The rise of neo-populist parties in Western countries is a current issue in social sciences. Over the past two decades, and with increasing emphasis in recent years, a notable body of research has been preoccupied with explaining the complex relationship between populism and places. This paper fits in this literature and is aimed at verifying the role played by territorial inequalities and the urban-rural divide on voting preferences in Italy. Through a detailed statistical analysis carried out at the municipal scale, we hereby compare recent trends in national (2013, 2018) and European (2019) Elections with socioeconomic and demographic data to shed light on the drivers of political change. In particular, we focus on the two main Italian parties labeled as populist: the Lega and the Movimento 5 Stelle. Analyses show that support for such parties is only partially related to rural areas, territorial inequalities, and place peripherality, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive explanation of the neo-populist surge. Accordingly, we argue that besides demand-side factors, other supply-side ones should be considered, especially in Italy, where electoral behaviors are embedded in diverse local geopolitical histories that still play an important role in orienting voting.

中文翻译：

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意大利的新民粹主义浪潮介于领土和传统分裂之间*

西方国家新民粹主义政党的兴起是当前社会科学领域的一个热点问题。在过去的二十年里，随着近年来越来越受到重视，大量研究专注于解释民粹主义与地方之间的复杂关系。本文适合该文献，旨在验证意大利的领土不平等和城乡差距对投票偏好所起的作用。通过在市政范围内进行的详细统计分析，我们将国家（2013 年、2018 年）和欧洲（2019 年）选举的近期趋势与社会经济和人口数据进行比较，以阐明政治变革的驱动因素。特别是，我们关注被贴上民粹主义标签的两个主要意大利政党：Lega 和 Movimento 5 Stelle。分析表明，对这些政党的支持仅部分与农村地区、领土不平等和地方边缘性有关，突出了对新民粹主义浪潮进行更全面解释的必要性。因此，我们认为，除了需求方面的因素外，还应考虑其他供应方面的因素，尤其是在意大利，那里的选举行为植根于不同的地方地缘政治历史中，这些历史仍然在引导投票方面发挥着重要作用。