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Italy

Bordered by the Mediterranean and the Alps, Italy is a 116,346-square-mile peninsula with limited space and natural resources. In addition, it is one of the European countries with the highest population density (517.4 people per square mile). The national territory also includes several islands, the largest being Sicily and Sardinia. This Mediterranean country has the fourth-largest economy in Europe by 2010 and experienced rapid industrial growth after World War II. The natural environment and rapid social and economic change have had an impact on Italian attitudes toward waste and environmental management. Not unified into one country until 1861, in many ways Italy remains regionally divided in both cultural and economic perspectives. The largest division is the north from the south. The north has developed a strong industrial economy and modern infrastructure, while the south remains largely agrarian with pockets of high poverty. When discussing Italian attitudes and approaches to consumption and waste, these divisions must be taken into consideration.

World War II Era

Since the 1940s, Italy has come nearly full circle when it comes to dealing with waste. Prior to and immediately following World War II, the average Italian experienced a life of great scarcity. Almost nothing, from water to manure, was wasted. Everything was reused until it could be used no more. For example, Italian pig slaughtering and processing used every part of the animal, from the snout to the tail. Italian culinary culture developed to make efficient use of the pig, from blood sausage to be consumed immediately after slaughter to long-aging hams that would be consumed the following year. Meat was scarce and often only a small piece of fat would be used to flavor a dish of pulses. Popular Italian cuisine, particularly in central and southern Italy, was referred to as cucina povera (meaning “poor or frugal cuisine”). Scarcity during times of war also led Italians to forage for wild foods such as mushrooms, chestnuts, and tubers. Scarcity was most felt when it came to subsistence, but the same frugality carried through the rest of Italian consumption patterns.

Italy manufactured very few consumer goods until the second half of the 19th century. As an agricultural economy, most farms were organized in the south, mainly as large shareholder farms, and in central Italy, a sharecropping system called mezzadria existed. This meant that the majority of Italians produced most of their own food and consumed very few consumer products. It was Benito Mussolini's dream to make Italian agriculture self-sufficient.

Postwar Economic Growth

Production and consumption changed drastically after World War II as Italy began to industrialize rapidly in the north. Helped along by funds from the U.S. Marshall Plan, Italy rapidly went from being one of the least to one of the most developed countries in Europe. There was a great wave of migration from south to north to the growing factories in cities like Turin, Genova, and Milan. The period from the mid-1950s to the 1970s is often called the “economic miracle.” In particular, car manufacturing took off as one of the main industries, drastically changing Italy's economy.

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