This book is the English version – abridged, revised, and updated – of a volume originally published in Italy in 2016 by the publishing house Il Mulino (Bologna). This research has developed over the course of twenty years, driven by the ambition to pursue three key objectives: to offer a concise account of the Italian events (accessible also to a non-specialist audience, and in a non-Italian context), to synthesize a broad yet still fragmented interpretative debate, and finally, to provide an in-depth analysis of a large collection of original documentation that has only recently become available. It is clear that the effectiveness of this attempt to combine these different approaches remains to be assessed—and only the reader can do so.
Yet I am equally aware that such a long-term endeavour could not have been completed without incurring a significant number of debts. Research trips to New York and Washington (as well as to various locations in Italy) were made possible over the years thanks to an Italian National Research Council (CNR) grant, a 2005 PRIN project financed by the Italian Ministry of the University and Research, and several research grants from my home institution, IULM University in Milan (under the framework of the Apeiron program).
The kindness and expertise of the archival staff at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland; the Central State Archives in Rome; the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome; the Historical Archives of the Senate of the Republic in Rome; the Luigi Sturzo Institute in Rome; and the Mariano Rumor Foundation in Vicenza have been invaluable, and I extend my sincere thanks to them. I am equally grateful to the library staff of the IULM University, the State University and the Catholic University of Milan. I also wish to thank Massimo De Giuseppe for his assistance with research at the Giorgio La Pira archives in Florence, Maria Luisa Lucia Sergio, who facilitated my consultation of Amintore Fanfani’s diaries, and, of course, Daniel Newton, who translated this book from Italian into English with great skill.
This volume owes its initial inspiration to my mentor Ottavio Barié, who is no longer with us. Friends and colleagues read significant parts of the manuscript – some even the entire text – in its early, laborious drafts, offering suggestions, corrections, and improvements. I am especially indebted in this regard to Paolo Acanfora, Massimo De Giuseppe, Mario Del Pero, Michele Marchi, Enrico Palumbo, Paolo Pombeni, Silvio Pons, Federico Romero, Daniela Saresella, Luciano Tosi and Giorgio Vecchio. Their feedback has undoubtedly helped me to improve this work substantially. As a matter of fairness, I must stress that any remaining shortcomings are solely my responsibility.