The article analyses the Italian and Argentine historiography on Italian companies and entrepreneurs who emigrated to Argentina, with a long-term perspective. It compares its main characteristics in the three phases of development identified (from the late 19th century to the 1960s of the 20th century; from the 1960s to the 1980s; from the 1980s to today). It concludes that an “ethnic” vision prevails in Italian historiography, which exalts the contribution made by Italian entrepreneurs and companies to Argentinian progress. Argentinian historiography, on the other hand, is characterized by the lack of attention paid to the Italian origins, in the context of a vision that since the 1970s has become critical of the work of entrepreneurs. In both countries the authors up to the 1950s were not mainly professional historians but publicists.