Italian diplomats from fascism to the Republic: continuity or rupture?

Abstract

The problem of the continuity of State structures between fascism and the Republic has been – and still is – one of the major issues for Italian historiography. This essay aims to provide an interpretative framework on the effects that first fascism and then the transition phase had on the orientation of Italian diplomacy. What emerges is a profile of the diplomatic career poised between elements of continuity and discontinuity.