Un’inedita pagina di neoatlantismo. La cooperazione italiana e il salvataggio dei Templi di Abu Simbel (1959-1963)

This essay analyses the Italian role in the international effort in 1960 to rescue the temples of Nubia in Egypt and the Sudan. The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Italian effort to save the temples that led the private sector and the Italian institutions involved to present Italy as an ingen- ious and resourceful country. The interest in a bilateral relationship with Egypt was intertwined with a strong desire to develop multi-form cooperation in the Mediterranean area, which would affirm – in the neo-Atlantic perspective of statesmen such as Fanfani – a leading role for Italy, on its way to become an industrial power.