Decay and Catharsis: Perceptions of the United States in Italian Political Cultures Between the 1960s and 1970s

This essay describes the evolution of critical perceptions of the USA by Italian political cultures between the late 1960s and the mid-1970s. The few existing historical accounts on the subject have analysed the viewpoints of individual Italian political parties, but failed to address in comparative terms the perspective of the main Italian political cultures, that is, the Christian Democrat, Socialist and Communist ones. This work offers a preliminary comparative study of Italian perceptions of the USA, highlighting cultural overlaps, ideological similarities and transversal echoes going beyond the traditional attitudes of the three political cultures in both domestic and international domains.