Abstract

This essay analyses the Italian role in the international effort in 1960 to rescue the temples of Nubia in Egypt and the Sudan. The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Italian effort to save the temples that led the private sector and the Italian institutions involved to present Italy as an ingenious and resourceful country. The interest in a bilateral relationship with Egypt was intertwined with a strong desire to develop multi-form cooperation in the Mediterranean area, which would affirm – in the neo-Atlantic perspective of statesmen such as Fanfani – a leading role for Italy, on its way to become an industrial power.