Giustino Fortunato

Fortunato, along with other politicians like Pasquale Villari, Francesco Saverio Nitti, Gaetano Salvemini formed a group of socio-political thinkers called “meridionalisti” (“southernists”), in order to solve the economic problems of southern Italy after the Italian unification.

Fortunato and others made the strong claim that the economic policies of the central government of the new state discriminated against the interests of the south while favouring those of the north.

Giustino and his brother Ernesto, the first as a politician, active well beyond the parliamentary mandate, the other as an entrepreneur, almost symbiotically cultivated hegemonic ambitions beyond the borders of Basilicata for a lifetimeUnlike many intellectuals of his time, he immediately perceived the nefarious nature of fascism, which he did not see as a renewal of the liberal state.

In this period, he wrote the essay "On the Fascist Regime" (1926) and to avoid the danger of censorship, he printed only a few copies and distributed them among his closest friends.

In his last years, he moved away from his native country because of a misunderstanding with his fellow citizens and two incidents that showed the ingratitude of the people, such as in 1917, when he was stabbed by a farmer in Rionero, who accused him of having supported the war.