The New Italian Politics

From the mid-1960s to 1980, the piazzas belonged to the left in Italy. So did the bookstores, since dominant culture—criticism, political science, philosophy, the arts—leaned heavily to the left. Conservatives despaired: Oh, when would Italy become a normal West European nation, more satisfied with capitalism and less overrun by would-be revolutionaries?

Everyone thought the 1980s answered this question. The workers’ movement declined, the left (dominated by the huge Communis...