This book examines the historical process that led to the foundation of the Italian Republic and its constitution, viewed through the personal experiences and political reflections of Adriano Olivetti (between 1919 and 1960), general manager and president of the well-known typewriter manufacturer Ing. C. Olivetti & C. An unbroken line of reasoning linked his maturing political reflections during the two post-war periods. The historical context of the 1950s did not prove to be very propitious, but the guidelines dispersed throughout the Italian cultural and political world from the movement that Olivetti founded were certainly seminal generating a legacy of ideas that has only in part been recognized. What makes this study distinctive is the original approach to reading the history of Italy through Adriano Olivetti's eyes and thoughts, far from the more common Christian Democratic or Communist perspective of those years. It is simply another view of what the Italian Republiccould be and was not.

Examines the political writings and intellectual commitments of Adriano Olivetti Argues for Olivetti as a seminal figure in modern Italian politics Uncovers alternate visions of twentieth-century Italian politics

Autorentext

After classical high school, he graduated in History in 2001 at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the State University of Milan, where in 2004 he also obtained a PhD in European Society and International Life in the Modern and Contemporary Era, and where now he is researcher of History of Political Thought. He is member of the executive council of the Société européenne de culture. Sub-editor of the journals "Amministrare" (Administering) and "Storia Amministrazione Costituzione" (History Administration Constitution) of the Istituto per la scienza dell'amministrazione pubblica (Institute for the Science of Public Administration), he is coordinator of the international journal "Comprendre. Revue de politique de la culture". He is member of the Società italiana per lo studio della storia contemporanea (Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History), the Società storica lombarda (Lombard Historical Society), the European Society for the History of Political Thought and the Associazione italiana degli storici delle dottrine politiche (Italian Association of Historians of Political Thought), whose site aisdp.it he is sub-editor, responsible for the section "Strumenti online" (Online Tools). He collaborates with the "Supplemento bibliografico" (Bibliographic Supplement) published in "Il pensiero politico. Rivista di storia delle idee politiche e sociali" (The Political Thought. Journal of History of Political and Social Ideas) and, occasionally, with some national newspapers. He has studied mainly the history of twentieth-century political thought, with emphasis on the problems of autonomy, federalism, elitism, and the relationship between politics and culture.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction: A View of the Intellectual Biography.- Chapter 2: Gaetano Salvemini and the United States of America.- Chapter 3: Among Antifascists and Secret Services.- Chapter 4: Self-Government in Constitutional Projects.- Chapter 5: A New Political Movement?.- Chapter 6: The Misunderstood Legacy.