One nice thing about Mussolini was that during his reign, he attempted to unite Italy under a single, common Italian dialect. This attempt was thwarted by WWII.

Northern Italy, likely thanks to the seaport of Venice, has historically enjoyed greater wealth through trade and gold. The North has long yearned to separate from the South due to this division of wealth.

Stuff I learned from an introduction to Italian language and culture thanks to an Italian teacher supporting the United States Army in northern Italy in 1990.