California Italian Studies

The past weighs on the present. This same past, however, can also constitute an opportunity for the future. If adequately acknowledged, the past can inspire positive action. This is the maxim that we can draw from the history of Italy in the Mediterranean and, in particular, the history of Italy's relationship with Libya. Even the most recent “friendship and cooperation agreement” between Italy and Libya, signed August 30, 2008 by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan leader Mohamar Gadhafi, affirms this. Italy’s colonial past in Libya has remained a source of political tensions between the two nations for the past forty years. Now, the question arises: will the acknowledgment of this past finally help to reconcile the two countries?