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Among the numerous and complex problems of the new State emerged the need to bring uniformity to a territory that was so politically and economically diverse. The indiscriminate application of the administrative, judicial and fiscal structures of the old Piedmont was to create a further divide between Italy's more economically developed Northern and Central regions and the structurally weaker Southern region (the Mezzogiorno). A mass emigration of peasants and the poorest classes to the two …

…of the Christian Democrat statesman Aldo Moro in 1978 formed the most significant episode). Finally, during the first half of the 1980s there were national coalition governments (supported by the parties of the 'constitutional arc') who weathered the political emergency and applied severe measures of economic austerity to contain consumption. The last of these governments being headed for the first time by members of the 'lay' parties such as the republican Spadolini and the socialist Craxi.