This book brings together contributions from historians of different cultural and methodological backgrounds, gathered around a common idea: understanding how Italian intellectuals interpreted, discussed and influenced international politics between the end of the Second World War and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the most politically demanding act of a united Europe after the collapse of the Soviet system. A historical period full of change, marked by the inclusion of Italy in the open and multilateral context of the alliance between Europe and the United States, destined to become a structural component of Italian democracy and its political and institutional dynamics for almost fifty years.