As president of the Italian Liberal Party, Benedetto Croce was one of the most influential intellectuals involved in Italian public affairs after the fall of Mussolini. Placing Croce at the centre of historical events between 1943 and 1952, this book details his participation in Italy’s political life, and his major contributions to the rebirth of Italian democracy.

Drawing on a great amount of primary material, including Croce’s political speeches, correspondences, diaries, and official documents from post-war Italy, this book illuminates the dynamic and progressive nature of Croce’s liberalism and the shortcomings of the old Liberal leaders. Providing a year-by-year account of Croce’s initiatives, author Fabio Fernando Rizi fills the gap in Croce’s biography, covering aspects of his public life often neglected, misinterpreted, or altogether ignored, and restores his standing among the founding fathers of modern Italy.

Fabio Fernando Rizi was born in Italy and received his Ph.D. from York University. He was President of the Dante Society of Toronto for several years, and worked for the Toronto Public Library until his retirement. His first book, Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism, is also published by University of Toronto Press

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"[This book fills] a gap in the historical literature, which rightly or wrongly has given little attention to the Liberal leader’s political endeavors in the pivotal years that witnessed the end of the Fascist regime and the birth of the Italian Republic."

<em>Journal of Modern History, Vol. 92, No. 3</em>