Sicily vs Lombardy: A Gap in Investments That Cries Out for Justice
The disparity between Northern and Southern Italy has been a long-standing issue, but when concrete numbers are analyzed, the reality is even more shocking. Let’s examine the case of road maintenance and school infrastructure, two fundamental sectors for the well-being of a region. The comparison between Sicily and Lombardy highlights an evident injustice that is pushing more and more Sicilians to demand independence.
The Numbers of Shame
According to ANAS data, Sicily received just 588.74 million euros over four years (from 2021 to 2024) for road maintenance. Meanwhile, Lombardy received a staggering 191.5 billion euros from the PNRR in 2024 alone, even though these funds are distributed across various sectors.
Now, let’s do a simple calculation: if even just 5% of Lombardy’s PNRR were allocated to road maintenance, it would amount to approximately 9.5 billion euros in a single year. This means that Lombardy spends in one year about 40 times what Sicily receives in four years!
This is not just about numbers: it is proof that the South, and Sicily in particular, is treated as an economic colony of the North. While Lombardy’s highways are maintained and modernized, Sicily’s roads are crumbling, with collapsing bridges and a road network resembling that of a third-world country. This is why citizens die falling into road potholes and why hundreds of road fatalities occur every year. In Sicily, there is not a single road that meets European safety standards.
Sicily: The Center of the World, Yet Marginalized
Geographically, Sicily is the heart of the Mediterranean, a strategic position that should make it a global economic, commercial, and tourism hub. Yet, it is left in a state of underdevelopment, without the proper investments it deserves.
The special autonomy of the Sicilian Region exists only on paper, but in practice, it offers no real advantages. The centralist system enforces political choices that favor the North at the expense of the South, relegating Sicily to a state of economic and social dependence.
Conclusion: Independence or Perpetual Submission?
Faced with this evidence, more and more Sicilians are realizing that independence is the only way out. This is not an empty demand, but a necessity to manage our own resources, retain the wealth produced on the island, and break free from this cycle of exploitation.
Sicily is not inferior; on the contrary, it is a land of extraordinary history, culture, and natural resources. But as long as it remains under the control of a system that treats it as a worthless periphery, it will never be able to express its true potential.
This is why millions of Sicilians want independence: because they are tired of being treated as second-class citizens in a land that, by geography and culture, is actually the beating heart of the Mediterranean.
The time for waiting is over. It is time for Sicily to reclaim what is rightfully hers.
A Call to Sicilians Around the World
All Sicilians and the descendants of Sicilians across the world must unite under a single goal: to restore Sicily’s dignity and bring it back to being a sovereign state, as it was for 730 years. For centuries, Sicily was a beacon of civilization and a reference point for the Mediterranean, and it can become one again only through the determination and unity of its people. Let us not allow our land to be exploited and forgotten: Sicily must reclaim its rightful place at the center of the world.
Justice for the Victims of Neglect
The pace of road and healthcare maintenance in Sicily is disgraceful. All the victims of road accidents caused by dilapidated roads and of an inefficient healthcare system cry out for justice. This justice must inevitably fall on the shoulders of Sicilian politicians, the true accomplices of these injustices, because they have accepted without resistance the treatment reserved for Sicily by the centralist system. It is time for the Sicilian people to wake up and demand accountability and change.