What does the following quotation suggest about Italy before unification: "To speak of an Italian people was to speak of a mass of illiterates brutalized by poverty and superstition ... "?

That they were going through a depression. so they didn't trust anyone because everyone was probably stealing and killing each other. people didn't have enough money to go to school to learn how to read but this is a very broad question and i didn't know exactly how to answer it so i tried my best sorry if it's wrong