Italia contemporanea is a four-monthly, fully peer-reviewed academic journal. It was founded in 1949 as Il movimento di liberazione in Italia (The liberation movement in Italy) by the National Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Italy (now National Institute ‘Ferruccio Parri’, named after its founder and based in Milan) and took its current title in 1974. In establishing this journal, the Institute sought to establish an autonomous point of reference, free and pluralist in cultural and historiographic inspiration and open to different voices. These voices were called on to construct a forum for debate and interpretation of the past and present, with the sole limitation being that contributions maintain a scholarly standard.

Since its beginning, the journal has referred to the historical experiences and values of the Resistance in developing a critical view of the liberation war, thus preserving its memory. It has also tackled the task of incorporating subsequent events into a scientific treatment of contemporary history, according to the determined will of its founders and Ferruccio Parri in particular. Such will was clearly expressed in the decision to free the documentary holdings of the Resistance to scholarly research. These documents, which would otherwise have remained inaccessible for decades, are held by the National Institute and its network of associated Institutes, whose legal status was acknowledged in the law January 16th, 1967, n. 3.

Over the years, and especially under the editorship of Enzo Collotti (editor from 1976 to 1978), the review has increasingly widened its scope from Fascism and anti-Fascism. Initially, focus shifted to the transition from Fascism to the Republic, but later and particularly from the mid-Eighties under Massimo Legnani's editorship, it has moved to the history of the Republic in general and the great themes of the 20th century. These range from the features of Italian economic development to the state-local autonomy nexus, from the varieties of local Fascism to colonialism and racism. Also present are occasional forays into pre-fascist Italy. Similarly, the journal's geographic and thematic horizons have widened, in accordance with the development of its identity and in response to relationships established with other (mostly academic) research centres: European and US history, their interconnections, gender history, social history and the history of institutions. Attention to revisionism and to the attacks launched against the anti-Fascist foundations of our Republican democracy clearly reflect the strong attachment the Institute, and its scientific organ has to its heritage of anti-Fascist culture.

The review is made up of three sections: Studies and Research, which presents pioneering investigations and studies based on first-hand sources, something which characterises the journal; Notes and Discussions, which publishes surveys and critical comments, important sources and documents, and reports on public and private archival funds. Special attention is paid to the public use of history, its teaching and the world of education in general. Every issue ends with a Bibliographic Review, dedicated to thoughtful appraisals of a number of new books, together with shorter pieces of a mainly informative character.