Abstract

Since Unification, Italian universities were engaged in a strenuous effort of modernization, which was achieved - after Sedan - even with the reception of German scientific and cultural influence. Between 1870 and the First World War the vast majority of new professors in Italian universities began its academic career with the "year of specialization" abroad, particularly in Germany. The essay examines the reception in Italian universities of German science and seeks to answer the question whether it was accompanied by an awareness of the link between German science, form of Bismarck's government and Wilhelmine imperial policy.