, even reversed, as jobs became scarcer in northern Italy and northern Europe. Other demographic, economic, technological, and cultural changes transformed Italian daily life and fueled social unrest. After the Cold War ended in 1989, pressures for political and economic reform, European economic unification, and globalization exposed Italy to a new range of challenges.
Demographic and social change
In general, population growth in Italy had slowed dramatically by the 1960s. The birth rate in the north had already been low in the postwar years and dropped below replacement level in the 1970s in most northern and central regions. Even in the south, birth rates fell sharply after 1964. By 1979 there were only 670,000 live births in all of Italy and by 1987 some 560,000. Italians had one of the lowest birth rates of any industrial country by the 1990s, and there was a growing tendency toward families having only one child and adults remaining single.
The reasons for the dramatic decline in births are complex. Contraception became readily available after 1971, and most Italians were now urbanites living in apartments and thus not in need of a large number of children to help till the soil. Women were now better-educated. Girls in general began going to secondary schools only in the 1960s, and by 1972 there were a quarter-million female graduates. They could now pursue satisfying careers or at least readily find gainful employment that gave them financial independence from men and alternatives to lives as homemakers and mothers. In 1970, following a campaign led by the Radical Party and opposed by the church and Christian Democrats, Italy’s first divorce law was passed. It was confirmed in a nationwide referendum (called by the Christian Democrats) in May 1974 by 59.1 percent of the voters—a real victory for secular groups against church and Christian Democratic dominance of society. In 1975 many antiquated provisions in family law were altered or abolished, and in 1981 another referendum confirmed by 67.9 percent of the vote the 1978 law permitting abortion. Meanwhile, civil marriage became more common (almost 12 percent of all marriages by 1979), as did unmarried cohabitation.
Legal contraception, divorce, and abortion provided dramatic evidence of a more secularized society. Regular church attendance fell sharply, from about 70 percent in the mid-1950s to about 30 percent in the 1980s. The membership of Catholic Action fell to about 650,000 by 1978, about one-fourth of its figure in 1966, and in the late 1960s Catholic trade unions allied with their erstwhile Communist rivals. Broadcasting in 1976 ceased to be a state monopoly dominated by the Christian Democrats. Furthermore, many church-controlled charities, especially at the local level, were taken over by regional governments in 1977 and 1978 and run as part of the state welfare system by political appointees. Although the Christian Democrats still held most government posts, Italy by the 1980s was indeed markedly “de-Christianized,” as Pope John Paul II said. In 1985 a new concordat that recognized many of these changes was ratified by the Vatican and (significantly) a government led by the Socialist Bettino Craxi. Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion, religious instruction in schools became voluntary, and the state stopped funding priests’ salaries.
Economic stagnation and labor militancy in the 1960s and ’70s
After 1963, when the Socialist Party entered government, an increasing number of political appointments were made in the firms and agencies of the public sector, and trade unions became more powerful. Soon inflation began creeping up once again, as governments printed money to pay for higher wages and welfare. Many firms had to be rescued by the IRI at public expense, the balance of payments deteriorated, and the official economy began to slow down, although the black-market economy of domestic textile workers and self-employed artisans, among others, continued to flourish.
This economic slump led to the “hot autumn” of 1969, a season of strikes, factory occupations, and mass demonstrations throughout northern Italy, with its epicenter at Fiat in Turin. Most stoppages were unofficial, led by workers’ factory committees or militant leftist groups rather than by the (party-linked) trade unions. The protests were not only about pay and work-related matters but also about conditions outside the factory, such as housing, transport, and pensions, and they formed part of a more general wave of political and student protest, including opposition to the Vietnam War.
The stoppages forced employers to grant large pay raises—at least 15 percent—and factory councils were set up in nearly all major plants. Often, migrant urban newcomers were at the head of the struggles. In 1970, legislation—the Statute of the Workers—ratified these developments and established rights never before codified in law. In 1975 most pay scales were indexed to inflation on a quarterly basis for wage and salary earners, thus guaranteeing the big pay raises of the previous few years. Jobs too were virtually guaranteed in the official economy, and trade unions became influential on a host of planning bodies. The firing of workers became extremely difficult in many sectors.
Labour militancy continued throughout most of the 1970s, often led by unofficial “autonomous” unions. Many firms therefore chose to restructure themselves into smaller units employing part-time or unofficial workers on piece rates, who could be dismissed easily and did not enjoy guaranteed wages. This was particularly true in the areas of textile production and light engineering. Unemployment rose sharply, especially among the young. By 1977 there were one million unemployed people under age 24. Inflation continued, aggravated by the increases in the price of oil in 1973 and 1979. The budget deficit became permanent and intractable, averaging about 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), higher than any other industrial country. The lira fell steadily, from 560 lire to the U.S. dollar in 1973 to 1,400 lire in 1982.
