150 Years of the Italian Economy, 1861-2010

This article sets the background for the contributions collected in this issue, comments on the statistical data and discusses the chronology of Italy's economic history in a long-term macroeconomic perspective. The following topics are addressed: the rise in productive capacity; structural change and the periodization of challenges and responses. Data concerning the main macroeconomic indicators are collected in a short Appendix, together with concise information about their sources.