New experiences of industrial districts in Southern Italian regions: a critical review

Recent studies have provided evidence of successful stories of clustered firms in the South of Italy. We intend firstly to review the theoretical approaches that interpreted this new reality. While producing interest cases studies traditional approaches still try to employ the industrial district ideal type model. We look at their findings, in the light of the most recent debate on knowledge diffusion, to evaluate their contribution to the general debate on industrial districts dynamism. In such a way we will present a clear overview of the different approaches and the different cases emerging in backwards regions