ROME AND MOSCOW IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD: THE ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF "DISTANT PARTNERS"
The article discusses economic aspects of Italian-Soviet economic relations during the interwar period against the background of changing political and economic views on the Soviet experience of the first five-year plan. Relations between Italy and the Soviet Union during the interwar period have been traditionally interpreted as marginal, limited by time and economic relevance. It is commonly believed that ideological barriers, political antagonism and, from the mid- 1930s onwards, Italian support of the Francisco Franco’s regime in Span, conquest of Ethiopia and the preparation of the Second World War would have kept Italy and USSR at distance. However scientific research, even if still limited in scope, shows a very different picture, allowing a very different interpretation of economic, and also political and cultural relation between the two countries, which relevance deeply contrast with traditional historical discourse. The article, based on Italian scientific works and statistics, demonstrates the relevance of trade between countries in the interwar period. As an example, it presents the case of FIAT-RIV investments in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. The author also presents the results and limits of available Italian historiography on the topic. It appears that, notwithstanding some relevant works on Italian-Soviet economic relations - including the FIAT-RIV case - research still did not fully exploit the relevant primary sources existing on this topic both in Italian and Russian archives. Within this context, the article presents the first results of wider researches on Italian-Soviet relation in the interwar period.