Abstract

The article aims both to review the (mainly Italian) historiography on Italy's role in the formation and development of the Atlantic Alliance and to give an account of the most important issues studied or still to be investigated. More than other aspects of the Republic's foreign policy, the narrative and interpretation of Italian Atlanticism found an obstacle in the insufficient availability of documentary sources. In particular, the situation of the Italian defence archives is even worse than that of the diplomatic ones and this so far largely prevented the possibility of writing on the military aspects. The topics more investigated have been the path towards Italy's admission into the Alliance, the «neo-Atlantic» policy in the 50s and the euro-missiles crisis across the 70s and the 80s.