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Anti-Colonialism and Anti-Imperialism in the Communist Party of Italy 

Drawing on archival documentation, party press, and propaganda, the article revisits
the theoretical debate and political positioning of the Communist Party of Italy in the
anti-colonial struggle. The essay follows the conventional periodization of international
communist history: from the party’s origins to the Sixth Congress of the Third International;
the years of the «turn» and the controversy over «social fascism»; and the era of Popular
Fronts. This analysis reveals both continuities and specificities. The attempt to connect
Anti-Fascism and Anti-Colonialism – an alignment far from guaranteed within international
communism – shaped both the party’s ideological development and the personal trajectories
of Italian communists. Lastly, the article explores the Pci anti-racist stance in relation to the
materialist and internationalist foundations of communist political culture.

Keywords: Anti-Colonialism, Internationalism, Anti-Imperialism, Italian communism,
Anti-Fascism.

Parole chiave: Anticolonialismo, Internazionalismo, Antimperialismo, Comunismo italiano,
Antifascismo.

The New Horizons of Socialism: The Italian Communist Party and West Africa between
Decolonisation, Myths of Progress and Revolution (1958-1975)

At the turn of the 1960s, the international communist movement reckoned with the wave
of decolonisation in Africa, with the aim of extending the socialist model to the newly
independent States. In this context, the Italian Communist Party presented itself as an
«ambassador» of the communist movement and as an advocate of a polycentric socialism
that dialogued well with African anti-colonialists. The beginning of the «Italian way to
socialism» lent itself to an encounter with new progressive experiences in West Africa that
undertook an original socialist development with the collaboration of the Eastern bloc –
a development that opened parallel diplomatic channels with Italian society and politics,
while also playing a key role for international communism on the African continent. These
relations facilitated the encounter with the Portuguese anticolonial movements and were
part of a new reading of the Cold War and European-African relations in the 1970s.

Keywords: Italian Communist Party, West Africa, Guinea, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, African
Socialism.

Parole chiave: Partito comunista italiano, Africa occidentale, Guinea, Mali, Guinea-Bissau,
Socialismo africano.

National Sovereignty and Global Economic Interdependencies: Italian Communists and the New
International Economic Order 

The article aims to examine the evolution of the Italian Communist Party’s international
politics in relation to the proposals by the Global South to remodel North-South economic
balances. In April-May 1974, the New international economic order (Nieo) took shape at
the United Nations as a collective political project aimed at changing the terms of trade
on a global scale. The leadership of Enrico Berlinguer marked the transition to the Pci’s
new internationalism and the focus on the themes of equal cooperation as a response to
both domestic and international demands for democratization. This was a proposal highly
compatible with that of the promoters of the Nieo and with the categories of its fundamental
theoretical framework: the ambitious vision of global redistribution and the centrality of the
notion of sovereignty. Based on the party’s published and archival sources, the essay focuses
on this relationship by highlighting the Pci’s perspectives on competitive models of global
governance and interdependence in the context of the global shocks of the early 1970s.

Keywords: Italian Communist Party, New international economic order (Nieo), Global
South, Economic decolonization, Interdependence.

Parole chiave: Partito comunista italiano, Nuovo ordine economico internazionale (Noei),
Sud globale, Decolonizzazione economica, Interdipendenza.

Eurocommunism, Globalisation and North-South Relations 

The article focuses on the role of North-South relations in the international politics
of the Italian and French communist parties during the 1970s – when the so-called
«Eurocommunist» tendency emerged. When cross-examining the two parties’ archives and
publications, a fundamental divergence emerges on the issue, which helps to enrich our
understanding of the internal contradictions within the Eurocommunist movement. The
different interpretation of the North-South question was connected to a broader discrepancy
in the reading of different aspects of the international scene of the 1970s: the role of the
European Community, the relations with parties of the non-Communist Left, and, more
generally, the possibility for communists to support instances of global governance in a
world marked by interdependence and globalisation.

Keywords: Italian Communist Party, French Communist Party, Global South, Globalisation,
New international economic order.

