This course examines the history of Italy from 1815 to the present. Modern Italy has been a laboratory for the social and political change of western Europe. Nationalism, fascism, and social democracy have found in Italy an ideal terrain for their conceptual and historical development. We will focus on the process of national unification, on the strategies implemented by the post-unification governments to forge a national identity, on the politics of fascism, and on the contradictory nature of the Italian democracy in the post-W.W.II decades. A variety of media (historical texts, works of fiction, and films) will provide an introduction to the complex and often dramatic history of the Italian people. Moreover, an interdisciplinary perspective will allow us to go beyond the level of state policies to explore the profound transformation of Italian society and culture over the last two centuries.