The perspectives are grim. Insiders have been talking about the risk that Italian universities
might be committing suicide, along with Italian contemporary historiography. As a member
of Miur’s evaluation committee, Christof Dipper, a well-known historian of Italy, recently had
the chance reflect on the condition of the country’s contemporary historiography. As Dipper
clearly points out, there is little room for optimism, since most publications are self-referential,
parochial in content and very parochial from the point of view of their methodology. Only
a few exceptional studies are innovative and ground-breaking.