There is an Italian paradox that the Pnrr has made clear: Calabria remains among the last regions in terms of spending capacity, but the South today runs faster than the North in the machine of public procedures. Only an apparent contradiction. In fact, within those numbers the two Italys coexist: that of financial reporting which is still slow and that, less visible but perhaps more decisive, which in just a few years has managed to transform its administrative machinery.
As of 26 February 2026, the actually certified payments of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan reached 55.5% of the available resources, just over 93 billion euros. The Centre-North reaches 52.7% of the expenditure reported for all works, the South remains unchanged at 39.5%, a figure which drops to 32.9% for public works. Calabria closes the national ranking, ahead of Sicily, with shares of 35.6% of payments for all works and 32.9% for public works. Diagrams that continue to convey the image of an eternally incomplete South. But the differential widens further in the chapter of public works, where the gap between the two macro-areas exceeds twenty percentage points and Campania, Calabria and Sicily remain the regions most in difficulty.
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