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Modern Italy has been represented in English, American and French historiographies as the primacy of the urban history, the cities (especially Florence and Venice), the breaking up of a country into small states, the inability to a Nation-building. This essay analyzes items, choices of arguments about modern Italian history, historiographical trends in some French, English and American reviews. The “terminus a quo" of this study is the last decades of XIX century: in this period English Historical Review, American Historical Review, Revue Historique were born and historical profession became and developed. The “terminus ad quem" is today: with the crisis of history and social sciences, the new trends of international research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the "missing opportunities" of unity before the Unity of Italy in 1861, from Medieval to Modern History. The author analyzes the Italian city-States, empire crisis, and historical situations when opportunities of a unified Italy were present but never seized. It shows the "common sense" of the Italian Unity in 1961.