THE SOCIAL CONTEXT - Economic boom in Italy.

In the years between 1958 and 1963 Italy experienced what historians have called an "economic miracle", which allowed Italy to become part of the international community of modern industrial countries. This miracle was the result of a long process of growth, which began in the early 1950s, developing in the following decade to bring the country's progress to extraordinary levels. The Italian situation in this period manifested miraculous conditions through the following economic elements:

1 - Gross domestic product increased and a continuous rise of per capita income. This involved most of all manifacturing industry, which by 1961 had tripled its production from pre-war levels; a significant progress also occurred in the siderurgical, chemical and mechanical industry.
2 - Growth in exported manufactured goods - whose improved quality rather than quantity meant longer lasting consume goods.
3 - Maintenance of low wage levels meant high profits for industrialists which were in turn driven to update their plants and machinery and increase their productive investments.
4 - Strong demand for consume goods triggered a trend for affluence known as "consumerism".
5 - Low cost of energy in the form of oil and gas.
6 - A growing international market for Italian products, appreciated for their low cost and high quality.

But this transformation had consequences with serious social drawbacks.

1 - Depopulation of rural areas caused a fall in the value of land (which few demanded and many offered) and made ineffective the government support of agriculture. As a consequence, agriculture did not develop - prices of home grown food rose and, because of the strong demand, import of food supplies was necessary, causing an alteration in the payment balance.
2) Movement of population to urban areas - where most manufacturing and tertiary industries lay - meant urban expansion often occurred in disordered forms, lacking proper planning and needing intervention of local authorities in house building. The urban layout of cities changed completely because narrow housing estates were built, often by the immigrants. A symbol of the economic boom was the building of skyscrapers. In this period investments in housing rose strongly, as journalists and writers reported. A house, for instance, is the main setting of the novel "Una vita violenta" by Paosolini. Rents also rose so that immigrants were often forced to live in poor, unhealthy and narrow houses. As a result, the purchase power of lower-class families decreased, limiting their social integration. Speculation and urban decline had negative consequences not only on new suburbs, but also on inner cities.
3) Migration of labour from South to North caused social unrest.
4) Rapid diffusion of technological innovations, which became the symbols of the economic boom - such as television (which created a new mass culture modelled on the American example), economy car (a means of transport for the new proletariat) and the "Lambretta" (a motorcycle model, symbol of Sunday outings).

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