- Docente: Paolo Soave
- Credits: 8
- SSD: GSPS-04/B
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially)
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 6750)
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from Sep 22, 2026 to Dec 14, 2026
Learning outcomes
The course aims to give students the political, economic, strategic, and cultural benchmarks that shaped Italian foreign policy and its position in the international order, through a historical perspective from national unification to the Cold War.
Course contents
The origins of Italian diplomacy. The pre-unification Savoyard tradition, Cavour and Nigra, a diplomatic unification.
The Kingdom of Italy's entry into the international diplomatic network. The colonial challenge.
The Great War, a national test: troubled alliances and the military. The mutilated victory and the crisis of Liberalism.
The Fascist foreign policy: continuity and discontinuity with Liberal Italy. The war choice.
The Republican Foreign Policy:UN multilateralism, Atlantic Alliance, energy supplies. Rebirth and external constraints.
Italy and European Integration.
Post-Cold War difficulties.
Evolution of Italian diplomacy
Readings/Bibliography
Mandatory handbook for all, attending and non-attending students:
Giuseppe Mammarella, Paolo Cacace, La politica estera dell'Italia. Dallo Stato unitario ai giorni nostri, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2010
A free reading, for attending and non-attending students:
Stefano Baldi, Luciano Monzali, A Short History of Italian Diplomacy, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 2026 (also available online https://diplosor.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/baldi_monzali_italian_diplomacy_2026.pdf)
Andrea Cascone (a cura di), A Gateway to the Future. Italy's Contribution to the Helsinki Process, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 2025 (also available online https://delegazioneosce.esteri.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Gateway-to-the-future.pdf)
Emanuela Costantini, Carlo Fasciotti e la vita politica italiana ed europea (1870-1958), Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2026
Silvio Labbate, Le politiche energetiche dell'Italia. Dalla crisi petrolifera alla rinuncia al nucleare (1975-1987), Carocci, Roma 2026
Rosario Milano, Federico Imperato, Luciano Monzali, Giuseppe Spagnulo (a cura di), Italia e Iran 1857-2015. Diplomazia, politica ed economia, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 2025
Luciano Monzali, Italia e Giappone 1866-2026, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli 2026
Luca Riccardi, La via italiana. Politica estera, Santa Sede e storiografia nell'Italia contemporanea, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2025
Antonio Varsori, Cenerentola d'Europa? L'Italia e l'integrazione europea dal 1947 a oggi, Rubbettin, Soveria Mannelli 2010
Teaching methods
The general part of the course will be delivered through lectures, audiovisual resources, and seminars by guest speakers. This part aims to introduce the main issues from a historical perspective of Italian foreign policy, from its pre-unitary phase to the Republican era.
In the seminar part students will deliver presentations and debate on the selected topics.
Assessment methods
Attending students will take an open questions written test before the final exam.
The seminar part requires delivering a paper before the final exam.
The final exam is based on a few general questions on Italian foreign policy, and the critical presentation of the free reading.
The final grade is the mean of the written test, the paper, and the oral exam.
Non-attending students will take only the final oral exam on the handbook and the free reading, as indicated.
Teaching tools
Further teaching sources uploaded on Virtuale, audiovisual resources, speakers' lectures.
Office hours
See the website of Paolo Soave
SDGs
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.