Territorial Identity and Administrative Isolation: The Case of "Imperfect Districts” in Southern Italy

Ever since the Unity of Italy, some administrative districts in Italian Mezzogiorno (Terra di Lavoro, Benevento, Isernia, Campobasso, L’Aquila) have undergone a series of boundary transformations. Due to main institutional transformations (the Unity of Italy, the Fascist regime, the reconstruction after World War II, the advent of special statutes for some regions) these territories have been affected by profound administrative changes. The different transformations were driven either by ideological or functional motivations, and they have often caused the loss of socio-cultural identities in local communities. This issue mirrors political and administrative aspects, and also the questions of identification between groups and territory, i.e. the mechanisms used by a community to develop a sense of identity. In this analysis, the so-called 'imperfect districts' define such provincial bodies that in given historical moments have undergone significant alterations in boundaries and organizations; therefore, one can possibly assume that also their identity structures have been affected.