The End of Third Italy As We Knew It?

Italian industrial districts of “Third Italy” stand as landmarks and standard points of reference in Anglophone economic geography and planning studies. A whole series of analytical and policy‐oriented concepts have been born, inspired in part or totally from Third Italy, summarized in what is known as “New Regionalism”. There are, however, many partial truths and important missing issues in the discourse on Italian industrial districts and some important post‐2000 developments seem to contradict the dominant mythology around them. Among these developments mergers and acquisitions, de‐localization and the work on non‐EU immigrants seem to mark a new phase in their history, questioning the celebrated characteristics of the past.