Cassa per il Mezzogiorno was an effort pushed by the government of Italy to stimulate economic growth and development. It was established in 1950 and provided public works and infrastructure such as roads, bridges, etc. It also credit subsidies and tax advantages to promote investments. Look up Public works in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

It focused mostly on rural areas and projects, and it certainly did help some in bringing Southern Italy into the modern world, though there is evidence that some of the money was squandered due to poor management by the government. Historian Denis Mack Smith noted in the 1960s that about a third of the money was squandered. Steel mills and such were promised but never built, and many dams never connected or irrigated anything.

Government-led industry was cheap, but a lack of skilled labour led to an insignificant rise drop in southern unemployment.

This all resulted in a mass migration of about two million people in the late 1950s and early 1960s out of Mezzogiorno and into northern Italy and other countries. This left a social gap in the south, with most of the seniors, women, and children left behind. Regions usually associated with the Mezzogiorno, with darker areas more closely tied to it. ...

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