Abstract

The essay aims to examine the extremely coherent evolution of a character who still lacks a critical biography. Salandra consistently moves from the «attentive» triplicism, typical of Giolitti’s approach, to an «industrious and vigilant» neutralism, ending with the theorization of the «sacred selfishness», that he was never able to actually accomplish. It was due both to his complex personality and to factors related to the political situation of the country and to the rather ambiguous position of the latter, which only in August 1916 declared war on the Wilhelminian Germany.