Because of the 'Garibaldini' war against the bands of Mafia criminals in the sicilian mountains, the economic situation in the island deteriorated in the mid-1860s and an anti-Savoy revolt pushing for Sicilian independence erupted in 1866 at Palermo.
An 1881 census found that over 1 million southern day-labourers were chronically under-employed and were very likely to become seasonal emigrants in order to economically sustain themselves.