Abstract

This article aims at revisiting Federico Chabod’s masterpiece Storia della politica estera italiana dal 1870 al 1896 (1951) focusing on its at the time most innovative perspectives, namely the insight into the emotional side and the interaction between the public and the private sphere, a new approach Chabod himself was aware and proud of. Based on a refreshed reading of the book, on its own history and classic and recent scholarly literature on Chabod both as a researcher and as a teacher, the analysis will document the role that emotions and mindsets play in the historian’s methodological choices applied to the post-Risorgimento phase in a national and European context