"In 1860 Italy was established as a nation-state: 'we have made Italy, now we must make Italians', Massimo D'Azeglio is famously supposed to have declared. Much later, the dictator Benito Mussolini believed he could give Italian identity as Fascist garb, socialising the entire population through effective use of public ritual, symbols and other forms of propaganda. The Italians have been rather adapt at recognising that nations must be constructed, the more so since Italy is one place where ordinary people have historically resisted the allure of nationalism. Yet at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Italian nation survives and appears as stable and prosperous as ever. Has the nation prevailed without nationalism? And is Italy better prepared for the challenges of globalisation because of the nation's limited domestic appeal?" Why indeed, was there a need to invent a nation in the first place, and why was 'Italy' created and not something else? Why did nationalist movements play such a minimal role in the unification of Italy? Why did the nation's political elites, from Cavour to Mussolini, appear incapable of 'nationalising' the masses? And why did these masses eventually begin to form an attachment with 'Italia' after the Second World War? Explorations of such key issues are at the heart of this pioneering history of the invention of the Italian nation.