well, altought southern italians aren't middle eastern, in this period i'm rethinking about our unity.. mostly for sociocultural big differences, i've seen during some of my trips all along italy.. i think we are too much different, the physical differences (that there are, but not extreme) are a slim barrier; the big barrier is the culture.. when staying in conctatct with southern italians in southern italy, i felt like a fish out of water, first when they spoke in dialect (most of the time) i didn't understand much; then also the behaviour was rather different (not good or bad but different).. i didn't feel like i was in italy.. a thing that i feel when i'm in rome and upwards till milan, where people speak italian and the behaviour and culture is more similar with mine.. certainly in some remote part of northern italy, if they spoke in dialect it would be the same feeling.. an alien in their land.
guess, i felt more simpathy and cultural similarity with the foreign tourists there than with the local people