THE MYTH OF THE SPANISH ORIGINS OF THE CAMORRA BETWEEN LITERATURE AND HISTORY

From the first sources after the Unification to the works written in the middle of the 19th and the end of 20th century, the origins of the criminal organization from Campania have been related, in a more or less direct way and frequently by using etymological arguments, with the vice regal past of Naples, one of the main metropolis of modern Europe. The Spanish period, according to a long-lasting stereotype, is seen as a historical idealistic negative model, but also as a mythical place full of memories and folkloric legends suitable to fix the birth of a fairly noble criminal phenomenon that from the beginning gave place to its own literary tradition.