A Late Friendship: Italian-Yugoslav Relations in the Second Half of the 20th Century (1947-1992)

The paper deals with relations between Italy and socialist Yugoslavia in the second half of the last century. The author differentiates between four different phases the two countries went through in the studied period (1947-1992). First phase deals with the Trieste question, a time of misunderstanding, hostility and confl ict on the ideological and national basis. Second phase begins in the second half of the sixties. It is a time of rapprochement marked by the visits of the prime ministers, first the Italian Prime Minister (1965), then the Yugoslav (1968). The change in both countries’ policies could also be attributed to fear of Soviet Union’s aggressive behavior. Third phase is marked by friendship and cooperation, especially after the formal resolution of the territorial dispute in 1975. Numerous trade and fi nancial agreements are made and Yugoslavia becomes Italy’s key partner in the implementation of its Adriatic and Balkan policy. The last phase in the relations begins with the start of the war confl ict in Yugoslavia at the beginning of the nineties. The author detects the lines of pressure applied on the Italian government both from abroad and inside the country in order to recognize the proclaimed independence of the Yugoslav western republics and to abandon the its then offi cial policy of neutrality. While Germany and the Vatican could be seen as the foreign infl uence, the domestic ones were the local authorities in the border regions of northeastern Italy. The policy of support to the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia was completely abandoned by 1991 and was formalized by the recognition of Slovenia and Croatia by the beginning of the following year.