Nuclear Italy An International History of Italian Nuclear Policies during the Cold War

This book examines the history of Italy’s nuclear policies during the Cold War, by placing the Italian case in an international and comparative framework. It analyzes the ways in which international politics and economics, technological and scientific exchanges, as well as social and cultural movements, influenced Italian nuclear policies, both civilian and military. The essays – divided into four sections devoted to “Civilian Uses of Nuclear Energy”, “Military Aspects of Nuclear Power”, “Public Opinion and Anti-nuclear Movements”, and “The Role of Scientists and Scientific Research” – use new methodological tools and incorporate a variety of approaches coming from different disciplines, such as the history of science, Science and Technology Studies, international relations, business history, literature and media studies, and the history of social movements. By doing so, they contribute to the growing literature about the history of nuclear policies during the twentieth century, and allow for a new understanding of the specificities – and in some ways uniqueness – of Italy’s nuclear experience, a country characterized by a strong tradition in nuclear physics and research, which abandoned its nuclear program much earlier than other European countries.

Elisabetta Bini is assistant professor of Contemporary History at the University of Naples Federico II. Between 2014 and 2016 she was a research fellow at the University of Trieste, where she coordinated the Nuclear Italy Research Group (Nireg). Her publications include: Atomi per la pace? Gli Stati Uniti e le politiche nucleari dell’Italia durante la Guerra fredda (Roma: Carocci, forthcoming); “Nuclear Energy in the Twentieth Century: New International Approaches”, special forum, Contemporanea 4 (2015) (with I. Londero); Oil Shock: The Crisis of 1973 and its Economic Legacy (ed., with F. Romero and G. Garavini) (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016); La potente benzina italiana. Guerra fredda e consumi di massa tra Italia, Stati Uniti e Terzo mondo (1945-1973) (Roma: Carocci, 2013).

Igor Londero received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Trieste, with a doctoral thesis titled Felice Ippolito intellettuale e grand commis. La ricerca nucleare in Italia dal dopoguerra al primo centrosinistra. His publications include Pa sopravivence, no pa l’anarchie – forme di autogestione nel Friuli terremotato. L’esperienza della tendopoli di Godo (Gemona del Friuli) (Udine: Forum editrice universitaria udinese-Istituto friulano per la storia del movimento di liberazione, 2008).