Leopoldo Franchetti

Mafia expert Diego Gambetta has chosen to discuss Condizioni Politiche e Amministrative della Sicilia by Leopoldo Franchetti on FiveBooks as one of the top five on his subject - Sicilian Mafia, saying that:



“…A classic 19th-century study of the Mafia, showing that its origins should be seen as a consequence of the end of feudalism, with the increase in private property and a surfeit of former armed guards of the feudal barons…I chose it because I think it is by far the sharpest early investigation of the Mafia. In 1875 Franchetti, the author, and a friend of his called Sidney Sonnino traveled around Sicily, and came up with a report on the conditions there, which was in two volumes. The one that was written by Franchetti was about the Mafia, which, incidentally, only got that name in 1863. Before that the Mafia wasn’t known as a collective entity. And one thing that Franchetti understood is that the Mafia’s origins were not to be sought in the remnants of feudalism, but, rather, should be seen as a consequence of the end of feudalism...”



The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/diego-gambetta… (mais)