Sicily and the Unification of Italy

This is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of Italian unification on the hitherto isolated communities of rural Sicily. Traditional explanations of Sicily's instability depict a society trapped by a feudal past. Lucy Riall finds instead that many areas of the island were experiencing a period of rapid modernization, as local government increased their efforts to collect taxes, organize conscription, administer policing, and suppress peasant unrest. Dr Riall argues that these attempts to enhance the control of the central government actually increased the government's problems, and that Italian unification accentuated the violent factionalism of local communities.