The contribution intends to present the italian Project of Relevant National Interest "Education and Economic Development in Southern Italy from the Unification to the Giolitti Era" (1861-1914), which is part of the research inspired by the contribution of Carlo Maria Cipolla entitled Literacy and Development in the West. The project, funded by the Ministry of Research, aims to reconstruct the policies implemented in the post-unification period aimed at creating the conditions for the economic and social development of southern Italy by leveraging on the channel of a school public and widespread.

The project focuses on the complex relationship between literacy and development as examined through a quantitative collection of analytical data relating to schooling processes particularly in most of the southern Italian regions (Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily).  

The contribution focuses on the activities carried out by the researchers of the University of Messina and on the potential of quantitative investigations to understand the dynamics of local, regional, national and global geographies.

It is based, in particular, on a survey relating to a vast area of Campania, the "Principato citeriore", better known as the Province of Salerno.

The contribution focuses on the potential of quantitative surveys to understand the dynamics of local, regional, national and global geographies. It is based on a vigorous and systematic examination of non-homogeneous archival documents relating to: 1. public primary schools for boys and girls; 2. schools for the preparation of the master class; 3. public secondary institutions; 4. technical and professional institutes. The cataloging of data relating to schools and educational institutions aims to produce a bottom-up analysis of the history of southern school and educational systems. The intent is to identify, through the history of individual schools and the history of communities, the specificities of the many territories, large cities, rural and mountainous areas and even the smaller and more remote centers that make up the South. In particular, one of the largest Neapolitan provinces, the Province of Salerno, will be examined.

The contribution intends to present, through the examination of a case study, the Project of Relevant Italian National Interest "Education and Economic Development in Southern Italy from the Unification to the Giolitti Era" (1861-1914) and the data offered by the web portal called ISSI (Education and Development of Southern Italy). ISSI is a useful and dynamic digital tool, which allows the diffusion of tables, graphs, historical maps and explanatory cards on schools, teachers and various aspects of teaching. It is also a useful tool for reflecting on the history of the school from a comparative and interdisciplinary point of view.

Bianchi, Angelo. 2019. L’istruzione in Italia tra Sette e Ottocento. Dal Regno di Sardegna alla Sicilia borbonica. Istituzioni scolastiche e prospettive educative. Brescia: Scholè. Chiosso, Giorgio. 2011. Alfabeti d’Italia. La lotta contro l’ignoranza nell’Italia unita, Torino: SEI. Cipolla, Carlo Maria. 1969. Literacy and Development in the West. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Covato, Carmela. 1996. Un’identità divisa: diventare mae-stra in Italia fra Otto e Novecento, Roma: Archivio Guido Izzi. De Fort, Ester. 1996. La scuola elementare dall’Unità alla caduta del fascismo, Bologna: Il Mulino. De Giorgi, Fulvio. 1999. La storia locale in Italia. Brescia: Morcelliana. De Giorgi, Fulvio, Gaudio, Angelo, Pruneri, Fabio, eds. 2019. Manuale di storia della scuola italiama. Dal Risorgimento al XXI secolo, Brescia: Scholé. Macry, Paolo. 2012. Unità a Mezzogiorno. Come l’Italia ha messo assieme i pezzi, Bologna: Il Mulino. Felice, Emanuele. 2015. Ascesa e declino. Storia economica d’Italia, Bologna: il Mulino. Houston, Robert Allan. 1997. Cultura e istruzione nell’Europa moderna, Bologna: Il Mulino. Ong, Walter J., e John Hartley. 2012. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London, New York: Routledge. Pazzaglia, Luciano, Sani, Roberto, eds. 2001. Scuola e società nell’Italia unita: dalla Legge Casati al centro-sinistra. Brescia: La Scuola. Pruneri, Fabio. 2014. “L’aula scolastica tra Otto e Novecento."Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione" 1: 63–72.Vigo, Giuseppe. 1971. Istruzione e sviluppo economico in Italia nel secolo XIX, Torino: ILTE. Soldani, Simonetta, e Gabriele Turi. 1993. Fare gli italiani. Scuola e cultura nell’Italia contemporanea, voll. 1 e 2, Bologna: Il Mulino. Vincent, David. Leggere e scrivere nell’Europa contemporanea. Bologna: il Mulino, 2006. Zamagni, Vera. 1990. Dalla periferia al centro. La seconda rinascita economica dell’Italia (1861-1990), Bologna: Il Mulino.