If you want to lay Italy’s economic problems on geography you probably have to explain why it wasn’t a problem for the Roman Empire or Renaissance city states.
Hmm? No, that‘s definitely not what I said. Geography is one factor that can influence population density and interconnectedness, among other things, but these parameters have different effects in different times. Rivers are much less important today than in the middle ages.
Geography is one historical factor in the multiparametric space shaping the wellbeing of a nation. Political culture is another one.
