In 1949, a mere four years after Italy was liberated from Fascism, a small group of intellectuals, politicians and historians decided to establish a historical institute in Milan, which celebrated its seventieth anniversary only very recently. They called it ‘Istituto nazionale per la storia del Movimento di Liberazione in Italia’ (National Institute for the history of the Liberation Movement in Italy). Its founder and first president was Ferruccio Parri, the democrat and republican leader of the Action Party, who — among others — had animated the ‘Comitato di Liberazione nazionale Alta Italia’ (Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy). Parri was one of the leaders of the Italian Resistance against Fascism, as well as the Prime minister of the first government born after Italy’s Liberation (25 April 1945).