It is impossible to understand today's Italy without knowing its past and investigating the historical turning points that have shaped its identity over the centuries. It is with this conviction that Ernesto Galli della Loggia and Paolo Mieli trace in these pages a detailed outline of Italian and European history over the last two hundred years, in a synthesis that is as essential as it is rigorous. What was Cavour's role in the process of national unification? How did communism establish itself in Russia during the First World War? What conditions favoured the rise of Mussolini and Hitler? How could the tragedy of the Shoah have taken place and why did the Cold War dominate the post-war period?

These short lessons start with the Carbonari uprisings and the wars of independence against the Austrian Empire and continue through to the Second Republic, covering the major turning points of the 20th century: the dominant ideologies and world wars. They continue through to the American century, the challenges of globalisation and the growth of China's international role. The result of this journey is an account of the major events, key figures and unresolved tensions between the aspirations of the modern age and its inevitable contradictions. The aim is to offer an interpretation of the past that can help us navigate the uncertainties of our present.