Parole chiave: Partito comunista italiano, Partito comunista francese, Sud globale,
Globalizzazione, Nuovo ordine economico internazionale.

For the End of Apartheid and the Independence of Namibia: Italian Communists and the
Southern African Liberation Movements 

This article investigates the solidarity initiatives promoted by Italian communism in support
of Southern African liberation movements, particularly the struggle against apartheid and
the process of Namibia’s independence. Drawing on archival sources, newspapers, and
interviews, it reconstructs the relationships between the Italian Communist Party and
movements such as the African National Congress (Anc) and the South West African
People’s Organisation (Swapo), with a focus on the strategic role of the municipality of
Reggio Emilia and city councilor Giuseppe Soncini. Within the framework of Berlinguer’s
internationalism and through the efforts of the National Solidarity Committee with the
Peoples of Southern Africa, the years between 1978 and 1984 witnessed a vibrant season of
mobilization. The article explores the aims, outcomes, and limitations of this experience,
highlighting the specific features of Italian communist solidarity in an international context.

Keywords: Italian Communist Party, Reggio Emilia, Southern Africa, Anti-apartheid
struggle, Solidarity.

Parole chiave: Partito comunista italiano, Reggio Emilia, Africa australe, Lotta antiapartheid,
solidarietà.

German Science and the Latin Middle Ages in the Writings of Augusto Gaudenzi

Augusto Gaudenzi was one of the most significant Italian historians of the early Middle
Ages between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of his works, particularly those
dedicated to the edicts of Theoderic and Athalaric, the activity of Cassiodorus in Ravenna,
and the relations between the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire, remain
valuable due to their meticulous analysis of ancient sources – especially legal texts –
following the principles of German philological scholarship. However, Gaudenzi’s work was
not unaffected by the ideological debates that were then shaping the intellectual elites of
the Kingdom of Italy, which sought to reinforce the Risorgimento thesis of an early Italian
identity by arguing that the barbarian invasions did not disrupt the continuity of Roman
law. This served both to strengthen national unity in a still fragile State and to justify the
conquest of the Papal States, as well as the transfer of the capital to Rome.

Keywords: Augusto Gaudenzi, Ostrogothic Italy, Roman law, National identity, German
science.

Parole chiave: Augusto Gaudenzi, Italia ostrogota, Diritto romano, Identità nazionale,
Scienza tedesca.

Governing the «Backbone of a Maritime Nation»: Institutions, Mercantile Practices, and
Instruments of Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Venice

This article explores how early modern governments managed the increasing need for
direction, control, and knowledge associated with the development of trade in the 18th
century. Using the case study of the Republic of Venice and examining the documentation
produced by the Cinque savi alla mercanzia and the Senate during the 1760s, the essay
demonstrates that the Venetian government approached these challenges with a mixed
strategy. As in the rest of Italy and Europe, traditional solutions were complemented by new
experiments, both in involving the merchant community in the formulation of economic
policy and in creating new tools for knowledge. In Venice, too, the inertia of governmental
intervention resulted from negotiated practices and compromises with a complex web of
overlapping institutions, interests, and powers.

Keywords: Venice, Trade, Institutions, Frauds, Information.

Parole chiave: Venezia, Commercio, Istituzioni, Frodi, Informazione.

A «New» Medieval Rome: Polyptych of Recent Monographs

The aim of this essay is to illustrate and discuss some recent books on medieval Rome,
especially those dealing with socioeconomic and political/institutional issues. Two particular
historiographical trends seem to emerge from the analysis: on the one hand, research is
focusing on the «beginning» (5th-9th centuries) and «ending» (15th century) periods of
the Roman Middle Ages; on the other hand, a new kind of «macro-synthesis book» has
emerged, covering the entire medieval millennium (5th-15th centuries) and relying heavily
on materiality and archaeological data. The discussion also deals with the emergence of some
problematic areas: the demography of the 13th-14th centuries, the overall interpretation of
the 10th and early 14th centuries, and the composition of the popular strata before the 12th
century.

Keywords: Rome, Middle Ages, Historiography, Archaeology.

Parole chiave: Roma, Medioevo, Storiografia, Archeologia.