Regional inequality in Italy has been a major issue since the 1950s. A new study looked at data from 1951-94 to understand why some regions are richer than others. They found that there was some progress in reducing inequality from 1951-75, but it increased again later. The richer Northern regions are doing better than the poorer Southern regions. The study also showed that when people moved from farming to industry in poorer regions, it helped them catch up economically. But once this movement stopped, the regions struggled to converge with the richer ones. Industrialization seems to be the key to why some regions improve while others stay behind.