I have only a slight idea of Italian and German history, however, if I had to guess I would say that Italy has a stronger degree of "cultural division" because historically it's regions had very different influences. The south of Italy remained under Spanish rule for a long time, and had more contact with the Arabs, as for the North it experimented more"freedom". They were safer from the Spanish and other influences, and were able to develop "by themselves". Central Italy was ruled directly by the pope for ages. Also, we can't forget that the sense of "cultural identity" comes from the 19th century, before then language was not a major cultural marker, but because modern Italian has very distinct dialects, they might have remained aa means to locals maintain the fragmentation that once existed.
That's a wild guess tho.
TavindaFFLCH t1_iv2fe8l wrote
Reply to Why was unified Italy so culturally divided but unified Germany wasn't? by Bro_c0ly
I have only a slight idea of Italian and German history, however, if I had to guess I would say that Italy has a stronger degree of "cultural division" because historically it's regions had very different influences. The south of Italy remained under Spanish rule for a long time, and had more contact with the Arabs, as for the North it experimented more"freedom". They were safer from the Spanish and other influences, and were able to develop "by themselves". Central Italy was ruled directly by the pope for ages. Also, we can't forget that the sense of "cultural identity" comes from the 19th century, before then language was not a major cultural marker, but because modern Italian has very distinct dialects, they might have remained aa means to locals maintain the fragmentation that once existed. That's a wild guess tho.