Il dibattito sull'istruzione tecnico-professionale nel Mezzogiorno prima e dopo l'Unità. Dal varo del «Progetto Mazzetti» alla messa in opera degli enti formativi filangieriani (The debate on technical education in southern Italy before and after the political unification. From the launch of the «Project Mazzetti» to the establishment of educational institutions designed by Filangeri)

In Italy, during the industrial Revolution, compared to more advanced European countries, it is not fully understood the importance of instruction, especially technical and professional, for the purpose of economic and social development.In the first half of the nineteenth century, the most significant results concerning dissemination of technical and scientific knowledge were recorded in the North; in the South, however, the Bourbon government did not promote any significant innovations. Only at the beginning of the ’80s, on the initiative of Gaetano Filangieri Jr. and other intellectuals, he founded the Museum of Industrial Art-Schools and Workshops of Naples, which is an integrated system ‘museum-school-workshop’ designed to achieve the objectives of nature together formative and productive. The inability of the ruling class to its southern innovative concepts Filangieri and hostility of traditional academic contexts, decreed, soon, the failure of Museum. Nevertheless, we believe that the systematic approach to the problem of ‘applied arts’ (arts and crafts), the clarity of objectives with which Filangieri elaborated his project and the fierce will to oppose the economic and cultural subordination of the South, represent a extraordinary experience, probably still to be tapped.