Since it became a united country, Italy was looked at with keen eyes by foreign economists, economic historians and policy makers. They wanted to see whether it would be possible for the economy of a country which had in the XVII and XVIII century regressed to the role of agricultural raw...

This article is an edited version of the invited lecture read by the author at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Italian Economic Association. Its subject is the views entertained by a number of eminent Italian economists on the international economy in the XXth century, and of the place Italy...