Once the center of the Roman Empire, Italy went through many transfor-mations. It became the headquarters of the Pope and the Catholic Church. It sponsored the Renaissance. It fostered the arts and high culture. But it also was the home of intense poverty and the political ideas of Mussolini Fascism. Postwar Italy experienced an economic revolution. It became a credible industrial power and turned into the center of world fashion. But Italy’s reality never met the expectations of its people. Today its population is shrinking, its economy is troubled and its future is problematic.